2001 Austrian Grand Prix: Coulthard Wins from Seventh at the A1-Ring

The 2001 Austrian Grand Prix was David Coulthard's day. He started seventh, took the lead when Rubens Barrichello pitted and then held it to the flag, winning by 2.1 seconds. Michael Schumacher finished second after Barrichello followed a late Ferrari team order, and the race was shaped by launch-control chaos at the start and a clash between Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya.

Where did the championship stand before Spielberg?

Michael Schumacher led the drivers' championship with 36 points, eight ahead of Coulthard. Barrichello was third on 14, and Ralf Schumacher was two points further back in fourth. Nick Heidfeld completed the top five with eight points, and Ferrari led the constructors' table on 50 points, ahead of McLaren on 32.

Coulthard's season had been strained. He had stalled on the grid in Spain, and McLaren's Ron Dennis had accused him of a lapse in concentration, a remark Dennis later retracted and apologised for. Coulthard spoke of his hope to keep scoring points in every race, and his manager Martin Brundle said Coulthard needed to keep his emotions from disrupting his consistency.

Michael Schumacher, who had been pushed out at the first corner the year before, said he hoped to be competitive in Austria. The track characteristics were similar to those of Spain, and he felt Ferrari's car should be strong on them.

Coulthard's win from seventh, a Schumacher clash, a Ferrari team order and a rejected BAR appeal at the A1-Ring.

How did the teams prepare for the race?

Jaguar, Prost, Benetton, Williams and McLaren used the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia from 1 to 3 May, while Jordan, Sauber, BAR and Arrows were at Silverstone for the same three days. Minardi tested launch control and a revised electronics package at Fiorano with Fernando Alonso, and Ferrari used the same track for car development and reliability work.

Tyre development for Michelin and Bridgestone was a major part of the programme, and McLaren and Benetton developed the chassis of their MP4/16 and B201 cars. At Silverstone, Kimi Raikkonen's Sauber was caught out by Jordan test driver Ricardo Zonta at the exit to Becketts, and Sauber assessed launch control for the first time.

The circuit itself was a short one, with nine turns and little downforce needed. The A1-Ring had been redesigned by Hermann Tilke to meet FIA Grade 1 licence requirements for its return to Formula One in 1997. Teams ran with little downforce, so brakes and cooling were not overly stressed by a single lap.

What changed around the track?

Since the 2000 race, the organisers had extended the kerbs along the side of the track and the gravel traps beside them, and an extra row of tyres had been added to improve driver safety. The line that marks the entry to the pit lane had moved from the final corner to the exit of turn eight, which was expected to affect lap times because cars would have less time on track.

How did practice go?

The Friday sessions took place in dry and overcast weather on a slippery, dusty track, and several drivers spun during them without damage. Mika Hakkinen, who was unwell with the flu, set the first session's fastest time at 1:11.751, while Coulthard set the second session's quickest lap at 1:11.245.

Friday also brought a few mechanical failures. Alesi's Prost engine failed on the start-finish straight, Frentzen's power steering gave up, and Jenson Button's Benetton engine broke as he approached turn two. Saturday was clear and warm. Michael Schumacher was fastest in the third session at 1:10.094, but Coulthard set the fastest time of the final session at 1:10.010, with Michael Schumacher second and Barrichello third.

Saturday also produced odd incidents. Enrique Bernoldi locked his brakes and ran into the grass, and Coulthard went deep into the gravel at the final corner after approaching too quickly. Verstappen's rear suspension failed at the double-left bend, and a deer that wandered on to the circuit made Montoya slow down before it left through a trackside barrier.

How was pole position decided?

Michael Schumacher took pole with 1 minute and 9.562 seconds, his fifth of the season and 37th of his career. He bettered Hakkinen's unofficial lap record from the 2000 race. Montoya joined him on the front row, giving him his maiden front-row start, while Ralf Schumacher was third after traffic and an error on his last timed lap.

The track had little grip because it was barely used before the session, so the drivers waited 21 minutes before venturing out. Barrichello was fourth after adjusting his downforce, Trulli was fifth after changing his engine, and Heidfeld sixth. McLaren had its worst qualifying since the 1997 French Grand Prix, with Coulthard seventh and Hakkinen eighth after a loss of water pressure in his engine. Raikkonen was ninth, with gearbox problems, and Panis tenth.

Frentzen was 11th and Villeneuve 12th, while Irvine took 13th after swerving into the pit lane to avoid Alesi's spun car. De la Rosa was 14th and Bernoldi 15th, with Verstappen 16th after a spin at the final corner that caused Michael Schumacher to swerve into the gravel. Burti and Alesi qualified their Prost cars 17th and 20th, and Alonso was 18th between them. Fisichella was 19th after a misfire, and Button 21st. Marques took 22nd in the second Minardi after a rear damper fault.

What went wrong at the start?

A launch-control problem stopped several cars on the grid. Both Jordans, Hakkinen's McLaren and Heidfeld's Sauber were stationary, and drivers had to swerve to avoid a pile-up. Montoya moved ahead of the slow-starting Michael Schumacher, and Ralf Schumacher got past the Ferrari into second before the first corner.

