Michael Schumacher won the first race of 2000 for Ferrari, with Rubens Barrichello second, after both McLarens retired early at Melbourne's Albert Park.
Michael Schumacher won the 2000 Australian Grand Prix on 12 March 2000 at Albert Park in Melbourne, the opening round of the season. He started third, took the lead after both McLarens retired, and finished 12 seconds ahead of teammate Rubens Barrichello.
The 2000 Australian Grand Prix was the first of seventeen races in the Formula One World Championship, run at the Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne on 12 March 2000 before a crowd of 124,300. Michael Schumacher won the 58-lap race for Ferrari after starting third, with his new team-mate Rubens Barrichello second and Ralf Schumacher third for BMW-Williams. Both McLarens had retired early, which changed the complexion of the race.
Who was expected to win the 2000 championship?
Heading into the season, bookmakers and many former drivers tipped Schumacher to take the title. Ferrari's 1979 champion, Jody Scheckter, was among those who backed him, as did Eddie Irvine, Schumacher's team-mate in 1999 who had moved to Jaguar. Most observers saw the 1999 champion, Mika Hakkinen of McLaren, as the other main contender for the crown.
The field consisted of eleven teams and 22 drivers, and three of them were making their Grand Prix debuts. The new faces were Nick Heidfeld, who joined Prost alongside Jean Alesi, Gaston Mazzacane at Minardi, and Jenson Button at Williams. Button had taken over from Alessandro Zanardi and was, at that point, the youngest Briton to start a Formula One race.
Two McLarens fell out early, a Ferrari one-two followed, and Melbourne became the first stop on a 17-race season.
Was Button's arrival controversial?
Opinions were divided. Mika Salo of Sauber argued that Button's inexperience could cause him to hurt himself or someone else. Button went on to qualify 21st and retire from his debut race.
How did the four practice sessions go?
Practice comprised four sessions, with two hour-long outings on Friday and two shorter ones of 45 minutes on Saturday. In the first session the track was slippery, and Hakkinen set the fastest time of 1:32.768. Schumacher, Barrichello, David Coulthard and Jacques Villeneuve were close behind. Ricardo Zonta and Heidfeld both spun into the gravel, and Johnny Herbert suffered an ignition failure after a possible engine problem.
Schumacher's day was also affected by a technical problem, because the on-board television camera on top of his Ferrari melted a wiring loom. In the second session he later left the track with a sideways moment at turn 14, losing a rear wheel, yet he still set the fastest time of the session at 1:32.130. Coulthard was second and Barrichello third.
Hakkinen's engine failed partway through his first lap in the third session, and McLaren mechanics spent 42 minutes changing the engine and gearbox on his car and Coulthard's. Schumacher set the quickest time of that session at 1:30.439, with Coulthard 0.519 seconds behind and Heinz-Harald Frentzen third. In the final session Schumacher was again fastest, at 1:30.390.
Button had a heavy crash at turn ten in the final practice session. He clipped a kerb at 260 km/h (160 mph) and hit the barrier, which removed the rear wheels of his Williams and damaged its bodywork badly. Marshals needed ten minutes to extract the car from the circuit.
How did qualifying shape the grid?
Qualifying lasted an hour, and each driver was limited to 12 laps. Drivers were ranked by their fastest laps, and the 107 per cent rule applied. Hakkinen took pole by three-tenths of a second from his team-mate Coulthard, so McLaren locked out the front row for the first race of the year.
