2001 British Grand Prix

2001 British Grand Prix
Race 11 of 17 in the 2001 Formula One World Championship
← Previous raceNext race →
Silverstone Circuit
Race details
Date 15 July 2001
Official name LIV Foster's British Grand Prix
Location Silverstone, Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire, England
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 5.140 km (3.194 miles)
Distance 60 laps, 308.400 km (191.640 miles)
Weather Partially cloudy, mild, dry, Air Temp: 16 °C (61 °F), Track 27 °C (81 °F)
Pole position
Driver Ferrari
Time 1:20.447
Fastest lap
Driver Finland Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes
Time 1:23.405 on lap 34
Podium
First McLaren-Mercedes
Second Ferrari
Third Ferrari
Lap leaders

The 2001 British Grand Prix (formally the LIV Foster's British Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 15 July 2001 at Silverstone in Northamptonshire, England. It was the eleventh race of the 2001 FIA Formula One World Championship.

The 60-lap race was won by Mika Häkkinen, driving a McLaren-Mercedes. Drivers' Championship leader Michael Schumacher took pole position in his Ferrari, with Häkkinen alongside him on the front row; the Finn overtook Schumacher on lap 5 and led for the remainder of the race, except during the first round of pit stops.[1] It was Häkkinen's first victory of the season, and his 19th overall. Schumacher finished over half a minute behind, with teammate Rubens Barrichello third.[2]

There were five retirements during the race: Jarno Trulli's Jordan and Olivier Panis's BAR were eliminated in separate first-corner collisions; David Coulthard's McLaren suffered a suspension failure; and Ralf Schumacher's Williams and Luciano Burti's Prost suffered engine failures. Tarso Marques failed to qualify his Minardi as a result of not setting a time within 107% of Michael Schumacher's pole time.[3] Heinz-Harald Frentzen finished seventh in the other Jordan, in what would turn out to be his last race for the team before he was sacked four days before the next race in Germany.[4][5]

Coulthard's retirement meant that Michael Schumacher extended his lead in the Drivers' Championship to 37 points with six races remaining.

  1. ^ "Formula One results and fixtures". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 3 July 2000. Archived from the original on 5 March 2009. Retrieved 25 June 2009.
  2. ^ Benson, Andrew (15 July 2001). "Hakkinen halts Schumacher charge". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 23 June 2009.
  3. ^ Benson, Andrew (14 July 2001). "Schumacher grabs pole". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 23 June 2009.
  4. ^ "Frentzen sacked by Jordan". Telegraph Online. Telegraph Publishing Group. 25 July 2001. Retrieved 23 June 2009.
  5. ^ "Frentzen: The man behind the wheel". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 25 July 2001. Retrieved 23 June 2009.