2000 Belgian Grand Prix
The Grand Prix of Belgium 2000 was held on August 27 at the Circuit de Spa -Francorchamps in Spa instead and was the 13th race of the Formula 1 season 2000.
- 3.1 qualifying
- 3.2 race
- 4.1 Drivers' Championship
- 4.2 Constructors' Championship
Reports
Background
After the Hungarian Grand Prix, Mika Hakkinen led the drivers' standings with two points ahead of Michael Schumacher and six points ahead of David Coulthard. McLaren -Mercedes resulted in the Constructors' Championship with a point ahead of Ferrari and 88 points before Williams - BMW.
With Michael Schumacher ( four times ) and David Coulthard (once) were two former winners of this Grand Prix.
Training
In free practice on Friday Coulthard scored the fastest lap time ahead of Häkkinen and Johnny Herbert. In Saturday's training his team -mate Mika Hakkinen took the lead position ahead of Jenson Button and Jarno Trulli.
Qualifying
In qualifying, Mika Häkkinen drove the fastest lap again and took the pole position ahead of Jarno Trulli and Jenson Button.
Warm Up
Even in the warm up on Rennsontag the Finn scored again the fastest lap. Second was Michael Schumacher ahead of Button.
Race
After the disappointment in Hungary, where the Ferraris had been considerably slower than the McLaren of Hakkinen and Coulthard, the Scuderia in desperate need of a victory on the circuit of Spa - Francorchamps in Belgium. However, Mika Hakkinen in the McLaren in qualifying proved that he was the man, the one to beat; Jarno Trulli placed his Jordan - Mugen Honda also in the front row and the surprising newcomer Jenson Button was third at impressively fast Williams - BMW. Michael Schumacher was fourth with difficulty, even when his Ferrari with Häkkinen clearly could not keep up.
On Sunday it rained, the track was wet and forced the stewards to start the race under the safety car. This is because the start -finish straight is very short and straight into a sharp hairpin ( " La Source " ) leads; there had been in recent years, several accidents, also to safety concerns were observed. It was not long until the safety car went back to the pits and the race began. In the initial phase, it was not a real race. Häkkinen came in wet conditions off the front, his championship rival Michael Schumacher and David Coulthard were caught in traffic. However, improved Schumacher's situation a lot, as Jenson Button and Jarno Trulli collided in La Source, so that the door for the Germans opened and he was able to take second place. Ralf Schumacher in the other Williams - BMW inherited the third place.
However, the ideal line dried off quickly. The leaders were not prepared to take the risk to change to dry tires, but Jean Alesi in Prost- Peugeot had essentially nothing to lose and therefore tried his luck. After his tire change he was clearly the fastest rider on the track, this was the trigger for other teams also call in their drivers to do the same. McLaren made a tactical mistake by not immediately brought Hakkinen and David on the boxes, this cost both valuable time and allowed a now now aufdrehenden Schumacher to close the gap. Meanwhile, had earned him a 4th place after the pit stops Alesis brilliant decision.
This semi - wet conditions fit obviously Michael Schumacher's wet - tuned car more than Hakkinen on dry tuned car and the German began to close the gap to the Finns. Then Hakkinen turned because of standing water on the track and allowed Schumacher to take over the lead. Over the next few laps Schumacher enlarged the gap to a comfortable lead. The ITV commentator Martin Brundle and former racing driver assumed that Schumacher's skillful use of a still wet line on the long straights of Raidillon to Les Combes to cool his tires (and their power to maximize it) played a major role in the he is so easy to distinguish it from Häkkinen. Schumacher completed after about half the distance of 44 laps to his pit stop and refilled enough fuel to finish the race can. Häkkinen drove on a little longer and then made his final pit stop.
Schumacher still had a sufficient lead, but the now apparently faster Hakkinen completed clearly on the Ferrari. The track was now completely dry and untwist Hakkinen on. Schumacher had his Ferrari for wet conditions set because of the weather in the morning and went with a fairly high wing downforce. He was particularly on the straight sections slower (especially through the Eau Rouge, by Raidillon and the Kemmel straight along up to Les Combes ). Hakkinen drove a tuned to dry set-up in anticipation of a mainly dry race. This would yet prove to be decisive for the outcome of the fight.
In the final stages of the race Hakkinen used his speed advantage on the straights for the better and approached Schumacher from the inside on the Kemmel straight towards Les Combes. In typically robust manner Schumacher moved over to the right, forcing Häkkinen almost on the grass at over 320 km / h The Finn was unimpressed by this maneuver, he had not to wait long for compensation because they came in the next round ( round 40) at the exact same place. As Schumacher Ricardo Zonta just lapped, this drove left past the BAR- driver, but Häkkinen took the right side, overtook Zonta and braked Schumacher in the following graph from Les Combes. This maneuver is one of the most famous and is also referred to as " the century maneuver". Schumacher drove to the end very well, but could not do anything against a clearly faster Häkkinen at the end. Ralf Schumacher also showed a good performance by the second McLaren he held David Coulthard behind and secured the final podium place.
In the world championship Häkkinen extended his lead to Schumacher and the rest of the field. In the Constructors' Championship, McLaren led the table with now a greater distance to ahead of Ferrari.
Message list
Classifications
Qualifying
Race
WM stands after the race
The first six of the race were 10, 6, 4, 3, 2 and 1 point (s).