European Grand Prix 2000
19th - 21st May

TV Screenshots

Race

Jaguar Racing Press Release, 21st May: 

The fickle Eiffel weather conditions played a hand in another action-packed European Grand Prix at the Nürburgring. Heavy rain began to fall after just 10 laps making conditions treacherous on grooved tyres. Johnny Herbert. once again reading the weather perfectly, was the first into the pits on lap 12 for wet tyres. He was soon followed by the rest of the field. The rain never relented. Eddie Irvine’s race ended whilst running in sixth position on lap 30 when he and the Arrows of Jos Verstappen touched. He was pitched into a spin and then hit by Ralf Schumacher, an incident which dislodged his rear wing. Johnny was three laps from the end and holding seventh place when he was the victim of a bold overtaking manoeuvre by Alexander Wurz (Benetton).

Johnny Herbert

"As it began to rain, I radioed that I was coming in but I stayed out for another lap on grooves because I wanted to be absolutely sure it was the right decision. As it turned out, the extra lap all alone on wets would have been to my advantage. A point was always going to be just out of reach so to be honest finishing seventh is no use so the incident with Wurz doesn’t matter too much. It felt good to make the right decision on the tyres again and it was a good race up until the sudden ending."

Eddie Irvine

"I had a coming together with Jos (Verstappen) into turn one, spun and was hit again by Ralf Schumacher. Initially when I looked in the mirrors I thought the car looked fine but obviously, the rear wing was missing. I tried to carry on to bring it back to the pits but I lost the back end and ended up in the gravel. With track conditions the way they were a points finish was there for the taking for sure."

Gary Anderson - Technical Director, Jaguar Racing

"I guess in conditions like these you expect the race to be eventful. Last year it played into our hands - this year it didn’t. Two incidents not necessarily of our own making with other cars denied us an opportunity to open our account today. Eddie was running pretty well and in a good scrap for sixth place but ended in the gravel. Johnny being taken off with a handful of laps remaining was not the perfect end to his day either."

Jaguar-Racing, 21st May: Jaguar Racing's Eddie Irvine and Johnny Herbert both had unfortunate ends to races which had looked promising. Eddie Irvine had made a good start, running in sixth place for while, and was attempting to pass the Arrows of Jos Verstappen when he locked wheels with the Dutchman, and was pitched into a spin. The R1 backed into Ralf Schumacher's Williams, causing both cars to lose their rear wings. Irvine, unaware of the damage to his car, then spun into the gravel and retirement at the next corner.

Johnny Herbert moved up from 16th on the grid, to run in an excellent seventh place when he was assaulted by the Benetton of Alex Wurz. The Austrian lunged inside of Johnny into the final corner. He was carrying too much speed and ran wide forcing Johnny to spin. Although his car was not damaged, Johnny stalled and was out of the race.

Race results:

1 Michael Schumacher (Ferrari), 67laps
2 Mika Hakkinen (McLaren), 67 laps
3 David Coulthard (McLaren), 66 laps
4 Rubens Barrichello (Ferrari), 66 laps
5 Giancarlo Fisichella (Benetton)
6 Pedro de la Rosa (Arrows)
7 Pedro Diniz (Sauber)
8 Gaston Mazzacane (Minardi),
9 Jean Alesi (Prost)
10 Jenson Button (WilliamsF1) 62 laps - stopped
11 Johnny Herbert (Jaguar), 61 laps - accident
12 Alex Wurz (Benetton) 61 laps - accident
R Ricardo Zonta (BAR), 51 laps - spin
R Marc Gene (Minardi), 47 laps - stopped
R Jacques Villeneuve (BAR), 46 laps - stopped
R Eddie Irvine (Jaguar), 29 laps - accident
R Jos Verstappen (Arrows), 29 laps - accident
R Ralf Schumacher (WilliamsF1), 29 laps - accident
R Mika Salo (Sauber), 27 laps - spin
R Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Jordan), 2 laps - engine
R Jarno Trulli (Jordan), 0 laps - accident

Both Jaguars failed to finish today in the appalling conditions which descended on the Nürburgring one third of the way through today's race. Eddie Irvine went out after a tussle with Pedro de la Rosa, the Northern Irishman then spun in the path of Ralf Schumacher and took both their rear wings off. 

