Mika Hakkinen used his anger about being demoted from the front row of the grid to catapult him to victory in the US Grand Prix on Sunday – the 20th win of his F1 career
Mika Hakkinen used his anger about being demoted from the front row of the grid to catapult him to victory in the US Grand Prix on Sunday – the 20th win of his F1 career.
The furious Finn qualified second for the Indianapolis race, but was moved back to fourth after running through a red light in the morning warm-up. He also damaged his car on the warm-up lap. Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher, who started from pole, finished second – 11,046 seconds adrift – and Hakkinen’s team-mate, David Coulthard, was third, 12,043 behind the Finn.
Italian driver Jarno Trulli of the Jordan-Honda team was later disqualified after finishing fourth. Race officials found the skid-block or "plank" under his car had been worn down more than allowed by the Formula One regulations. The decision means Eddie Irvine of Jaguar moves up to fourth place. Nick Heidfeld was fifth and Jean Alesi took six place for Jordan.
"With what happened earlier, it was justice for him to turn it around," Coulthard said of Hakkinen’s victory. "I benefited from other people’s misfortunes. I didn’t really deserve third. But that’s the way it goes. I’ll take the points."
Ferrari’s Rubens Barrichello’s engine failed in the final few laps of the race. He was in second place, chasing Hakkinen, when blue smoke began pouring from the back of his F2001.
"The feeling is horrible," said Barrichello. "It’s very difficult to express what I’m feeling right now. I have shown that whenever I have the chance to win, I’m going for it. We had a fantastic strategy and I was fighting the whole time for lap times and getting through the traffic.
"My second set of tyres wasn’t great because I think the pressure went too high, but that only cost me a few tenths. But at the end it was going to be close. I had a little bit more speed that Mika. If I got it to within one second of him, I’m sure I could have fought the whole way through. But it wasn’t to be."
Hakkinen moves up to fifth in the drivers’ championship behind Williams’s Juan-Pablo Montoya.
"I am delighted – this is the highlight of my year. Winning the British Grand Prix is something I have always wanted to do and now it is in my book,” said Hakkinen, reflecting on the high points of what has been a disappointing year.
"Indianapolis was the other one. I am absolutely delighted, particularly because of this morning’s incidents. First I damaged the race car in the warm-up accident and the mechanics fixed that. Then the second thing was I went through the red light and I was dropped down to the second row and fourth position.
"I was p***ed off. I was really upset. In reality there was no excuse, but you just can’t see those lights from where I was. Rules are rules, but you have to use common sense. lf you cannot see you cannot see.
"After all that frustration, to be sitting in the middle and winning the grand prix that is incredible. I am pleased – I don’t know what to say."
Hakkinen plans to take at least a year’s break from racing after the final race of the season, the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka on
October 14. "We’re confident the performance of the car will be better in Suzuka," Hakkinen said. "We will try to get the maximum result and then that’s it. Hasta la vista."
Montoya’s return to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was hardly a success. The Colombian won the Indianapolis 500 last year, but dropped out just past the midway point of Sunday’s US Grand Prix.
"It’s a bit disappointing we couldn’t finish the race," said Montoya, who passed Michael Schumacher to take the lead on the 34th lap. The next time around, he set a lap record of 1 minute 14,448 seconds.
But he yielded the lead when he came in for a pit stop and then dropped out after his car stopped on the front straightaway. "I don’t know what happened," he said. "I think it was the hydraulics, because I lost all the gears and everything."
His team-mate, Ralf Schumacher, spun out of the race on the approach to Turn 6 on lap 37 while in eighth place. Schumacher said: "Over the entire weekend we didn’t manage to get the car’s set up right," he commented.
"After my pit stop the handling became even worse. Juan Pablo and myself were on different strategies as we were not sure what the tyre wear would be. It became clear Juan Pablo had the better strategy. The spin was my mistake, I lost the rear under braking for the corner. I had many great weekends and for me this was not so great.
Technical director Patrick Head commented: "We had mixed fortunes, although mostly fairly negative. Juan Pablo was on a one-stop strategy, was definitely very fast and I am confident he was going to be in a position to challenge for the victory.
"Ralf was on a two-stop strategy. It didn’t really work for him, but the car just was not quick enough and on the second set of tyres the handling appeared to be very poor, until eventually it got away from him. Juan Pablo set the fastest lap of the race just before his pit stop and it looks as though there was a failure in the hydraulic system.”
Results:
1 Mika Hakkinen (Fin) McLaren-Mercedes
2 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari
3 David Coulthard (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
4 Eddie Irvine (Gbr) Jaguar
5 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) Sauber-Petronas
6 Jean Alesi (Fra) Jordan-Honda
7 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Benetton-Renault
8 Jenson Button (Gbr) Benetton-Renault
9 Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Ger) Prost-Acer
10 Olivier Panis (Fra) BAR-Honda
11 Pedro de la Rosa (Spa) Jaguar
12 Enrique Bernoldi (Bra) Arrows-Asiatech
13 Tomas Enge (Cze) Prost-Acer
14 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Ferrari
Disqualified: Jarno Trulli (Ita) Jordan-Honda
Failed to finish: Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Sauber-Petronas; Fernando Alonso (Spa) European Minardi; Jacques Villeneuve (Can) BAR-Honda; Jos Verstappen (Ned) Arrows-Asiatech; Alex Yoong (Mas) European Minardi; Ralf Schumacher (Ger) Williams-BMW; Juan Pablo Montoya (Col) Williams-BMW.
Drivers’ standings:
1 M Schumacher (Ger) 113 points
2 D Coulthard (Gbr) 61
3 R Barrichello (Bra) 54
4 R Schumacher (Ger) 48
5 M Hakkinen (Fin) 34
6 JP Montoya (Col) 25
7 N Heidfeld (Ger) 13
8 J Villeneuve (Can) 12
=9 K Raikkonen (Fin) 9, J Trulli (Ita) 9
11 G Fisichella (Ita) 8
12 E Irvine (Gbr) 7
=13 HH Frentzen (Ger) 6, J. Alesi 6
15 O Panis (Fra) 5
16 P de la Rosa (Spa) 3
17 J Button (Gbr) 2
18 J Verstappen (Ned) 1.
Constructors’ standings:
1 Ferrari 167 pts (champions)
2 McLaren-Mercedes 95
3 Williams-BMW 76
4 Sauber-Petronas 22
=5 Jordan-Honda 17, BAR-Honda 17
=7 Benetton-Renault 10, Jaguar 10
9 Prost-Acer 4
10 Arrows-Asiatech 1.
