2000 USA Grand Prix

 2000 USA Grand Prix

Racing data
15th of 17 races of the Formula 1 World Championship 2000
Surname:	XXIX SAP United States Grand Prix
Date:	September 24, 2000
Place:	Indianapolis
Course:	Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Length:	306.016 km in 73 laps of 4.192 km
Weather:	wet but drying
Spectator:	~ 225,000
Pole position
Driver:	Michael sSchumacher	Ferrari
Time:	1: 14.266 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes
Time:	1: 14.711 min (lap 40)
Podium
First:	Michael sSchumacher	Ferrari
Second:	Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari
Third:	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Jordan-Mugen

The 2000 USA Grand Prix took place on September 24th at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis and was the fifteenth race of the 2000 Formula 1 World Championship .

Reports

background

After the Italian Grand Prix , Mika Häkkinen led the drivers' standings with two points ahead of Michael Schumacher and with 19 points ahead of David Coulthard . McLaren-Mercedes led the constructors' championship with four points ahead of Ferrari and with 97 points ahead of Williams-BMW .

There was no former winner at this Grand Prix.

training

In free practice on Friday, Coulthard set the fastest lap time ahead of Häkkinen and Michael Schumacher. In Saturday practice, Michael Schumacher took over the leadership position in front of his team-mate Barrichello, Coulthard himself set the third fastest time.

Qualifying

In qualifying, as in free practice before, Michael Schumacher again turned the fastest lap and thus occupied pole position in front of the two McLaren drivers Mika Häkkinen and David Coulthard.

Warm up

In the warm-up on Sunday, David Coulthard once again achieved the fastest lap, Mika Häkkinen was second ahead of Michael Schumacher.

run

The long predicted rain set in for about an hour on Sunday morning and when the cars were made ready one after the other on the grid, the track actually consisted of two parts - an almost dry banked curve and straights and a still wet infield. This meant that all drivers except Johnny Herbert started the race with rain tires. When the lights went out after the introductory lap, to everyone's astonishment, Coulthard overtook Michael Schumacher, who had started from pole position, in the first corner and took the lead, but repetitions of the start showed that the Scot had started too early and very likely to be punished for it soon.

When Coulthard realized that he had started too early after a few laps and the confirmation from the race management was there that he had to serve a 10-second stop-and-go penalty (together with Giancarlo Fisichella ) he started to drive a little slower in order to keep Schumacher behind and thus enable Häkkinen to close the gap behind the Ferrari for his part. Schumacher, who had just barely prevented an early start himself, finally overtook Coulthard on the straight and the following turn one - with light touches of the wheels - on lap 7.Hekkinen also passed Coulthard shortly afterwards in turn four and then immediately stopped at the pits. to switch to dry tires.

As the Finn again came back to the track, he was now in fifth place behind the Minardi of Gastón Mazzacane , who still went on rain tires. During five laps, with a dry oval section but still a very wet infield, Häkkinen couldn't get past Mazzacane. Finally, on lap 14, the Minardi made a pit stop. During this pit stop, Mazzacane hit a mechanic. Ironically, the same mechanic was almost run over by Mazzacane's team-mate Marc Gené a few laps earlier , but the mechanic was able to avoid it in time. Häkkinen was no longer hindered by the slow Minardi and could automatically drive faster again. He improved his lap times by almost five seconds, now drove almost 2.5 seconds faster per lap than Michael Schumacher and so Ferrari quickly called the German to the pits to also switch to dry tires.

When Schumacher got back on the track, he was leading by ten seconds, but as the track continued to dry out, Häkkinen came closer and closer in a dramatic manner. He set eight fastest lap times within ten laps and was now only 4.1 seconds behind. Then suddenly, on lap 25, the McLaren slowed instead of accelerating as it entered the oval at Turn Twelve; Flames licked out from under the engine cover on the left. Häkkinen slowly rolled back towards the pit lane with the engine burning, had to abandon the car a little later and give up - so the race was practically decided. According to Mercedes-Benz Motorsport boss Norbert Haug, the problem was a problem in the pneumatic valve system caused by a defective set of parts. Gáston Mazzacane, who held Häkkinen up for several laps, had to park his Minardi in exactly the same place. As he was about to get out, a fan threw a full can of beer towards Mazzacane. But this was missed and the box hit the Minardi.

While Barrichello and Coulthard fought their way back into the points of 15th and 16th place respectively and undercut each other with the fastest lap time, Michael Schumacher led the race lap after lap, followed by his brother's Williams, Ralf , then Frentzens Jordan and finally Barrichello . When there were about four laps to go, Michael Schumacher came over the curb with his right front wheel and spun onto the wet grass. He returned to the track and radioed his pit crew: "Don't worry, I'm awake now." ("Don't worry, I'm awake now.") He was 12.118 seconds ahead of Barrichello.