Just like last year, Johnny called the conditions brilliantly again, pitting first for wets as the rain began to fall. As a result, he leapfrogged up the field and, after the second pitstops was challenging for the final place in the points.

With half a dozen laps to go, Johnny was in line for a 7th place finish until Wurz, desperate to impress and hoping to retain his Benetton seat, tried a banzai move at the chicane. Result? Both out. Johnny was classified 11th, 6 laps down. Disappointing, to say the least... 

Qualifying

Jaguar Racing Press Release, 20th May: Mixed fortunes again for the Jaguar Racing team in a qualifying session dominated by the Eifel weather. The session started out dry but black clouds loomed large out the back of the pit garages. The team decided to get in two good runs before the weather closed in, which it did halfway through the hour-long session, Then the waiting game began. The expected last minute dash came in the final seconds with all the top runners setting out onto the track. Eddie Irvine put his Jaguar R1 into eighth place on the grid, team-mate Johnny Herbert will start from 17th position.

Johnny's comments:

"Thoroughly disappointed. It wasn’t what I wanted or expected but it’s what I got. I’m a bit confused as to why I didn’t improve my time from this morning whereas it seems everyone else did. As far as tomorrow is concerned, being in this position will make the race very difficult but if I can make a good start then that can only help the end result."

Eddie Irvine said:

"I’m quite pleased with the set-up of the car. I was held up by one of the Prosts on my best lap so I could have been fifth. Having said that I'm not too despondent - I'm in the hunt. As for the race, the two issues will be the weather and the start. If we make a better than start than we have been, I expect to be chasing points."

Technical Director Gary Anderson commented:

"Like everybody else, we were in the lap of the gods with the weather being so unpredictable. Eddie did a solid job, he probably could have found another couple of tenths to put him fifth or sixth. He was adamant that he couldn’t see any rain coming at the start when our spotters told us it was on the way. After I suggested that maybe he should keep his eye on the road and well watch the weather - he put in a really good lap! We didn't get a decent run on either car on new tyres this morning so we knew we could improve, as did our rivals. Anything could happen in the race here as we well know. If it's wet and dry again, I expect both Eddie and Johnny to run strongly and points are not out of the question by any means."

Qualifying times:

1 D Coulthard McLaren 1m17.529s
2 M Schumacher Ferrari 1m17.667s
3 M Hakkinen McLaren 1m17.785s
4 R Barrichello Ferrari 1m18.227s
5 R Schumacher Williams 1m18.515s
6 J Trulli Jordan 1m18.612s
7 G Fisichella Benetton 1m18.647s
8 E Irvine Jaguar 1m18.703s
9 J Villeneuve BAR 1m18.742s
10 H-H Frentzen Jordan 1m18.830s
11 J Button Williams 1m18.887s
12 P de la Rosa Arrows 1m19.024s
13 N Heidfeld Prost 1m19.147s
14 J Verstappen Arrows 1m19.190s
15 A Wurz Benetton 1m19.378s
16 P Diniz Sauber 1m19.472s
17 J Herbert Jaguar 1m19.638s
18 J Alesi Prost 1m19.651s
19 R Zonta BAR 1m19.766s
20 M Salo Sauber 1m19.814s
21 M Gene Minardi 1m20.162s
22 G Mazzacane Minardi 1m21.015s

Friday Practice

Jaguar Racing Press Release, 19th May: Eddie Irvine and Johnny Herbert finished 16th and 17th fastest respectively at the end of Friday’s two hour-long free practice sessions for the European Grand Prix. Both drivers began the day running on wet weather tyres as light showers fell just before the start of the morning session. There was further rain in between sessions but clear skies and a dry track by the end.

