San Marino Grand Prix 2000
Imola, 7th-9th April

Race

Jaguar-Racing, 9th April: Jaguar Racing overcame its reliability problems to post its first finish of the season. Eddie Irvine came in seventh and Johnny Herbert was 10th.

Michael Schumacher continued his perfect start to the season in San Marino with his third straight win. In a closely fought race, Schumacher beat Mika Hakkinen by just 1.1 seconds in a race decided by the pit stops.

Hakkinen made the most of his pole position and led from the start, while Schumacher got bogged down with too much wheelspin in his Ferrari. As Michael moved over to protect his position he blocked David Coulthard and allowed team-mate Rubens Barrichello to pass the Scot.

As Barrichello held up the second McLaren, Hakkinen and Schumacher disappeared at the head of the field. With both cars running two stop strategies, it seemed that the Finn held the upper hand. Both drivers pitted for their first stop on lap 28. Hakkinen resumed in the lead after Ferrari put more fuel in Schumacher’s car to allow him to run for longer before his next stop.

It appeared that Hakkinen had enough of an advantage to defeat the Ferrari, but after he stopped for the second time on lap 45, Schumacher put in a series of stunning laps. And after a 6.2-second pitstop he rejoined the race in the lead.

Despite a series of fastest laps by Hakkinen towards the end of the race, he was unable to close Schumacher down, and the German duly claimed his 36th career win.

Behind the leaders, fortune fell to the other McLaren of Coulthard. After trailing Barrichello for most of race, he emerged from a pitstop on lap 47 just inches ahead of the Ferrari. It was a close call - Barrichello had to brake to avoid running into the back of the McLaren - and after the race Ross Brawn, Ferrari’s technical director, complained about the manoeuvre, although no further action is expected to be taken.

After failing to finish in Australia and Brazil, Jaguar Racing had the satisfaction of seeing both cars take the chequered flag, although an early misfire cost Irvine a couple of positions. On a one-stop strategy, Johnny Herbert ran consistently to move from 17th on the grid to 10th at the finish.

After three races, Michael Schumacher now has a 24-point lead over Mika Hakkinen., and with Ferrari’s bullet-proof reliability, it will be hard for him to stop the German now.

Race results:

1. M.Schumacher Ferrari 1h 31:39.776 
2. Hakkinen McLaren Mercedes + 1.168 
3. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes + 51.008 
4. Barrichello Ferrari + 1:29.276 
5. Villeneuve BAR Honda + 1 Lap 
6. Salo Sauber Petronas + 1 Lap 
7. Irvine Jaguar Ford + 1 Lap 
8. Diniz Sauber Petronas + 1 Lap 
9. Wurz Benetton Supertec + 1 Lap 
10. Herbert Jaguar Ford + 1 Lap 
11. Fisichella Benetton Supertec + 1 Lap 
12. Zonta BAR Honda + 1 Lap 
13. Mazzacane Minardi Fondmetal + 2 Laps 
14. Verstappen Arrows Supertec + 3 Laps 
15. Trulli Jordan Mugen-Honda + 4 Laps 

Not Classified/Retirements: 

de la Rosa Arrows Supertec 49 
R.Schumacher Williams BMW 45 
Alesi Prost Peugeot 25 
Heidfeld Prost Peugeot 22 
Button Williams BMW 5 
Gene Minardi Fondmetal 5 
Frentzen Jordan Mugen-Honda 4

Qualifying

If anything, Eddie was actually disappointed with his result, for with 10 minutes to go he lay fifth. However, on their final runs both Rubens Barrichello and Heinz-Harald Frentzen went quicker, while Eddie was not able to improve his time.

"I am a bit disappointed," Eddie admitted. "In Brazil and Australia I got pretty much what I felt was the maximum out of the car. Here, there was two or three tenths at least in it. On my second lap I went completely off the road; on my third lap, when I set my best time, I also screwed up the corner where I went completely off the road. Then on my last lap, I got it right, but Ralf Schumacher had blown up and I had to back off a bit for yellow flags. I can't complain, but it's annoying when the potential is there to do a lot better. I'm sure it's going to be a very competitive year for us."

Eddie said that he still wasn't sure if the latest aerodynamic modifications had made the car better on an all-out qualifying run.

"It's hard to judge the handling, because this is a different circuit from what we've experienced before. But it was definitely better in testing at Silverstone, and over a race distance this will definitely be better, but [whether it’s better] over one lap we don't yet know."

Johnny did not have any mechanical troubles, but struggled to get a good lap during the session. The time gap to Eddie was partly explained by his choice of the harder of the two tyre compounds - a gamble that did not pay off. And he was also hampered by a cracked exhaust.

"We chose the harder tyre, because all the indications from yesterday and this morning were that when you do longer runs, it gets better. But it didn't happen. At the end I decided to go on one longer run. It's unbelievable, really. I was happy with the balance of the car - it was very good on the out lap on that last run. I thought, ‘This is going to be good.’ And by the end of my first split I was about 0.4s up. But the tyres gradually went off, and by the end of the lap I was only 0.2s up. I think with this tyre choice we'll be alright in the race. From everything I did this morning it should pay off handsomely."

Paul Stewart, the team’s chief operating officer, was happy with progress: 

"Eddie felt he could have gone quicker, because he did a mistake on his quickest lap,” said Paul. “We're encouraged by his performance, but a little disappointed that he couldn't get what he felt he could achieve. Johnny went in a direction that he thought would be okay for qualifying, but it wasn’t, and that's why he's as far back as he is."