In the end, Michael Schumacher won and thus celebrated his 42nd career success - he was now the only second. This was also the first Ferrari win in the United States since Gilles Villeneuve was classified first and second respectively in 1979 at Watkins Glen International, ahead of Jody Scheckter .

Frentzen successfully defended his third place for Jordan against Jacques Villeneuves BAR . With seven laps to go, Villeneuve had driven at the end of the long straight on Frentzen's inside and passed the apex in front of the Jordan, but had too much momentum and hit the grass. He came back on the track and finished fourth, ahead of Coulthard and his teammate Ricardo Zonta . Villeneuve later said that he had a lot of fun today and that they were very quick in the race, but it was frustrating to get so close to the podium. He made a few mistakes, but they probably wouldn't have mattered in the end. He said he wasn't close enough to Frentzen to overtake him, but he wasn't seeing any sand run-off zone or stacks of tires, so he wanted to try. He had run out of track in the bend and just as he was about to brake he knew that it would not be possible for him to stop.

In the world championship, with two races to go, Michael Schumacher regained the top position from Häkkinen and now had a lead of eight points - so he was able to become world champion in the penultimate race in Japan - the first for Ferrari since Jody Scheckter; But David Coulthard had no mathematical chance of winning the title. In the constructors' championship, Ferrari also regained the lead, the gap was now ten points on McLaren.

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
West McLaren Mercedes	1	Mika Hakkinen	McLaren MP4 / 15	Mercedes-Benz 3.0 V10	B.
	2	David Coulthard
Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	3	Michael sSchumacher	Ferrari F1-2000	Ferrari 3.0 V10	B.
	4th	Rubens Barrichello
Benson and Hedges Jordan	5	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Jordan EJ10B	Mugen-Honda 3.0 V10	B.
	6th	Jarno Trulli
Jaguar Racing	7th	Eddie Irvine	Jaguar R1	Cosworth 3.0 V10	B.
	8th	Johnny Herbert
BMW Williams F1 Team	9	Ralf Schumacher	Williams FW22	BMW 3.0 V10	B.
	10	Jenson Button
Mild Seven Benetton Playlife	11	Giancarlo Fisichella	Benetton B200	Supertec 3.0 V10	B.
	12	Alexander Wurz
Gauloises cheers Peugeot	14th	Jean Alesi	Cheers AP03	Peugeot 3.0 V10	B.
	15th	Nick Heidfeld
Red Bull Sauber Petronas	16	Pedro Diniz	Clean C19	Petronas 3.0 V10	B.
	17th	Mika Salo
Arrows F1 team	18th	Pedro de la Rosa	Arrows A21	Supertec 3.0 V10	B.
	19th	Jos Verstappen
Telefonica Minardi Fondmetal	20th	Marc Gené	Minardi M02	Fondmetal 3.0 V10	B.
	21st	Gastón Mazzacane
Lucky Strike Reynard BAR Honda	22nd	Jacques Villeneuve	BAR 002	Honda 3.0 V10	B.
	23	Ricardo Zonta

Classifications

Qualifying

Item	driver	constructor	time	begin
01	Michael sSchumacher	Ferrari	1: 14.266	01
02	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	1: 14.392	02
03	Mika Hakkinen	McLaren-Mercedes	1: 14.428	03
04th	Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari	1: 14,600	04th
05	Jarno Trulli	Jordan-Mugen	1: 15.006	05
06th	Jenson Button	Williams-BMW	1: 15.017	06th
07th	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Jordan-Mugen	1: 15.067	07th
08th	Jacques Villeneuve	BAR Honda	1: 15.317	08th
09	Pedro Diniz	Clean Petronas	1: 15.418	09
10	Ralf Schumacher	Williams-BMW	1: 15.484	10
11	Alexander Wurz	Benetton Supertec	1: 15.762	11
12	Ricardo Zonta	BAR Honda	1: 15.784	12
13	Jos Verstappen	Arrows-Supertec	1: 15.808	13
14th	Mika Salo	Clean Petronas	1: 15.881	14th
15th	Giancarlo Fisichella	Benetton Supertec	1: 15.907	15th
16	Nick Heidfeld	Cheers Peugeot	1: 16.060	16
17th	Eddie Irvine	Jaguar Cosworth	1: 16.098	17th
18th	Pedro de la Rosa	Arrows-Supertec	1: 16.143	18th
19th	Johnny Herbert	Jaguar Cosworth	1: 16.225	19th
20th	Jean Alesi	Cheers Peugeot	1: 16.471	20th
21st	Gastón Mazzacane	Minardi fund metal	1: 16.809	21st
22nd	Marc Gené	Minardi fund metal	1: 17.161	22nd