Coulthard had the quickest getaway, moving from seventh to fifth after Michael Schumacher held him off at turn one. A safety car was deployed at the end of the first lap because the marshals could not clear the stranded cars in time. Frentzen retired with a broken gearbox, and Hakkinen did one exploratory lap before retiring. Trulli and Heidfeld began from the pit lane. Some mechanics had tried to restart the stalled cars illegally in the fast lane of the pit lane.

How did the race develop in the early laps?

Montoya led until lap 16, when he and Michael Schumacher collided at turn two. Michael Schumacher had drawn alongside on the right and then steered left for the corner, forcing Montoya on to the dirty part of the track, where he braked late and locked up. Michael Schumacher ran onto the grass to avoid him and dropped to sixth, while Montoya fell to seventh. Barrichello took the lead, with Verstappen second and Coulthard third.

Verstappen had been making progress through the field. He overtook Raikkonen and Irvine on lap four and set a quick lap of 1:14.059, then bettered that to 1:13.282 on lap five as he passed Coulthard for fifth. Fisichella retired on lap four with a misfiring engine. Trulli went into the gravel on lap five, and Heidfeld passed him for 18th.

On lap ten Villeneuve tried to pass Irvine for 10th, and the two touched at the first corner. Villeneuve spun, and De la Rosa moved past him into 11th. Ralf Schumacher fell to seventh and then pitted at the end of the lap to retire, after losing rear brake pressure. Trulli was shown a black flag on lap 14 for ignoring the red light at the pit lane exit, and he was disqualified. Bernoldi retired on lap 17 with a hydraulic failure.

Michael Schumacher passed Panis for fourth on lap 25, and Marques retired with a gearbox failure on lap 26. Michael Schumacher then set the track record of 1:11.179 on lap 35 and came to within a second of Coulthard, who was in second place. Alonso retired with a gearbox fault, and Montoya stopped on an escape road soon after with a loss of hydraulic pressure.

How did the leaders' pit stops decide the order?

The first leaders' stops came when Panis pitted from fifth. Michael Schumacher and Raikkonen followed at the end of lap 46, after Michael Schumacher had lost grip into the final corner and run sideways on to the dirt, losing about 1.6 seconds. Coulthard took the lead when Barrichello pitted on the next lap, and he stayed out for three more laps, setting the race's fastest lap of 1:10.843 on lap 48 on a lighter fuel load.

Coulthard's eight-second stop still left him 1.3 seconds ahead of Barrichello. De la Rosa retired from 12th on lap 50 with a transmission failure, and Villeneuve was given a 10-second stop-and-go penalty for speeding in the pit lane soon after. Heidfeld passed Button for 11th later in the race. Late on, Coulthard was a full second ahead of Barrichello, with Michael Schumacher a further 1.2 seconds behind.

Button was the last retirement of the race. On lap 63 fire came from the back of his car, and he spun on his own oil at the final turn.

Why did team orders decide the finish?

Six laps after Button's retirement, Ferrari's team principal Jean Todt told Barrichello to let Michael Schumacher pass for the championship. Barrichello ignored repeated instructions and kept second place. He eventually obeyed at the end of lap 71, by going wide out of the final corner before the line, and Michael Schumacher took second. Coulthard led home, 2.1 seconds clear.

Opinions were mixed. Alonso called the order a strange decision for so early in the season, and McLaren's technical director Adrian Newey felt it went against the moral principles of Formula One. Villeneuve was puzzled by the shock some people expressed, given Barrichello's role as Ferrari's second driver. Niki Lauda, Jaguar's team principal, argued it was the right call because of Michael Schumacher's higher placing in the drivers' table. Barrichello said later that he had been unhappy to be asked to move over, but that the team structure was not the problem.

Did the finishing order change afterwards?

BAR lodged a protest over Raikkonen passing Panis under yellow flags, which the team said was in force after Button's retirement. The stewards reviewed the video footage and rejected the protest, finding no incident because no marshal had reported one. BAR then appealed, and the FIA International Court of Appeal in Paris heard the appeal on 1 June and upheld the stewards' verdict, confirming the original result.

Craig Pollock, the BAR team owner, said the appeal was lodged because the team wanted clarity on the rule that bars drivers from passing under yellow flags. The judges' decision left the top three and the rest of the order as they stood.

What did the drivers say after the race?

Coulthard spoke about the importance of a heavy fuel load, saying that he had leaned out the engine early and saved fuel, which had let the team go long on its strategy. He refrained from spraying champagne on the podium out of respect for Paul Morgan, the managing director of Ilmor Engineering, who had been killed in a plane crash at Sywell Aerodrome the day before the race.

Michael Schumacher said he had made a manual start after a launch-control fault and that he had little to lose after his collision with Montoya. He chose to wait for the pit stops rather than force a move, and he later agreed with Montoya's view that the incident was a racing incident once he had seen the television footage. Barrichello said he had begun on used front tyres and unused rear tyres and would have won had Coulthard not stayed out for those extra laps.

Top classification