2001 British Grand Prix

(pictured in 2009), where the British Grand Prix was held The 2001 British Grand Prix was the 11th of 17 Formula One races in the 2001 Formula One World Championship, held on 15 July 2001, at the Silverstone Circuit in England, United Kingdom. Before the race, Ferrari's Michael Schumacher led the World Drivers' Championship with 78 championship points, ahead of McLaren's David Coulthard on 47 championship points in second and Williams's Ralf Schumacher (30). Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello was fourth with 30 championship points and Williams's Juan Pablo Montoya was fifth on 12 championship points. Ferrari led the World Constructors' Championship with 108 championship points, 52 ahead of the second-placed McLaren. Williams were third with 43 championship points. Sauber were fourth with 16 championship points, one championship point ahead of Jordan in fifth. a meeting of the FIA World Motor Sport Council in Seville, Spain on 4 October 2000 saw it awarded a July date after the British Racing Drivers' Club, Silverstone's proprietors, were assessed to have improved the track; the organisers agreed to move the race from July to May to accommodate the British Grand Prix, following a request by Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone. After the on 1 July, teams evaluated car components, settings, electronics and tyres at various European racing tracks from 3 to 6 July in preparation for the British Grand Prix. The Jordan, McLaren, Sauber, British American Racing (BAR) and Jaguar teams tested for four days at Italy's Monza Circuit. Jaguar's Eddie Irvine withdrew early from testing due to a reoccurring pain in the upper part of his cervical spine he had been suffering since June and was replaced by British Formula Three driver André Lotterer from the afternoon of the second day. The Benetton and Williams teams tested for four days at Spain's Circuit de Barcelona. Ferrari went to Italy's Mugello Circuit before heading to their private testing facility, the Fiorano Circuit, for three days, joined later on by BAR and Minardi. Arrows held three days of straight-line aerodynamic car configuration tests with former Indy Lights driver Jonny Kane at Italy's Vairano circuit, Michael Schumacher, the bookmakers' pre-race favourite for the win, had the chance to tie Alain Prost's all-time record of 51 career victories at Silverstone. He stated that he was not prioritising statistics, but rather taking a race-by-race approach to achieving the "maximum possible" for both championships. Coulthard had won the British Grand Prix twice in succession in 1999 and 2000 and said he wanted to become the first driver to win the race three years running since Jim Clark in 1964. (pictured in 1999) competed in the Grand Prix despite suffering from neck pain. Eleven two-driver teams competed, each representing a different constructor, with no changes to the entry list from the previous race. but the latter entered the event. Some teams modified their cars for the race. Ferrari reused a qualifying-spec engine and modified the F2001's lower front wing endplates slightly. McLaren driver Mika Häkkinen drove a qualifying-specification car for the race that had no end side chimneys to maximise the MP4-16 car's drag co-efficiency. BAR unveiled Honda-built rear suspensions with carbon fibre pushrods, while Jordan debuted a new rear wing. Arrows debuted new brake ducts with the middle part moved forwards to improve the A22 car's cooling. Minardi introduced no new components to their car because it was focused on building a new titanium gearbox. ==Practice==

The race was preceded by four practice sessions, two one-hour sessions on Friday and two 45-minute sessions on Saturday. The first session, held on Friday morning, was dry and cloudy. Michael Schumacher lapped fastest at 1:23.619 after 46 minutes, 0.786 seconds faster than teammate Barrichello in second. Häkkinen, Coulthard. Jordan's Heinz-Harald Frentzen. Irvine, the BAR duo Olivier Panis and Jacques Villeneuve, Frentzen's teammate Jarno Trulli and Kimi Räikkönen (Sauber) were in positions three to ten. Räikkönen spun at Abbey corner but continued. Montoya spun into Vale corner after pushing hard with ten minutes left but continued. His Williams teammate Ralf Schumacher lost the rear of his car at the Bridge turn but was able to continue. Pedro de la Rosa stopped his Jaguar in the centre of the track with a fuel supply issue and set no lap times in the session. (pictured in 2006) twice spun his Minardi car during the second practice session. The second session began sunny and windy, but heavy clouds formed low around Silverstone, and rain fell in the final ten minutes, creating a slippery track surface that slowed drivers. Häkkinen set the day's fastest lap of 1:22.827 with 14 minutes left, 0.067 seconds quicker than teammate Coulthard. The Ferrari pair of Barrichello and Michael Schumacher were third and fourth. Frentzen's car had an oil leak at the start of the session but duplicated his first-session result in fifth. It took 15 minutes before cars circulated the track, and several drivers lost control of their cars on the sodden track surface; a large amount of spray was lifted from the circuit, reducing visibility. Michael Schumacher led with a lap of 1:31.430, followed by Frentzen, the McLarens of Häkkinen and Coulthard, Barrichello, Heidfeld, Trulli, Ralf Schumacher, Panis and Montoya. After 11 minutes, The rain later eased off slightly and the circuit dried slowly with standing water becoming less prevalent. Michael Schumacher remained fastest, ahead of Frentzen, Häkkinen, Coulthard, Barrichello, Heidfeld, Trulli, Räikkönen (who avoided hitting a hare that had breached circuit perimeters), Panis and Ralf Schumacher in positions two to ten. Tarso Marques was the only driver who did not set a lap time in the session when he lost control of his Minardi car while scrubbing his tyres and spun backwards into the gravel trap at Abbey chicane. ==Qualifying==

