2000 German Grand Prix - Report

Report

Qualifying had David Coulthard on pole position with Michael Schumacher second, Giancarlo Fisichella third, Mika Häkkinen fourth, Pedro de la Rosa fifth and Jarno Trulli sixth.

At the start, neither Coulthard nor Schumacher nor Fisichella had a good start but Häkkinen had a blinder. Häkkinen was quickly ahead but behind him Coulthard moved across to block Schumacher. Fisichella did not guess that happening and hit Schumacher who had switched sides to make another attack on Coulthard. Both spun off, hit the wall and retired with the two blaming each other. The order at the end of lap 1 was: Häkkinen, Coulthard, Trulli, de la Rosa, Johnny Herbert, Eddie Irvine, Jos Verstappen, Jacques Villeneuve, Ricardo Zonta and Rubens Barrichello.

Häkkinen and Coulthard were pulling away from the rest but there were changes behind them as Barrichello and Heinz-Harald Frentzen (both on two-stops) were charging through the field. Barrichello dealt with Villeneuve and Zonta on lap 2 and Frentzen was up to 11th on the same lap. Irvine was under attack from Verstappen and was forced to defend. Verstappen attacked him on lap 4 and pushed him wide. Barrichello got past both of them and soon Frentzen began to attack them. By now, at the front, Häkkinen was a second ahead of Coulthard and 4 seconds ahead of Trulli. But the action was behind them as Barrichello passed Herbert on lap 8 and behind them Frentzen got ahead of Irvine and Verstappen in 3 corners. On the next lap, with the McLarens 7.2 seconds ahead, Barrichello set a lap matching the McLarens. On lap 10, Frentzen passed Herbert to take sixth. On the next lap, Barrichello started to attack de la Rosa for fourth, 8.5 seconds behind Häkkinen.

Verstappen passed Herbert for fifth on lap 12 and soon afterwards Barrichello edged past de la Rosa with Frentzen started to close in on de la Rosa as well. Herbert retired on lap 13 with gearbox problems. Barrichello went after Trulli and was right behind him by lap 14. He sneaked ahead of him on the next lap. Häkkinen was 1.1 seconds ahead of Coulthard and 14.3 seconds ahead of Barrichello. Barrichello started to close in on the two up front before pitting on lap 17 and rejoined sixth. Frentzen pitted on the next lap immediately after passing de la Rosa. Häkkinen and Coulthard were now 18 seconds ahead of Trulli and 32 seconds ahead of Barrichello. Barrichello passed de la Rosa for fourth but he was 8 seconds behind Trulli and was 31 seconds behind the McLarens. He closed the gap to Trulli to 4 seconds and the McLarens to 30 seconds but there were dark clouds looming.

Then, suddenly a disgruntled former Mercedes employee appeared beside the track with a banner on which was written, 'Mercedes Benz, who knew about my health problems, offered me a job I could not do and then sacked me for physical ineptitude after 20 years service'. He crossed the track as marshals chased him and so the safety car was sent out until the man was caught. But the sign only came after the McLarens had started the next lap and so others like Trulli, Barrichello, de la Rosa and others went into the stops. There was confusion in the McLaren garage as they could not handle both cars at the same time. Thus Häkkinen went into the pits first. On the next lap, Coulthard went to the stop but rejoined at the back because of the extra lap. The order was: Häkkinen, Trulli, Barrichello, de la Rosa, Frentzen, Villeneuve, Zonta, Mika Salo, Jenson Button and Nick Heidfeld. When the safety car went back into the pits, Alesi and Pedro Diniz collided taking them both out, bringing out the safety car again. In between, Coulthard was able to pass Heidfeld and Button and thus gained 4 places. There was more drama because after the safety car went on lap 34, Villeneuve and Zonta collided, tipping Villeneuve into a spin. Later in the lap, Coulthard passed Salo to take sixth and then the rains began to fall down.

Trulli was given a 10-sec stop and go penalty for overtaking under yellow flags. Häkkinen pitted for wets and so did many others. The ones who did not pit now occupied the top four positions – Barrichello, Frentzen, Coulthard and Zonta with Häkkinen fifth, Salo sixth, Button seventh having passed de la Rosa. Zonta was given a 10-sec stop go penalty for the same reason as Trulli and thus he lost concentration and spun out on lap 38. Coulthard pitted soon after for dries and rejoined fourth, just ahead of Salo and Button. On lap 40, Frentzen had an electrical failure and retired from second. As Hockenheim is one of the longest tracks of the year, different parts of the circuit had different levels of wetness. Häkkinen was 7.5 seconds behind Barrichello and gained significantly on the wetter parts of the circuit before losing most of the time he had gained on the dryer parts. On lap 42, Button passed Salo for fourth and Salo could do nothing as Button pulled away from him. It did not rain until the end of the race and so Barrichello won from Häkkinen, Coulthard, Button, Salo and de la Rosa.