As sunny Melbourne counted the red lights and prepared for the off they had no idea of what lay ahead. Murrey shouted go, go,go, GO! and the cars all got away cleanly although it was touch and go that the front runners would get round the first corner without tripping over each other. Michael's start was perfect as was Mika Hakkinen's. Barrichello didn't get away too well, he dropped bach to fifth behind Frentzen and Ralf.
It didn't take him long to push past them both. Push being the right word to use, he made Ralf run wide and drop to 7th and he tapped Frentzen in a spin. Frentzen recovered but was right at the back of the pack.
Marques, Mazzacane and Bernoldi had all retired before lap nine. Then came lap nine. Villeneuve was trying to pass Ralf but misjudged his braking zone. As Ralf slowed for the corner, Villeneuve didn't and he slammed into the back of him. Destroying the back of Ralf's car and sending him into a spin. Villeneuve's car lifted up and smacked into a wall covering the track with debris and virtually obliterating his own car. It was a miricle that both drivers were uninjured. However one of the marshalls was not so lucky. He had been struck by one of Villeneuve's flying tyres. The safety was rushed out and stayed out for over 20 minutes while the marshall was taken of the circuit in an ambulance and the debris was cleared.
The safety car eventually pulled in and the race continued. There were no reports about the marshall's health. The rest of the race was fairly univentfull apart from Mika Hakkinen's crash. Mika had some sort of problem with the rear end of the car (possibly suspension) and lost control, smashing into a tyre wall at high speed backwards. Mclaren team member Adrian Newey reported that Mika was a bit stiff and had a mild concusion as something had hit his helmet and left a mark.
Michael cruised to victory followed by David Coulthard who had picked his pace up considerably in the last half of the race and had passed Rubens Barrichello who finished in third.
Olivier Panis put in a solid performance to take fourth but he was later penalised for ignoring a yellow flag and given a time penelty. This dropped him out of the points into 7th place.
The three drivers who gained from this (they were promoted up a place) were the impressive Nick Heidfeld in the Sauber who looks stunningly quick now he's got his hands on a 'proper' f1 car. Heinz Harold Frentzen, who recovered well from his spat with Rubens to finish fifth. The third man to take advantage of this was the 21 year old Kimi Raikkoned who scored a point on his debut. The Melbourne Gp was only his 24th single seater race but the inexperience doesn't seem to be slowing him down.
Only 13 out of 22 cars finnished. Giancarlo Fisichella who was suffering with an engine problem was last. Two other rookies, Luciano Burti and Fernando Alonso also finnished the race. Burti finished 8th ahead of experienced team mate, Irvine, who could only manage 11th place. Alonso was the only Minardi to finish. He drove a perfect race to give the Minardi team a boost in confidence under new owner, Paul Stoddart.
rookies, Bernoldi and Juan Pablo Montoya failed to finish because of reliability problems. Experienced drivers Alesi and Verstappen finnished 10th and 9th.
The race itself was fairly entertaining, there was quite a bit of overtaking and enough cars left on circuit to keep your attention. The best overtaking move was by David Coulthard when he overtook Barrichello for second. Raikkonen did quite a bit of overtaking too, the most notible moves were on Montoya and Fisichella (both early on in the race). Actually i'd certainly say he was rookie of the day. Driver of the day would go to M.Schumacher but Nick Heidfeld and Kimi Raikkonen do come very close. The future of Formula 1 looks safe in the young drivers hands.
After the race the drivers (M.S,D.C and R.B) recieved their trophies on the podium but there was no champain celebration. By this point everyone had guessed that the marshall was dead and Michael Schumacher confirmed it in the press conference (read what they said about the death below). A terrible end for what should have been a fantastic day. Formula 1 returns...but with the wrong kind of bang.
"I am awfully sorry that a man who was looking after our safety was killed today. My deepest sympathy goes to his relatives and friends. I was on the inside of the track going my way and being careful not to make any change of line. I braked and suddenly felt a huge bang in the back and saw Jacques flying over me. I spun hoping that I would crash nowhere. I think that Jacques overrated himself a bit, just like last year in Canada, when he ran into my car. After I got out of my car I had a look at the cockpit of the BAR, which was almost destroyed and I was glad to know that Jacques had already stepped out of it."
"unfortunitly we've just been told that the marshall did die and obviously we're all shocked about this"
"well obviously the overiding story of the race is as Michael just mentioned, the fatality of the marshall. I think on behalf of all the drivers our thoughts go to his family. I think we need to improve track safety to these people who who give their time to enable us to go racing"
"it's very hard when a college who is there for you happens to be in an inncedent like that"
"...It's never nice when somebody dies. I would just like to send sincere condolences to the family". "...the tyre did come of the car, obviously the car was fully legal...and it's just very sad"
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Race results for Melbourne 2001
