2000 F1 German Grand Prix - Hockenheim Formula 1 Race Report

2000 German Formula One Grand Prix
Round 11. 31st July, 2000. 45 lap race. Hockenheim circuit.
21 degrees Celsius. Dry first half of race with heavy rain later.

1/ Rubens Barrichello (Ferrari);
2/ Mika Hakkinen (McLaren); 3/ David Coulthard (McLaren);
4/ Button (Williams); 5/ Salo (Sauber); 6/ De La Rosa (Arrows)

GREAT RACE! This was the first F1 career win for Rubens Barrichello after 123 starts, and was probably the best race of the season thus far. If you didn't see the race, go beg, borrow or steal a video of it - it had everything, plus some surprises!

Rubens ran a superb race after a qualifying 16th on the grid. Ferrari ran him with a two stop strategy, giving him a light car for the first part of the race, allowing him to work his way up through the pack - which he did brilliantly. He made his first pit stop on lap 16, by which time he had passed everyone to be third behind the two McLarens of Hakkinen and Coulthard.

A lunatic wandered onto the track on lap 26, forcing the safety car out, bunching up the field with most drivers scrambling into the pits. Hakkinen took to the McLaren garage on that lap, leaving Coulthard to make his stop a lap later. Coulthard dropped to sixth during his stop, but valiantly fought his way back to finish third.

Rain on one half of the track made conditions slippery for drivers, most of whom came in for wet tyres. Barrichello saw that Hakkinen had gone in for new tyres and made the decision to stay out on the track to test the conditions. His superior performance on the dry half of the track meant that he easily made up for what he lost in the wet & teacherous conditions. A brave move, but ultimately one that paid off handsomely for the Rubens, who finished 7.4 seconds clear of his rival Hakkinen's McLaren.

Championship leader Michael Schumacher has failed to finish the last three Grand Prix with any points. At the 1st corner, running in third position, he moved across into the path of Giancarlo Fisichella, who ran into the rear of Schumacher's Ferrari, ending both driver's race. Schumacher still leads the Driver's Championship after this race with 56 points ahead of both McLaren drivers on 54 points each.
Lap record set this race by Rubens Barrichello 1:44.300
Hockenheim Map

