2000 Brazilian Grand Prix

Infobox Grand Prix race report
Type = F1
Country = Brazil
Grand Prix = Brazilian
Date = March 26
Year = 2000

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Caption =
Race_No = 2
Season_No = 17
Official name = XXXVI Grande Prêmio do Brasil
Location = Autódromo José Carlos Pace, São Paulo, Brazil
Course = Permanent racing facility
Course_mi = 2.677
Course_km = 4.309
Distance_laps = 71
Distance_mi = 190.067
Distance_km = 305.909
Weather =
Pole_Driver = Mika Häkkinen
Pole_Team = McLaren-Mercedes
Pole_Time = 1:14.111
Pole_Country = Finland
Fast_Driver = Michael Schumacher
Fast_Team = Ferrari
Fast_Time = 1:14.755
Fast_L

Fast_Country = Germany
First_Driver = Michael Schumacher
First_Team = Ferrari
First_Country = Germany
Second_Driver = Giancarlo Fisichella
Second_Team = Benetton-Playlife
Second_Country = Italy
Third_Driver = Heinz-Harald Frentzen
Third_Team = Jordan-Mugen-Honda
Third_Country = Germany

The 2000 Brazilian Grand Prix was a Formula One race held at Interlagos on March 26, 2000.

Report

Qualifying had Mika Häkkinen on pole position with David Coulthard second. Michael Schumacher was third, Rubens Barrichello was fourth, Giancarlo Fisichella was fifth and Eddie Irvine was sixth.

As the race began, Häkkinen and Schumacher both made good starts but Coulthard was slow away and dropped behind Schumacher. Thus, the order was Häkkinen leading Schumacher with Coulthard third, Barrichello fourth, Eddie Irvine fifth and Fisichella sixth. Soon Schumacher was trying to find a way to get round Häkkinen with Barrichello attacking Coulthard. Schumacher dived on the inside of Häkkinen at the Senna S in the second lap while Barrichello did the same on Coulthard. He made a mistake allowing David to get ahead but he recovered and passed Coulthard by the end of the lap.It soon became clear that the two Ferraris were on two stop-strategies and Barrichello was soon at Häkkinen's rear, trying to get round. Schumacher pulled away at a second a lap from Häkkinen.

Behind the leaders, Trulli on a two-stopper dived past Irvine for fifth shortly after Barrichello got Häkkinen for second on lap 15. When Schumacher pitted on lap 20, he had a 20 second lead on the McLarens and pitted. He rejoined in third place but that became second when Barrichello pitted two laps later. Meanwhile on lap 21 Irvine crashed but it did not bring the safety car out. Now all attention was on the gap between Häkkinen and Schumacher but it was not closing. It was stabilizing and the case was the same with Coulthard in third and Barrichello in fourth. But in the space of three laps, the race turned upside down as on lap 27, Barrichello in fourth began to trail smoke. Three laps later, Häkkinen came to the pits and it was strange as it was too early for a one-stop and too late for a two-stop. It soon became clear that it was not a scheduled pit stop for Mika, but a stop that signalled his retirement.

After Trulli's pit stop on lap 28, Jos Verstappen was in third place for seven laps in the Arrows but he gave it away to Fisichella when he pitted. The two Williams cars of
Ralf Schumacher and Jenson Button with Fisichella and Heinz-Harald Frentzen were running close and all of them were on one-stop. At the front, Coulthard and Schumacher were maintaining a similar pace but Schumacher was always comfortable. Ralf and Button went to the pits on lap 44 and 45 respectively in the battle for the final point. But Ralf emerged a few meters ahead of Verstappen while Button came a few meters behind him. In the laps that followed, Ralf was able to pull away while Button was stuck behind Jos until he made a beautiful overtaking manoeuvre on lap 57. Trulli made his second stop on lap 56 and joined in fifth. Ralf was comfortable in sixth ahead of Button. Verstappen and Pedro de la Rosa were eighth and ninth. Meanwhile the pace began to drop off and the order stayed like that till the finish.

But, after the race, word came from the scrutineering bay that all of the top six cars except for Fisichella were disqualified because they had problems with their wooden floors. The teams appealed but while the FIA was scrutineering the cars again, they found out that the front wing endplates on Coulthard's car were 7mm lower than they should have been. Thus, the position of everyone except for Coulthard was reinstated.

Classification

Notes

*Fastest L

*David Coulthard finished in second position but was disqualified because of an illegal front wing. [ [http://www.gpracing.net192.com/races/reports/648.cfm Race report from GP Racing of the 2000 Brazilian Grand Prix] ]
*The two Saubers were withdrawn from the race after suffering rear wing failures during Practice and Qualifying.
*On April 6 2000, the World Motorsport Council handed out a $100,000 fine to the organisers, after being summoned to Paris due to a safety hoarding falling onto the main straight, narrowly missing Jean Alesi. It was ruled as "exceptional circumstances" [Autosport magazine, July 26th 2007, page 9] .

References

F1 race report
Name_of_race = Brazilian Grand Prix
Year_of_race = 2000
Previous_race_in_season = 2000 Australian Grand Prix
Next_race_in_season = 2000 San Marino Grand Prix
Previous_year's_race = 1999 Brazilian Grand Prix
Next_year's_race = 2001 Brazilian Grand Prix