2000 Canadian Grand Prix

The 2000 Canadian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on June 18, 2000 at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Canada. It was the eighth race of the 2000 Formula One season. The race was the 38th Canadian Grand Prix and the 22nd to be held at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. The race was held over 69 laps of the 4.4-kilometre circuit for a total race distance of 305 kilometres.

The race was won by eventual 2000 world champion, German driver Michael Schumacher driving a Ferrari F1-2000. The win was Schumacher's fifth win of the season and his fourth Canadian Grand Prix victory, a new record. Schumacher won by 0.1 seconds in a formation finish with his Brazilian team mate Rubens Barrichello in Ferrari's second 1-2 of the year. Italian driver Giancarlo Fisichella finished third driving a Benetton B200.

Report
Michael Schumacher took pole position with David Coulthard beside him, Rubens Barrichello in third, Mika Häkkinen in fourth, Heinz-Harald Frentzen in fifth and Jacques Villeneuve in sixth.

Before the start, Coulthard stalled on the parade lap. The McLaren mechanics desperately tried to restart his car and were still working on it. They restarted it during the 15-second period when the cars went off and Coulthard ran to take his grid position rather than starting at the back. At the start, Coulthard got away better than Schumacher but the Ferrari moved across the road and kept the lead. Behind, neither Barrichello nor Häkkinen nor Frentzen had a good start but Villeneuve had a great one and went around the outside of Häkkinen who was already in front of Barrichello. This allowed him to get the inside line into the second corner and keep third place. In the third corner, Barrichello tried to pass both Villeneuve and Häkkinen but it was risky. Barrichello passed Häkkinen but Villeneuve kept third. Behind them, Pedro de la Rosa passed Jarno Trulli and then Frentzen. The order was: Schumacher, Coulthard, Villeneuve, Barrichello, Häkkinen, de la Rosa, Frentzen, Ricardo Zonta, Trulli and Giancarlo Fisichella.

Schumacher and Coulthard were pulling away at a massive rate, Villeneuve holding up their teammates and others. Häkkinen tried to make a move on Barrichello but it failed and Barrichello defended fourth. At the front, the top two were exchanging fastest laps but soon Coulthard was under investigation. On lap 11, Coulthard was given a 10 second stop-and go penalty for the parade lap problem. He went soon and joined in 10th, between a second train of cars behind Zonta. Villeneuve was holding up everyone behind him but was soon attacked by a frustrated Barrichello. Barrichello eventually did pass Villeneuve on lap 17, but he was already 19 seconds behind Schumacher. He then started to match Schumacher's pace but he was way too far behind. On lap 24, Coulthard tried to pass Jos Verstappen and they touched Verstappen spinning down to 19th and Coulthard going to the grass and down in 12th.

On the same lap, Trulli overtook Zonta for seventh place and started closing in on Frentzen. At the front, Schumacher was 20 seconds of Barrichello and Villeneuve was holding up Häkkinen and the Jordans. On lap 27 Trulli got past Frentzen and Häkkinen got past Villeneuve at the end of the next lap. The, suddenly, something slowly started to go amiss in the back of Schumacher's car. He started to lose a tenth or two per lap to Barrichello and by lap 34 his lead was down to 18 seconds. Ferrari played safe and Schumacher pitted, rejoining 10 seconds behind Barrichello but ahead of Häkkinen. Barrichello was starting to pull away from Schumacher with Häkkinen closing in. Häkkinen was right with Schumacher was unable to pass. Frustrated, he pitted on lap 42. Barrichello followed in next lap with a 13 second lead and came out 15 seconds behind Schumacher. Coulthard followed him in.

It began to rain on lap 44 when Villeneuve and Giancarlo Fisichella made their stops. Fisichella chose wets correctly but Villeneuve chose dries. Häkkinen went into the pits again to change back to wets. He was now 52 seconds behind Schumacher and was out of contention. Schumacher went next lap with a 12 second lead but Barrichello, unaware that Schumacher was in the Brazilian followed Schumacher in. The team were not ready and he had to wait for some time. He rejoined behind Fisichella but still ahead of Häkkinen. The order was: Schumacher, Fisichella, Barrichello, Häkkinen, Trulli, Verstappen, Alexander Wurz, Ralf Schumacher, Coulthard and Villeneuve. Fisichella made a mistake on lap 50 and Barrichello was through to second. He started closing in on Schumacher. On lap 56, Verstappen passed Trulli for fifth. By lap 62, Barrichello was with Schumacher. On lap 64, Villeneuve passed Coulthard only to be repassed immediately. He repeated it next time and braked so late that he hit Ralf, taking both of them out. Coulthard went after Wurz and hit Wurz while trying to pass him on lap 68. Wurz was forced to pit while Coulthard went after Trulli. Schumacher held off Barrichello with Fisichella, Häkkinen, Verstappen and Trulli who held off Coulthard getting the remaining points.

Standings after the race

 * Drivers' Championship standings


 * Constructors' Championship standings


 * Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.