Michael Schumacher has won the Malaysian Grand Prix in fine style. This was his sixth win in a row and was so conclusive it prompted team boss Eddie Jordan to suggest that it might not be possible for anyone to defeat the German for the rest of the season!
During qualifying the Ferrari team had come under a certain amount of pressure from the Williams-BMW team most notably from Michael Schumacher's brother Ralf. With only a few minutes of the one hour session remaining he was on provisional pole by a margin of 0.3 seconds when the inevitable superquick lap from his brother pushed Ralf back into second position on the grid. The television shot of the expression on Ralf's face as he sat in the car watching the monitor told the whole story. Worse was to come when the other Ferrari driver Rubens Barrichello also beat his time and took the place from him behind the World Champion.
The Mclaren team had a very disappointing qualifying session and must be wondering where to turn. Mika Hakkinen could only manage 4th and David Coulthard was even further down the grid.
So Sunday's race promised a challenge to the World Champions from a new quarter but as things transpired it was to be short-lived. Juan Pablo Montoya failed to get away on the parade lap and had to sprint ( on foot ) for the T car. The lights went out for the start and Ralf Schumacher was nudged into a spin as the cars fought for position through the first corner. He was able to keep going but by that time everyone else had gone. It was not quite the catastrophe to his chances as it might ordinarily have been however as there was soon to be a rather extraordinary development.
Michael Schumacher was in the lead from the start and Barrichello was in hot pursuit when all of a sudden the German driver failed to negotiate one of the turns and simply went straight on into the gravel. An unusual event it has to be said but even more remarkably his teammate dutifully followed him on this off-road excursion and was actually able to overtake as he made his way back onto the circuit ! (fortuneately the fact that Sepang is the most modern of racetracks means that there are generous run-off areas ) Although it was not obvious at the time it appeared that the Ferrari duo had been caught out by the combination of light rain falling onto the circuit which was itself covered at that particular point with oil from an engine blowout. So miraculously both cars escaped unscathed and set offback to the pits to get some more suitable tyres.
However the unexpected reversal of positions caused a certain amount of confusion in the Ferrari pit as they were expecting Schumacher to come in for tyres first. A set of 'intermediates' for his car had been assembled but the arrival of Barrichello instead provoked scenes reminiscent of last year's European G.P. at the Nurburgring. The mechanics had to dash into the back of the garage in search of tyres for Rubens with which they duly appeared. The clock was ticking away merrily as clocks have a habit of doing in these circumstances and by the time he roared away over a minute had been lost. Again though fortune was on the side of the italian team as the rain was now quite torrential which brought out the Safety Car and also had the effect of persuading the other teams to plump for full 'wets'.
By the time the Safety Car pulled over and the race resumed several laps later the rain had subsided to such an extent that about half the circuit was virtually bone dry. This appeared to be enough to give the Ferraris a 4 second per lap advantage over their rivals whos 'wet' tyres were soon overheating. However the sight of both Schumacher and Barrichello overtaking the top drivers round the outside on several occasions and with apparent ease only served to confirm the impression that the scarlet cars appeared to be ina different league.
As for the other drivers Mika Hakkinen did not appear to be his usual self whilst David Coulthard battled valiantly mostly with Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Ralf schumacher ( who was fighting his way through the field )and notably with Dutchman Jos Verstappen in the Arrows for third, fourth, and fifth positions. Juan Pablo Montoya had managed to start the race but spun off in the wet as had Jacques Villeneuve.
Jos Verstappen putting in a fighting performance for Arrows in the Malaysian GP, 2001
So amazingly the two Ferraris had,in the space of 5 laps, gone from 10th and 11th positions to 1st and second with Michael Schumacher leading and that was basically how it stayed until the end of the race. The final point scoring positions being Schumacher,Barrichello,Coulthard,Frentzen,Ralf Schumacher and finally Hakkinen. Jos Verstappen was unlucky to finish just outside the points in seventh but must be greatly encouraged by his performance at Sepang.
Race Results posted by
David Little
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