2000 United States Grand Prix

  2000 United States Grand Prix

Race details
Race 15 of 17 in the 2000 Formula One season
Date	September 24, 2000
Official name	XXIX SAP United States Grand Prix
Location	Indianapolis Motor Speedway Indianapolis, Indiana
Course	Permanent racing facility 4.195 km (2.606 mi)
Distance	73 laps, 306.235 km (190.238 mi)
Weather	Cloudy, drying, Air Temp: 13°C (55.4°F)
Pole position
Driver	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari
Time	1:14.266
Fastest lap
Driver	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes
Time	1:14.711 on lap 40
Podium
First	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari
Second	Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari
Third	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Jordan-Mugen-Honda

Mika Häkkinen driving the McLaren MP4/15 during qualifying.

The 2000 United States Grand Prix was a Formula One race held on September 24, 2000 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Indiana. This was the largest crowd to ever attend a Formula 1 race, eclipsing the mark of 210,000 set at the Australian Grand Prix (Adelaide) in 1995.

Summary

After a nine-year absence, the United States Grand Prix returned in front of the largest Formula One crowd ever (250,000+) as Michael Schumacher won from the pole at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Engaged in a World Championship battle with Mika Häkkinen and McLaren for the third straight year, Schumacher and Ferrari reclaimed the lead in both the Driver's and Constructor's Championships with two races to go in the season, as Schumacher's teammate Rubens Barrichello placed second ahead of the Jordan of Heinz-Harald Frentzen.

The massive crowd contained veteran F1 fans who had seen drivers like Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart and Ayrton Senna race and win in the United States, as well as curious NASCAR, CART and IRL fans attending their first GP. Many long-time Indianapolis 500 attendees cheered Jacques Villeneuve's return to the place that skyrocketed his reputation, and with grandstand access included in a General Admission ticket on Friday and Saturday, fans were able to move around the massive circuit and view the new track from every angle. On Friday morning, a line of cars formed at the pit exit to begin the first practice session, and the sight and sound of the first F1 car (Johnny Herbert's Jaguar) sweeping through the traditional Turn One of the oval (Turn 13 of the GP course)– backwards!– gave notice that this was a historic weekend in both American and international racing.

In warm and sunny conditions, Friday's first practice times were not quite as fast as computer simulations had predicted for the new track, as only Schumacher and the two McLarens of Mika Häkkinen and David Coulthard were under 1:15. Overnight rain produced a damp surface for the start of morning practice, but as the track dried, the times began to match those from Friday's sessions and several drivers improved. Most of the teams had begun their search for an optimal compromise setup by running very little downforce to take advantage of the long front straight, where drivers were on full throttle for an unprecedented 24 seconds. Gradually, however, they found that this strategy cost them more time in the tight infield section than it saved on the straight.

At the start of qualifying, threatening skies caused everyone to take to the circuit immediately and Schumacher posted the quickest lap of the weekend at 1:14.492 just six minutes into the session. With 30 minutes to go and the track still dry, Alexander Wurz's Benetton was the only car on the track, but Schumacher returned and quickly improved his pole-sitting time to 1:14.266 with 25 minutes still remaining. Mika Häkkinen then bumped Barrichello off the front row, but with nineteen minutes left, had already used all his laps. When Coulthard was ready for a last effort, Häkkinen led him around the final banked turn in order to slingshot his teammate down the straight, as the Ferrari drivers had done. Coulthard missed taking the pole by .127 seconds, but joined Schumacher on the front row, ahead of Häkkinen.

Over 250,000 fans watched the start of the 2000 United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis, the first Formula One race in the United States since 1991

The long-predicted rain appeared for about an hour on Sunday morning and as the cars formed on the grid, there were effectively two different tracks– the nearly dry oval portion and an infield still wet enough to cause all but Herbert to start the race with wet tires. As the lights went out, the crowd of over 250,000 waited to see who would lead into the first corner. With surprising ease, it was Coulthard's McLaren...but anyone who could see the cars leave the grid knew immediately that the Scot had moved much too early and was sure to be penalized.

Realizing he would indeed have to serve a stop-and-go (along with Giancarlo Fisichella) caused Coulthard to begin slowing his pace ahead of Schumacher to allow Häkkinen to close the gap to the Ferrari. Schumacher, who narrowly avoided a false start himself, took the lead from Coulthard down the main straight and around the outside of Turn One– touching wheels briefly– on Lap 7. Häkkinen went through as well, in Turn Four, then immediately pitted for dry tires.

When the Finn rejoined the race, he was fifth behind the Minardi of Gastón Mazzacane, who was still on wet tires. For five laps, with the oval section dry but the infield still quite wet, Häkkinen was unable to pass Mazzacane. Finally on Lap 14, the Minardi pitted and Häkkinen immediately began charging. He reduced his best time by nearly five seconds, going almost two and a half seconds faster than Schumacher, and Ferrari quickly called the German in for dry tires.

When he returned, Schumacher was ten seconds in the lead, but as the track continued to dry, Häkkinen was closing in dramatic fashion. He set the race's fastest lap eight times in ten laps, as the gap narrowed to 4.1 seconds. Then suddenly, on Lap 25, the McLaren slowed instead of accelerating onto the oval in Turn Twelve as flames curled from the left rear of the engine cover. Häkkinen coasted back to the pit lane with a Mercedes rotisserie in the back of Car Number One, and the race was all but decided. Mercedes-Benz Motorsport chief Norbert Haug later attributed the failure to a problem in the pneumatic valve system, caused simply by a bad batch of parts.