Schumacher was third after Coulthard spun and caused a red flag that stopped Schumacher's final attempt. Coulthard said the spin was not intentional. Barrichello qualified fourth in his new Ferrari, with Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Jarno Trulli behind on the third row.
| Grid | Driver | Team and note |
|---|---|---|
| First | Mika Hakkinen | McLaren, pole by three-tenths |
| Second | David Coulthard | McLaren, spun and caused a red flag |
| Third | Michael Schumacher | Ferrari, abandoned his final attempt |
| Fourth | Rubens Barrichello | Ferrari, new team-mate for 2000 |
| Seventh | Eddie Irvine | Jaguar |
| Eleventh | Ralf Schumacher | Williams, the best-placed BMW-Williams |
| Twenty-first | Jenson Button | Williams, on his Grand Prix debut |
Irvine started seventh for Jaguar. Villeneuve, Fisichella and Salo rounded out the top ten, and Ralf Schumacher was 11th. Button qualified 21st for his first race and summed up the session by saying it could not get any worse.
How did the warm-up session look?
In the half-hour warm-up on Sunday morning Barrichello was fastest at 1:31.225. Button was second, 1.573 seconds slower, although his car had a small oil leak that caused a fire in the pit lane. The McLarens were third and fourth, and Verstappen and Fisichella were fifth and sixth.
How did the race start?
The race began at 14:00 local time before the crowd of 124,300. Twenty-one of the 22 cars started, and Jean Alesi was the only driver to start from the pit lane. Hakkinen led into the first corner, while Coulthard and Schumacher stayed in second and third. Barrichello was passed by Frentzen at the first corner and dropped to fifth.
Button climbed from 21st to 15th on the opening lap, helped by a collision between Gene and Heidfeld that left Gene at the back. Herbert retired on lap two with clutch trouble. By lap four Hakkinen, Coulthard and Schumacher were pulling away from Frentzen. On lap seven Pedro de la Rosa's front suspension failed and sent him into a tyre barrier, and Irvine spun while avoiding him and then lost his engine.
Why did the McLarens retire?
Both McLaren drivers suffered the same problem, a pneumatic valve failure. When racing resumed at the end of lap ten, Coulthard came into the pits with engine trouble, and he retired on lap 11 after rejoining. Hakkinen then retired on lap 18 with the same problem, which almost exactly repeated the 1999 race.
With Hakkinen out, Schumacher led by 16.5 seconds from Frentzen. The retirements and pit stops then moved Button up the order, and he was briefly in third before his own stop on lap 36.
How did the race turn in Schumacher's favour?
Schumacher made his only stop on lap 29, which handed the lead to Frentzen. Schumacher rejoined third, just ahead of Trulli. Barrichello stopped on lap 33, but Ferrari switched him to a two-stop strategy so he could get ahead of Frentzen. Trulli retired on lap 36 with gearbox problems.
Frentzen made his own stop on lap 36, but the Jordan crew had trouble refuelling the car and he lost more than ten seconds. He rejoined sixth and retired three laps later with gearbox trouble. Barrichello took the lead on lap 45 by passing his team-mate, then made his second stop and rejoined second behind Schumacher.
Ralf Schumacher was promoted into third when the McLaren and Jordan cars were gone. Villeneuve was fourth, Fisichella fifth and Button sixth. Button then retired with an engine failure with 11 laps remaining, and Zonta moved up to sixth before Salo passed him.
How did the race end and who was disqualified?
Schumacher won in 1:34:01.987 after 58 laps, 12 seconds ahead of Barrichello, who completed a one-two for Ferrari. Ralf Schumacher was third, and Villeneuve crossed the line fourth to give BAR their first points in Formula One. Fisichella finished fifth.
Salo had initially been classified sixth, but a few hours after the race he was disqualified for a bodywork infringement, which promoted Zonta to sixth.
What did Schumacher say after the race?
Schumacher said he had driven easily from the start, saving tyres and fuel for the final stage when the pit stops came. He added that the two cars in front had broken down, and that he would have preferred to race them to the finish to prove how good the team was.
Where did the championship stand after round one?
Schumacher led the drivers' championship with ten points, Barrichello was second on six, and Ralf Schumacher was close behind. Villeneuve was fourth and Fisichella fifth. Ferrari led the constructors on sixteen points, with Williams and BAR on four points each. Benetton scored two points and were the last of the 11 teams to score, with sixteen races still to run.