Qualifying times from AtlasF1:

1. Hakkinen McLaren Mercedes 1:24.714 
2. M.Schumacher Ferrari 1:24.805 + 0.091 
3. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes 1:25.014 + 0.300 
4. Barrichello Ferrari 1:25.242 + 0.528 
5. R.Schumacher Williams BMW 1:25.871 + 1.157 
6. Frentzen Jordan Mugen-Honda 1:25.892 + 1.178 
7. Irvine Jaguar Ford 1:25.929 + 1.215 
8. Trulli Jordan Mugen-Honda 1:26.002 + 1.288 
9. Villeneuve BAR Honda 1:26.124 + 1.410 
10. Diniz Sauber Petronas 1:26.238 + 1.524 
11. Wurz Benetton Supertec 1:26.281 + 1.567 
12. Salo Sauber Petronas 1:26.336 + 1.622 
13. de la Rosa Arrows Supertec 1:26.349 + 1.635 
14. Zonta BAR Honda 1:26.814 + 2.100
15. Alesi Prost Peugeot 1:26.824 + 2.110 
16. Verstappen Arrows Supertec 1:26.845 + 2.131 
17. Herbert Jaguar Ford 1:27.051 + 2.337 
18. Button Williams BMW 1:27.135 + 2.421 
19. Fisichella Benetton Supertec 1:27.253 + 2.539 
20. Mazzacane Minardi Fondmetal 1:28.161 + 3.447 
21. Gene Minardi Fondmetal 1:28.333 + 3.619 
22. Heidfeld Prost Peugeot 1:28.361 + 3.647

Friday practice

Johnny pulled off the track after just seven laps in the morning session when a cloud of smoke erupted from the rear of his car. The team later discovered that a water system leak had led to the problem.

Johnny had no major worries in the afternoon on the way to seventh place, setting a best time of 1m28.139s - just 1.195s behind the pacesetting Ferrari of Michael Schumacher.

"The balance of the car at this stage of the race weekend is as good as I've had so far this season, which is encouraging for tomorrow," said Johnny. "This morning's failure shows that we still have some work to do on reliability."

Eddie Irvine was a promising third fastest in the morning on 1m28.566s, but he kept with the same set of tyres all day and was not in a position to go any faster. As others improved, he slipped back to an eventual 12th. Eddie noted that it's too early to say if a new underfloor has solved the handling problems the team has experienced this year.

"We just kept the fuel and kept the tyres. It's difficult to say much about the car, because by the end the tyres were just knackered, and I was going round for the sake of going round really! So we don't know. The floor seems better in one way, but worse in another. We will find out tomorrow - qualifying tells it all."

Paul Stewart was happy with the outcome of the day: 

"Eddie was fast in this morning's session and then Johnny was seventh in the   afternoon, so it was pretty good. We were doing some good set-up and tyre evaluation work. Eddie dropped down the order because he was working on some stuff, and went in a direction that he wasn't comfortable with. That wasted a bit of time, but it's all part of discovering what we want to do tomorrow."

Practice times from AtlasF1:

1. M.Schumacher Ferrari 1:26.944 
2. Barrichello Ferrari 1:27.317 + 0:00.373 
3. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes 1:27.372 + 0:00.428 
4. Frentzen Jordan Mugen-Honda 1:27.730 + 0:00.786 
5. Trulli Jordan Mugen-Honda 1:27.795 + 0:00.851 
6. Hakkinen McLaren Mercedes 1:28.021 + 0:01.077 
7. Herbert Jaguar Ford 1:28.139 + 0:01.195 
8. Fisichella Benetton Supertec 1:28.236 + 0:01.292 
9. R.Schumacher Williams BMW 1:28.372 + 0:01.428 
10. de la Rosa Arrows Supertec 1:28.444 + 0:01.500 
11. Salo Sauber Petronas 1:28.555 + 0:01.611 
12. Irvine Jaguar Ford 1:28.566 + 0:01.622 
13. Wurz Benetton Supertec 1:28.771 + 0:01.827 
14. Alesi Prost Peugeot 1:28.950 + 0:02.006 
15. Mazzacane Minardi Fondmetal 1:28.952 + 0:02.008 
16. Verstappen Arrows Supertec 1:28.975 + 0:02.031 
17. Zonta BAR Honda 1:29.097 + 0:02.153 
18. Heidfeld Prost Peugeot 1:29.113 + 0:02.169 
19. Diniz Sauber Petronas 1:29.307 + 0:02.363 
20. Button Williams BMW 1:29.326 + 0:02.382 
21. Gene Minardi Fondmetal 1:29.412 + 0:02.468 
22. Villeneuve BAR Honda 7:53.474 + 6:26.530

Race preview

"I really like this circuit, although there are too many chicanes now. I'm looking forward to it as I had a great race at Imola last year. Unfortunately, I didn't get the result as my engine blew up just short of the finish when I was running fifth. We should be in a position to get into the points this time, which is where we desperately need to be. I think we'll have a much better race than the last two, which will be good for everybody."

Team-mate Eddie Irvine can't wait to get on track:

"The last few times I came here I was driving for a well known local team! Given that I still live part of the year in Italy and that I spent four years driving for an Italian team, this will be something of a special weekend. After all the long-haul flying involved in the first two races of the season, it will make a pleasant change to just get in my car and drive down the road to the circuit. Despite all the changes they have introduced to the Imola track, it is still a challenging way to spend Sunday afternoon and the Acque Minerali corners are great fun."

Although no points were scored in Brazil, the Jaguar Racing team proved two things: the R1 can run on the pace and reliability was improved. Chief Operating Officer Paul Stewart explains: 

 "Because of the difficulties we had in pre-season testing, which restricted our running, we are unearthing problems over a race weekend, which is not ideal. Despite not finishing in Brazil we made good progress and we showed that we can run competitively in both qualifying and in race trim. The performance enhancements we tested successfully at Silverstone will allow us to maintain that competitiveness in Imola."

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Last updated 9th April 2000