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Michael Schumacher wins Malaysian GP
March 18, 2001

Michael Schumacher spun on a wet track in the early laps, spent over a minute in the pits changing tires,  but still led a Ferrari 1-2 sweep to take his sixth consecutive F1 win.

The race was quite unpredictable, and by recent F1 standards, somewhat entertaining, as a result of the weather. That didn't stop Schumacher from recording his 6th win in a row to go along with his six consecutive poles.  He now only needs three more victories to match Alberto Ascari's all-time record of nine straight victories set back in the Fifties.

Rubens Barrichello, as ever made a solid job of backing up his team leader. The Brazilian drove a strong race to finish 2nd. 

A Ferrari 1-2 looked doubtful in the early stages. Everything was going to plan as Schumacher led the race in the opening laps, but on lap 2 both Ferraris went off course at the same quick right hand turn, almost in formation. The pair had hit oil dropped by Olivier Panis' BAR which had lost an engine the lap before. Both recovered and re-joined further down the field but already the race was taking another dramatic turn.

By this stage rain was pouring down and the circuit looked to be in the midst of a full-scale Malaysian monsoon. Cars were flying off the track everywhere. Through it all, David Coulthard emerged with the lead, as the safety car joined the track and the cars dived into the pits for wet tires.

While this was going on both Ferraris were in the pits with nothing happening as the mechanics scrambled for the right tires. But instead of fitting full wet rubber like most other teams, Ferrari gambled on fitting intermediates, hoping that the safety car stay out long enough until the standing water was dried up. 

Ferrari's gamble paid off as the rain stopped and the field followed the safety car for a number of laps as the worst of the surface water dispersed. The Ferarri's were 11th and 12th at this stage.

Once the race got underway again, Schumacher was lapping over five seconds a lap quicker than anyone else apart from Barrichello on the drying track. The choice of intermediate tires was proving the right choice.

By lap 16 Schumacher passed Coulthard for the lead and his teammate did the same a few laps later.  With the Ferrari's back in front, there was little doubt who would win.

Coulthard held on for 3rd place - the best of the rest.  He was followed by Frentzen, Ralf Schumacher and Mika Hakkinen.

Juan Pablo Montoya did not finish after a spin on lap 4.  "I am a bit disappointed with my result because the car was good and considering that I didn't have any running on Friday I was starting from a very good position. But on the grid the engine died and when I tried to start it again it didn't work. I had to jump into the T-car and start from the pit lane. When it began to rain hard I radioed the pit wall that I needed to switch to wet tires. We decided to stay out one more lap but I couldn't make it to the pit because there was so much aquaplaning. I let the throttle go but again there was so little traction in the rear that the engine stopped and I spun."

Gerhard Berger stated he did not know why the engine on both Montoya's primary and back up car stalled and would not restart. It was so bad Montoya only ran a single lap on Friday.  We find it ironic that the Williams BMW problems only bestow Zanardi and now Montoya (former CART drivers) while Ralf Schumacher and Jenson Button never seem to have (or had) similar problems.  Similar mysterious problems befell Michael Andretti when he tried his hand at F1 in the highly computerized active suspension McLaren in 1993.  His teammate, Senna, had a relatively reliable car.  Backroom talk says F1 does not want to see CART drivers win, especially now that CART is making major inroads into F1 and could threaten F1's worldwide dominance.

Drivers World Championship:
Michael Schumacher, 20 points
David Coulthard, 10
Rubens Barrichello, 10
Heinz-Harald Frentzen, 5
Nick Heidfeld, 3
Ralf Schumacher, 2
Mika Hakkinen, 1
Kimi Raikkonen, 1

Manufacturers Championship:
Ferrari, 30 points
McLaren/Mercedes, 11
Jordan/Honda, 5
Sauber/Petronas, 4
Williams/BMW, 2 

Honda Notes
In a tense and entertaining Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang circuit, Kuala Lumpur, the Honda-powered teams experienced mixed fortunes as Heinz-Harald Frentzen finished in the points for the second consecutive race for Benson & Hedges Jordan Honda with his team-mate Jarno Trulli finishing eighth. The two Lucky Strike Reynard BAR Hondas failed to complete the race after Jacques Villeneuve aquaplaned off while running sixth and Olivier Panis spun off after an oil system leak on lap two. 

The race began with drama as Giancarlo Fisichella confused his starting position on the grid, positioning his Benetton diagonally across the track and forcing a restart. When the contest finally did get underway, Michael Schumacher led away from pole position while his brother Ralf tangled with his Ferrari team-mate, Rubens Barrichello, at the first corner, spinning in the middle of the pack. As the field reshuffled over the first lap, Honda-powered cars were in third (Trulli), fifth (Frentzen), seventh (Villeneuve) and ninth (Panis). 

Within two laps the complexion of the race changed. The leading Ferrari pair spun off on the oil from Panis' BAR Honda, thus promoting Trulli to the lead as a deluge hit Sepang circuit. Cars, running on dry tires, began to slide off, including Trulli himself and the safety car was deployed for eight laps. Over the next three laps there followed a frenzy of pitstops for wet tires and by the time of the restart the lead had changed to Coulthard with Verstappen's Arrows running second, Frentzen third and Trulli sixth. 

At the next restart when the safety car pulled in, the Ferraris began a charge up the field which would see Schumacher take the lead and extend beyond the reach of even his own team-mate. However, the battles raged all the way through the running order over the remainder of the race as Coulthard, Barrichello, Verstappen, Frentzen, Schumacher and Trulli pursued each other at various times, while the pitstop strategies were adjusted and the final shakeout took place 10 laps from the end. 

As Michael Schumacher took the chequered flag he set a new record as the first Grand Prix driver to take six back-to-back victories, while extending his championship lead to 10 points from his team-mate. 

Heinz-Harald Frentzen Position: 4th "This was one of the most exciting races I have ever had, fighting with Ralf, Jos and Mika. We went all over the place due to the standing water but this race was totally driven on the limit. I was very lucky to have been able to race today. At the start I had an electronic problem which caused the engine to misfire but luckily there was a restart which gave us time to reset the car's control system and everything was fine. When the race started again it was a bit wet and I gained a couple of places by the first corner, but I couldn't hold my position as I was heavy on fuel as we had a one-stop strategy planned and I also had a clutch problem from the start of the race. Just after the start we needed to change to wet tires so I came in to pit while the safety car was out. My clutch and downshift problem lasted throughout the whole race which made it quite hard to drive in the wet and I also kept locking the wheels under braking. We were able to save fuel and run to the end - a good strategy which scored us valuable points." 

Kazutoshi Nishizawa - Technical Director, Honda Racing Development "What a race! I have massive mixed feelings. First of all I feel very sorry for the BAR Honda guys. It was an unfortunate day. For the guys at Jordan Honda I am particularly pleased because the team of Jordan, Honda and Heinz-Harald worked well together which allowed us to run a risky strategy (on minimum fuel) right to the end." 

Eddie Jordan, Chief Executive, Jordan Honda "It was a great race and brings back memories of France 1999, where we were brave and took a calculated risk on strategy and it paid off. The pit wall was so actively involved and it's brilliant to get a result. The fortune always favours the brave is a philosophy I have had since I was young and this is a great call." 

Craig Pollock, Team Principal and Managing Director, BAR Honda "An extremely disappointing race for the team after so much work has gone into getting the cars into good positions on the starting grid. There has been great work carried out by everyone back at the factory to get the third car out here and there has been a great deal of effort by the team here at the track. We will put this one behind us and look to improve in Brazil." 

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