	2000 German Formula One Grand Prix
Lap	Race Report
Start	Coulthard on pole and Hakkinen (4th) had a starting strategy, with Coulthard moving across in front of Schumacher (2nd). Hakkinen scooted through to be first into the first corner.
1st Corner	Schumacher moved wide across the track to get a narrow exit on the first corner, but Fisichella ran into the rear of Schumacher, ending both driver's race. This was almost a replay of the last race.
Lap 1	1/ Hakkinen; 2/ Coulthard; 3/ Trulli; 4/ De La Rosa; 5/ Irvine; 6/ Herbert
Lap 2	Barrichello, who started 16th on the grid is already attacking Irvine for 7th position.
Lap 3	1/ Hakkinen; 2/ Coulthard; 3/ Trulli; 4/ De La Rosa; 5/ Verstappen; 6/ Herbert; 7/ Barrichello; 8/ Irvine; 9/ Villeneuve; 10/ Zonta; 11/ R.Schumacher; 12/ Wurz; 13/ Heidfeld; 14/ Frentzen; 15/ Salo; 16/ Diniz; 17/ Gene; 18/ Alesi.
Lap 4	Coulthard Fastest Lap 1:46.091 Trulli's Arrows keeps up with the McLarens! Barrichello overtakes Herbert for 6th place.
Lap 5	Barrichello overtakes Verstappen for 5th place.
Lap 7	Barrichello Fastest Lap 1:45.331
Lap 10	1/ Hakkinen; (1.639 seconds) 2/ Coulthard; (7.6 seconds) 3/ Trulli; (10.180) 4/ De La Rosa; (10.605) 5/ Barrichello; (22.762) 6/Herbert...
Lap 11	Barrichello overtakes De La Rosa for 4th place.
Lap 12	Frentzen Fastest Lap 1:44.929 Sets new circuit record previously held by Coulthard 1:45.2
Lap 13	Herbert retires.
Lap 14	Frentzen Fastest Lap 1:44.653
Lap 15	Barrichello overtakes Trulli for 3rd place.
Lap 16	Barrichello Fastest Lap 1:44.638 Barrichello pit stop 7.2 seconds, rejoins in 6th place.
Lap 18	1/ Hakkinen; 2/ Coulthard; 3/ Trulli; 4/ De La Rosa; 5/ Frenzten; 6/ Barrichello ...
Lap 19	Frenzten pits 8.6 seconds, rejoins in sixth position.
Lap 20	Barrichello Fastest Lap 1:44.300 R.Schumacher pits 9.0 seconds Diniz pits 10.9 seconds Verstappen pits
Lap 26	Lunatic on the track! An absolute crazy man goes for a stroll along the side of the circuit out in the wood section of the circuit. Safety Car out. Before everyone bunches up behind the car, the drivers head to the pits for fuel and tyres. However, only one spot in each garage means that Coulthard stays out on the track, which allows everyone to bunch up behind him after they've made their stops. Trulli stop 9.1 secs; Barrichello pits 7.3 secs; Hakkinen pits 9.0 secs.
Lap 27	Coulthard pits 9.2 seconds, rejoins in sixth position.
Lap 28	1/ Hakkinen; 2/ Trulli; 3/ Barrichello; 4/ De La Rosa; 5/ Frentzen; 6/ Coulthard; 7/ R.Schumacher; 8/ Villeneuve; 9/ Zonta; 10/ Verstappen; 11/ Salo; 12/ Wurz; 13/ Button; 14/ Gene; 15/ Irvine; 16/ Diniz; 17/ Heidfeld; 18/ Alesi
Lap 29	Villeneuve hits R.Schumacher from behind, Ralf spins at rejoins at the end of the field. Diniz and Alesi come together - both cars off at high speed. Safety Car out.
Lap 30	Rain starts. Wurz spins and stalls.
Lap 31	The rain in Germany is mainly on the stadium - the wooded section of the track remains dry. Heidlfeld pits. Coulthard passes Frenzten.
Lap 34	Raining hard now, so many drivers come in for wet tyres. Hakkinen pits 6.8 seconds Gene blows an engine and retires - Irvine does a 180 degree spin and rejoins the race. The two BAR driven by Zonta and Villeneuve have an accident and retire.
Lap 35	1/ Barrichello; 2/ Coulthard; 3/ Frenzten; 4/ Zonta; 5/ R.Schumacher; 6/ Hakkinen ...
Lap 37	Barricello, Trulli and Coulthard still on dry tyres in heavy rain.
Lap 38	Trulli given a ten second stop/go penalty (presumably for pit lane speeding) He was in 7th position. Zonta under investigation (presumably for running into Villeneuve). Zonta off and retires. Coulthard pits for wets 7.6 seconds.
Lap 39	Hakkinen overtakes Frenzten for second position (then Frentzen immediately retakes that place)
Lap 40	Frenzten retires. Verstappen spins off into gravel and retires.
Lap 42	1/ Barrichello; (8.8 seconds) 2/ Hakkinen; 3/ Coulthard; 4/ Salo; 5/ Button; 6/ De La Rosa ... Heidfeld retires.
Lap 43	Button overtakes Salo for fourth place.
Lap 45 RACE END	1/ Rubens Barrichello (Ferrari); 2/ Mika Hakkinen (McLaren); 3/ David Coulthard (McLaren); 4/ Jensen Button (Williams); 5/ Mika Salo (Sauber); 6/ Pedro De La Rosa (Arrows)

Position	Driver	Team	Time	Comment
1/ - POLE 1st row	Hakkinen	McLaren	1:10.410	25th career pole
2/ 1st row	Coulthard	McLaren	1:10.795	100th drive for McLaren
3/ 2nd row	M.Schumacher	Ferrari	1:10.844	-
4/ 2nd row	Barrichello	Ferrari	1:11.046	-
5/ 3rd row	Trulli	Jordan	1:11.640	-
6/ 3rd row	Zonta	BAR	1:11.647	-
7/ 4th row	Villeneuve	BAR	1:11.649	-
8/ 4th row	Fisichello	Benetton	1:11.658	-
9/ 5th row	Salo	Sauber	1:11.761	-
10/ 5th row	Verstappen	Arrows	1:11.905	-
11/ 6th row	Diniz	Sauber	1:11.931	-
12/ 6th row	De La Rosa	Arrows	1:11.978	-
13/ 7th row	Heidfeld	Prost	1:12.037	-
14/ 7th row	Wurz	Benetton	1:12.038	-
15/ 8th row	Frentzen	Jordan	1:12.043	-
16/ 8th row	Herbert	Jaguar	1:12.238	-
17/ 9th row	Alesi	Prost	1:12.304	-
18/ 9th row	Button	Williams	1:12.337	-
19/ 10th row	R.Schumacher	Williams	1:12.347	-
20/ 10th row	Gene	Minardi	1:12.722	-
21/ 11th row	Burti	Jaguar	1:12.822	Irvine replacement
22/ 11th row	Mazzacane	Minardi	1:13.419