2001 European Grand Prix

The 2001 European Grand Prix (formally the XLV Warsteiner Grand Prix of Europe) was a Formula One motor race on June 24, 2001 held at Nürburgring, Nürburg, Germany. It was the ninth race of the 2001 Formula One season. The race, contested over 67 laps, was won by Michael Schumacher driving for Ferrari after starting from pole position. Juan Pablo Montoya finished second driving for Williams, with David Coulthard third driving for McLaren.

After an exciting qualifying session, it was Michael Schumacher in the Ferrari who grabbed pole position from brother Ralf Schumacher and Juan-Pablo Montoya in the Williams-BMWs. This proved to be an important step in winning the grand prix. At the start of the race, Ralf appeared to gain a better start than his brother, but Michael quickly moved across and literally forced Ralf to lift off the throttle, or hit the wall. M Schumacher thus safely held the advantage going into the first corner.

In the early stages, Michael was slowly pulling away, but as the laps passed it became evident that the Michelin-shod Williams-BMWs of Ralf Schumacher and Montoya were starting to show greater speed than the Bridgestone-shod Ferrari. For the rest of the first stint Ralf continued to press his brother, but Michael refused to buckle under the immense pressure. Ralf was now clearly being held up and teammate Montoya was now closing on both of them. Critically for Michael, he and his brother both pitted in at the end of lap 28, thus allowing him to stay in front. Montoya pitted a lap later. After the pitstops, however, the Ferrari showed an improvement in laptimes and was able to comfortably maintain a slender lead. His race was to become even easier when Ralf received a stop-go penalty for illegally crossing the white line that separates the pit exit and racing line (there for safety reasons). Michael Schumacher now comfortably lead over Montoya.

From then on, it was a fairly easy race for the German, who romped to an important victory in the context of the championship.

Standings after the race

 * Drivers' Championship standings


 * Constructors' Championship standings


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