2000 San Marino Grand Prix

Infobox Grand Prix race report
Type = F1
Country = San Marino
Grand Prix = San Marino
date= April 9

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Year = 2000
Race_No = 3
Official name = XXIV Grand Prix of San Marino
Season_No = 16
Location = Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, Imola, Italy
Course = Permanent racing facility
Course_mi = 3.065
Course_km = 4.933
Distance_laps = 62
Distance_mi = 189.897
Distance_km = 305.609
Weather = Overcast, Mild, Dry
Pole_Driver = Mika Häkkinen
Pole_Team = McLaren-Mercedes
Pole_Time = 1:24.714
Pole_Country = Finland
Fast_Driver = Mika Häkkinen
Fast_Team = McLaren-Mercedes
Fast_Time = 1:26.523
Fast_L

Fast_Country = Finland
First_Driver = Michael Schumacher
First_Team = Ferrari
First_Country = Germany
Second_Driver = Mika Häkkinen
Second_Team = McLaren-Mercedes
Second_Country= Finland
Third_Driver = David Coulthard
Third_Team = McLaren-Mercedes
Third_Country = United Kingdom

The 2000 San Marino Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Imola on April 9, 2000. It was the third round of the 2000 Formula One season.

Report

Qualifying had Mika Häkkinen on pole position with Michael Schumacher second, David Coulthard third, Rubens Barrichello fourth, Ralf Schumacher fifth and Heinz-Harald Frentzen sixth. During qualifying Schumacher took pole position for a brief moment, beating Häkkinen by only 0.025 seconds. However, even though Häkkinen seemed to be losing to Schumacher, being slower on the checkpoints and accidentally sliding of the track for a few seconds, he was determined to get the pole position. Häkkinen drove the last corners amazingly swiftly, and after almost losing control after the very last turn he crossed the finish line and beat Schumacher by 0.091 seconds. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viwllFnipds]

As raceday dawned, it seemed that the McLarens were faster than the Ferraris. At the start, Schumacher did not make a good getaway and, in order to defend his position, moved to the left to block Coulthard. As the two tussled while reaching Tamburello, Coulthard had to lift off, allowing Barrichello to get level with him. In the next corner, Rubens was ahead. At the same time, Jacques Villeneuve had a superb start and got past four cars in front of him. Following Jacques were Jarno Trulli and Eddie Irvine in sixth and seventh respectively. All this had allowed Häkkinen to get a 1.2 second lead over Schumacher and a further 1.9 seconds over Barrichello and Coulthard.

It soon became clear that the race was developing into a battle between Häkkinen and Schumacher. Barrichello and Coulthard were dropping away at a second a lap and they were quite a bit ahead of third group consisting of Villeneuve, Trulli, Irvine, Ralf and Mika Salo. At the front, Häkkinen soon began to ege away from Schumacher, slowly but surely. On lap 20, the gap was out to 3 seconds before it stabilized until the pitstops. Meanwhile Irvine accidentally pushed the speed limiter button, allowing Ralf and Salo to get ahead. On lap 26, over 25 seconds behind the leaders, Barrichello and Coulthard divied into the pits. Coulthard was faster and got ahead of Barrichello. On the next lap, Häkkinen stopped to refuel with a 3.2 second lead. He was stationary for 7.6 seconds unlike Schumacher who was there for 10 seconds. This nearly doubled Mika's lead, up to 5.7 seconds. At the same time, Coulthard had a momentary technical glitch, allowing Barrichello back into third.

Behind the top four, Villeneuve, Ralf and Salo were battling for fifth, sixth and seventh and left Irvine and Trulli to battle for eighth and ninth. At the front, Häkkinen hit a piece of wreckage and lost time. He recovered and increased his lead back up to over five seconds by lap 39. But then Schumacher began to close in. On lap 41, it came down by a second. Another three tents were chipped away in the next lap. On lap 43, however, Schumacher had to deal with the Sauber of Pedro Diniz who tried to be a bit gentle and the two nearly collided. Schumacher lost over a second but immediately something in the electronics went wrong on Häkkinen's car. It immediately reset itself but Mika had lost two seconds. So, when Häkkinen pitted on lap 44 with a 3 second lead, Michael stepped up a gear, but it did not look like he was going to get the 25 seconds needed to get ahead of Mika.

Next lap, Barrichello went into the pits from third while behind them Ralf drops out with fuel pressure. Coulthard's sector times decreased as he went next time around. He came ahead of Rubens. McLaren had won the smaller battle, i.e the battle for third. Now it was left to Schumacher to get ahead of Häkkinen. Schumacher came into the pits on lap 49. It was short and he came ahead of Häkkinen. There was a massive difference in their IN and OUT lap times which made the difference. Coulthard still could not match the pace of the leaders, around three tenths slower but he pulled away from Barrichello at over two seconds a lap. In behind them, Salo was hounding Villeneuve. On lap 58, Trulli had gearbox problems and stopped from eighth. Thus, Schumacher won comfortably from Häkkinen with Coulthard in third. Barrichello was fourth while Villeneuve held off Salo.

Qualifying

Classification

Notes

* Milestones: 100th GP for: Eddie Irvine and Heinz-Harald Frentzen.

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