Tony George waves the checkered flag for Michael Schumacher at the finish of the inaugural USGP at Indianapolis

While Barrichello and Coulthard fought their way back into the points from fifteenth and sixteenth, exchanging fastest laps between each other, Schumacher led lap after lap, followed by brother Ralf's Williams, then Frentzen's Jordan and finally Barrichello. With just over four laps to go, Schumacher hooked his right front wheel over the curb and spun onto the wet grass. He returned to the track in the lead and radioed his crew, "Don't worry, I am awake now". He remained 12.118 seconds ahead of Barrichello.

The win was the 42nd of Schumacher's career– putting him alone in second place all-time– and the first in the US for Ferrari since 1979 at Watkins Glen when Gilles Villeneuve and World Champion Jody Scheckter also finished first and second. It also helped Schumacher finally gain the upper hand in his three-year struggle with Häkkinen as the win put him in a position to clinch his third Driver's title, the first for a Ferrari driver since Scheckter, at the next race in Japan.

Frentzen held on to third for Jordan from Jacques Villeneuve's BAR. With seven laps to go, Villeneuve dived inside Frentzen at the end of the main straight and passed the apex ahead of the Jordan but slid wide and across the grass. He recovered to take fourth, ahead of Coulthard and his BAR teammate Ricardo Zonta. "Today was a lot of fun," Villeneuve said, "and we were really quick in the race, but it's frustrating to get so close to a podium. I made a couple of mistakes, but it probably wouldn't have made a difference in the end. I wasn't really close enough to pass Frentzen, but I just decided there was no sand trap and no tire wall, so I'd take a chance. I lost track of where the corner was, and as soon as I touched the brakes I knew I was not going to be able to stop."

Classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	3	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	73	1:36:30.883	1	10
2	4	Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari	73	+12.118	4	6
3	5	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Jordan-Mugen-Honda	73	+17.368	7	4
4	22	Jacques Villeneuve	BAR-Honda	73	+17.936	8	3
5	2	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	73	+28.813	2	2
6	23	Ricardo Zonta	BAR-Honda	73	+51.694	12	1
7	7	Eddie Irvine	Jaguar-Cosworth	73	+1:11.115	17
8	16	Pedro Diniz	Sauber-Petronas	72	+1 Lap	9
9	15	Nick Heidfeld	Prost-Peugeot	72	+1 Lap	16
10	12	Alexander Wurz	Benetton-Playlife	72	+1 Lap	11
11	8	Johnny Herbert	Jaguar-Cosworth	72	+1 Lap	19
12	20	Marc Gené	Minardi-Fondmetal	72	+1 Lap	22
Ret	14	Jean Alesi	Prost-Peugeot	64	Engine	20
Ret	21	Gastón Mazzacane	Minardi-Fondmetal	59	Engine	21
Ret	9	Ralf Schumacher	Williams-BMW	58	Engine	10
Ret	18	Pedro de la Rosa	Arrows-Supertec	45	Gearbox	18
Ret	11	Giancarlo Fisichella	Benetton-Playlife	44	Engine	15
Ret	19	Jos Verstappen	Arrows-Supertec	34	Brakes	13
Ret	1	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes	25	Engine	3
Ret	17	Mika Salo	Sauber-Petronas	18	Spun off	14
Ret	10	Jenson Button	Williams-BMW	14	Engine	6
Ret	6	Jarno Trulli	Jordan-Mugen-Honda	12	Collision	5

Notes

• David Coulthard and Giancarlo Fisichella were each awarded a 10 second stop and go penalty for a jumped start.
• David Coulthard's fifth place was not enough to keep him in title contention, and he dropped out with two rounds remaining, leaving just Mika Häkkinen and Michael Schumacher to fight for the title.
• This was the first F1 race in the United States since 1991.
• This was also the first non-oval event ever held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
• Villeneuve narrowly missed reaching the podium at Indianapolis for the third time in three tries; he finished second in his first Indy 500 in 1994, and won the race the following year.
• Jaguar drivers Eddie Irvine and Johnny Herbert held an unusual test session on Tuesday before the race in New York City. With ear plugs distributed by the team, a huge Manhattan crowd saw Irvine in an F1 test chassis and Herbert in a Yellow Checker Taxi cab "race" down Broadway. The race pit crew reported that the taxi won.
• On Sunday morning, it was announced that both Ferrari and McLaren had convinced the FIA to move the grid positions back one row to avoid wheelspin on the famous "Yard of Bricks" at the line.
• The checkered flag at the finish was waved by Speedway President Tony George, who had realized his dream of bringing Formula One back to America at his family's track.
• In the UK this was the first grand prix not to be shown live on ITV1 since they acquired the rights in 1997, and instead was shown on ITV2.

Standings after the race

• Bold text indicates who still has a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Michael Schumacher 88 2 Mika Häkkinen 80 3 David Coulthard 63 4 Rubens Barrichello 55 5 Ralf Schumacher 24

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Ferrari 143 2 McLaren-Mercedes 133 3 Williams-BMW 34 4 Benetton-Playlife 20 5 Jordan-Mugen-Honda 17

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

References

• Bob Judd (December, 2000). "SAP United States Grand Prix: Back home in Indiana". Road & Track, 104-107.

Previous race: 2000 Italian Grand Prix	FIA Formula One World Championship 2000 season	Next race: 2000 Japanese Grand Prix
Previous race: 1991 United States Grand Prix	United States Grand Prix	Next race: 2001 United States Grand Prix
Awards
Preceded by 1999 Malaysian Grand Prix	Formula One Promotional Trophy for Race Promoter 2000	Succeeded by 2001 Canadian Grand Prix

This page uses some content from Wikipedia. The original article was at 2000 United States Grand Prix. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Autopedia, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.