Johnny's comments:

"At the start of the second session we found some improvement in the car's handling and by the end we had made a big step forward. We managed to dial out some of the understeer. I had to stop early due to a cracked exhaust which cost me one more run at the end. As always, it will be very close here so it’s important to get it right for qualifying. I'm confident we are moving in the right direction."

Eddie Irvine's comments:

"l started the day with a very unbalanced car. It was a case of just chipping away arid finding improvement. We did a little bit of set-up work and got hold of some of the understeer but I have to say it was not a very exciting day at the office at all. We’ll see what happens tomorrow when it all counts."

Gary Anderson - Technical Director, Jaguar Racing:

"We’ve spent today working on getting the balance of the car right, for this circuit. We had a little understeer to start with but no dramas. We only need to find a few tenths to improve our position considerably as the times were extremely close today. We’re heading in the right direction. Sixteenth and  seventeenth place may not look great but tyre use, and the fact that we all dodged showers a few times, has played a big part in deciding positions today"

Combined practice times:

1. Jenson Button, Williams-BMW - 1:19.808
2. Alexander Wurz, Benetton-Playlife - 1:20.248
3. Mika Hakkinen, McLaren-Mercedes - 1:20.300
4. David Coulthard, McLaren-Mercedes - 1:20.507
5. Michael Schumacher, Ferrari - 1:20.519
6. Ralf Schumacher, Williams-BMW - 1:20.548
7. Jarno Trulli, Jordan-Mugen Honda - 1:20.609
8. Ricardo Zonta, BAR-Honda - 1:20.709
9. Nick Heidfeld, Prost-Peugeot - 1:20.751
10. Jacques Villeneuve, BAR-Honda - 1:20.786
11. Marc Gene, Minardi-Fondmetal - 1:20.801
12. Pedro Diniz, Sauber-Petronas - 1:20.850
13. Giancarlo Fisichella, Benetton-Playlife - 1:20.862
14. Rubens Barrichello, Ferrari - 1:20.891
15. Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Jordan-Mugen Honda - 1:20.992
16. Eddie Irvine, Jaguar - 1:21.246
17. Johnny Herbert, Jaguar - 1:21.323
18. Jean Alesi, Prost-Peugeot - 1:21.442
19. Jos Verstappen, Arrows-Supertec - 1:21.655
20. Pedro de la Rosa, Arrows-Supertec - 1:21.659
21. Gaston Mazzacane, Minardi-Fondmetal - 1:22.135
22. Mika Salo, Sauber-Petronas - 1:22.161

Preview

Johnny's looking forward to going back

Jaguar-Racing, 15th May: Johnny returns to the Nürburgring this weekend with fond memories. Last year, he won the the European Grand Prix there, and is hoping for the same result in 2000.

"I'm really looking forward to going back after last year's victory," said Johnny. "I hope the testing we have done will be beneficial to us and that the clutch will be better for the start."

It was a different story for Eddie Irvine in 1999, who had a nightmare race. 

"The Nürburgring last year was F1’s attempt to win a comedy award, when my old team thought I was racing a Morgan three-wheeler and lost one of my wheels at the pitstop!" joked Eddie. "On a more positive note, it was a great race for Stewart with Johnny winning. And the track does have some overtaking opportunities."

Jaguar Racing has been working flat-out since the Spanish Grand Prix and completed a three-day test at Jerez last Thursday. 

"We tried out various set-ups for the Nürburgring," said race director Andy Miller. "And spent a lot of time on starts, as we have suffered in this area over the past few races. As the race is earlier this year the climate should be better, although we think we can cope with whatever the weather throws at us."

Every effort is made to ensure factual accuracy but
no responsibility is accepted for this information
Last updated 22nd May 2000