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap
1	Michael sSchumacher	Ferrari	73	2	1: 36: 30.883	01	1: 14,901 (48th)
2	Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari	73	2	+ 12,118	04th	1: 14.822 (51.)
3	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Jordan-Mugen	73	2	+ 17.368	07th	1: 15,521 (69.)
4th	Jacques Villeneuve	BAR Honda	73	2	+ 17.936	08th	1: 15.117 (68.)
5	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	73	3	+ 28.813	02	1: 14.711 (40th)
6th	Ricardo Zonta	BAR Honda	73	2	+ 51.694	012	1: 15.812 (48th)
7th	Eddie Irvine	Jaguar Cosworth	73	2	+1: 11.115	017th	1: 15.675 (72nd)
8th	Pedro Diniz	Clean Petronas	72	3	+ 1 lap	09	1: 15.305 (69.)
9	Nick Heidfeld	Cheers Peugeot	72	2	+ 1 lap	016	1: 16.074 (72nd)
10	Alexander Wurz	Benetton Supertec	72	2	+ 1 lap	011	1: 15,560 (70th)
11	Johnny Herbert	Jaguar Cosworth	72	1	+ 1 lap	019th	1: 15.812 (69.)
12	Marc Gené	Minardi fund metal	72	2	+ 1 lap	022nd	1: 16.044 (72nd)
-	Jean Alesi	Cheers Peugeot	64	2	DNF	020th	1: 16,124 (44.)
-	Gastón Mazzacane	Minardi fund metal	59	2	DNF	021st	1: 16.711 (41st)
-	Ralf Schumacher	Williams-BMW	58	4th	DNF	010	1: 15,598 (55th)
-	Pedro de la Rosa	Arrows-Supertec	45	2	DNF	018th	1: 16.276 (36.)
-	Giancarlo Fisichella	Benetton Supertec	44	2	DNF	015th	1: 16.234 (42nd)
-	Jos Verstappen	Arrows-Supertec	34	1	DNF	013	1: 16.252 (34.)
-	Mika Hakkinen	McLaren-Mercedes	25th	1	DNF	03	1: 15.773 (25.)
-	Mika Salo	Clean Petronas	18th	1	DNF	014th	1: 20.244 (18.)
-	Jenson Button	Williams-BMW	14th	1	DNF	06th	1: 22.977 (12.)
-	Jarno Trulli	Jordan-Mugen	12	2	DNF	05	1: 24.770 (4th)

World Cup stands after the race

The first six of the race got 10, 6, 4, 3, 2 and 1 point (s) respectively.

Driver ranking

Item driver constructor Points 01  Michael sSchumacher Ferrari 88 02  Mika Hakkinen McLaren-Mercedes 80 03  David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 63 04th  Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 55 05  Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW 24 06th  Giancarlo Fisichella Benetton Supertec 18th 07th  Jacques Villeneuve BAR Honda 14th 08th  Heinz-Harald Frentzen Jordan-Mugen 11 09  Jenson Button Williams-BMW 10 10  Jarno Trulli Jordan-Mugen 6th 11  Mika Salo Clean Petronas 6th 12  Jos Verstappen Arrows-Supertec 5

Item driver constructor Points 13  Eddie Irvine Jaguar Cosworth 3 14th  Ricardo Zonta BAR Honda 3 15th  Pedro de la Rosa Arrows-Supertec 2 16  Alexander Wurz Benetton Supertec 2 17th  Pedro Diniz Clean Petronas 0 18th  Johnny Herbert Jaguar Cosworth 0 19th  Marc Gené Minardi fund metal 0 20th  Nick Heidfeld Cheers Peugeot 0 21st  Gastón Mazzacane Minardi fund metal 0 22nd  Jean Alesi Cheers Peugeot 0 23  Luciano Burti Jaguar Cosworth 0

Constructors' championship

Item constructor Points 01  Ferrari 143 02  McLaren-Mercedes 133 03  Williams-BMW 34 04th  Benetton Supertec 20th 05  Jordan-Mugen 17th 06th  BAR Honda 17th

Item constructor Points 07th  Arrows-Supertec 7th 08th  Clean Petronas 6th 09  Jaguar Cosworth 3 10  Minardi fund metal 0 11  Cheers Peugeot 0

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} "WM-Stand" ( Memento of the original from December 31, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Motorsportarchiv.de; accessed on January 1, 2014)  
2. ↑ "1. Free training " ( Memento of the original from December 31, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Motorsportarchiv.de; accessed on January 1, 2014)  
3. ↑ "2. Free training ”  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Motorsportarchiv.de; accessed on January 1, 2014)  
4. ↑ "3. Qualification training " ( Memento of the original from January 2, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Motorsportarchiv.de; accessed on January 1, 2014)  
5. ↑ "4. Warm up ”  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Motorsportarchiv.de; accessed on January 1, 2014)  

Web links

• Weekend statistics at Motorsport-Total.com