(pictured in 2007) qualified on pole position for the 40th time in his Formula One career. Saturday's afternoon one hour qualifying session saw each driver was limited to twelve laps, with the starting order decided by their fastest laps. During this session, the 107% rule was in effect, which necessitated each driver to set a time within 107 per cent of the quickest lap to qualify for the race. Competitors waited for the track temperatures to rise for the circuit to be suitably dry. Michelin-shod teams underperformed Bridgestone-shod squads because their tyres performed less well in colder weather. Lap times progressively got faster during qualifying, and every driver eclipsed the 2000 pole lap. On his third run, Michael Schumacher took the 40th pole position of his career and his eighth in 11 races in 2001, with a qualifying lap record of 1:20.477 with seven minutes left, despite running slightly wide at Stowe corner. Trulli qualified fourth despite hitting a kerb at the exit of Becketts corner on his fourth run, damaging his front-left suspension pushrod. reporting no problems with his car. Marques had a throttle problem with his car, and with the backup car set up for Alonso, there was no time to modify the settings so Marques could use it. Qualifying classification ==Warm-up==

On race morning, teams had a 30-minute warm-up session to fine-tune their cars for the race in dry and partly sunny conditions. Some drivers used both their team's spare and racing cars. Coulthard set the fastest lap of 1:22.994 in the final three minutes of warm-up. Heidfeld was able to return to the pit lane. ==Race==

(pictured in 1999) collided with Jordan driver Jarno Trulli on the first lap of the race and retired two laps with rear suspension damage caused by the collision. At 13:00 local time, the 60-lap race began in front of 100,000 to 120,000 spectators. The weather before the event was dry but overcast; the air temperature was between , and the track temperature was between . When the red lights went out to begin the race, Michael Schumacher maintained his race lead over Häkkinen with a clean start into Copse turn, despite his car being heavier due to a fuel load of . Coulthard was driving on the inside line into Copse, with his car angled towards the centre of the track. Trulli drove onto the inside line, and pulled alongside Coulthard into the first curve, colliding with Coulthard's car's rear. Both drivers spun with Trulli going into the gravel trap on the outside at Copse turn, Coulthard was able to continue driving despite significant damage to his diffuser and undertray. while Trulli retired from the race. Michael Schumacher maintained a modest gap over Häkkinen, who began challenging for the lead. Häkkinen set the race's fastest lap so far on the third lap – a 1:25.861 – to close the gap to Michael Schumacher to one-tenth of a second. his right rear suspension collapsed on that lap due to his earlier accident with Trulli. This enabled Häkkinen to take the lead at Maggots turn at the beginning of lap five; had his left-front wheel become detached from his Minardi without warning near the pit lane entry. Further back, Bernoldi and Fisichella completed their second pit stops, and both drivers exited the pit lane side-by-side, with Bernoldi slowing to prevent a collision and allowing Fisichella to pass. Irvine was the final driver to make a pit stops for fuel and tyres on lap 47. It was his first victory since the 2000 Belgian Grand Prix and his 19th in Formula One. Post-race The top three drivers appeared on the podium to collect their trophies and spoke to the media in a later press conference. Michael Schumacher admitted that he had a "difficult day" driving a hard car, but commended Häkkinen for winning the Grand Prix. He also dismissed suggestions from Formula One analysts that he had traction control issues. McLaren team principal Ron Dennis commented, "For half the race, we were trying to slow Mika's pace. You have to be careful because drivers tend to make mistakes when they back off but Mika drove brilliantly all day." Ferrari sporting director Jean Todt acknowledged that a one-stop strategy was the incorrect one but he was also complimentary of Häkkinen, saying, "McLaren are strong and Mika is a great driver. I am pleased for him that he has a win. We have always known how good they are and never listened to what other people felt. We never under-estimated him." (pictured in 2009) called his collision with David Coulthard on the first lap of the Grand Prix "a racing incident". Coulthard apologised to his McLaren technicians for ruining his car, and they accepted his apology. Trulli labelled the collision a "racing incident" and said he provided Coulthard with as much room as he could, "I tried to get out of the way but there was nowhere to go. It was an accident. I will have a word with him later to clear the air." Villeneuve apologised to his teammate Panis for their collision on the first lap, while Panis described it as "a racing incident and I think we will now try and forget about it." According to Williams technical director Patrick Head, Montoya would have finished third if his teammate Ralf Schumacher had let him pass when advised. Montoya claimed to be faster than Ralf Schumacher because both drivers were using different strategies and consulted with Williams about it, "They said: 'Ralf's trying to get past Rubens. Turn down your fuel mixture and take it easy." Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn said his team had "a fairly conservative strategy today, which was what we needed" since they were defending not attacking, adding, "Our strategy gave us less possibility to attack, but we did not feel that here at Silverstone we could afford to take more risks." The race result increased Michael Schumacher's World Drivers' Championship lead to 37 championship points over second-placed Coulthard. Barrichello moved into third position with 34 championship points, demoting Ralf Schumacher to fourth with 31 championship points. Häkkinen's win lifted him from sixth to fifth in the championship standings with 19 championship points, however, he was mathematically eliminated from title contention because he trailed Michael Schumacher by 65 championship points and the remaining six Grands Prix could only award 60 championship points. Ferrari's lead over McLaren in the World Constructors' Championship remained at 52 championship points. Williams retained third with 46 championship points, Sauber fourth with 19, and Jordan fifth with 15. Race classification Drivers who scored championship points are denoted in bold. ==Championship standings after the race==

;Drivers' Championship standings ;Constructors' Championship standings • == Notes ==