2001 Formula One Season

The 2001 Formula One season was the 52nd season of FIA Formula One racing. It featured the FIA Formula One World Championship which commenced on March 4, 2001 and ended on October 14 after seventeen races. Michael Schumacher won the Drivers title with a record margin of 58 points, after achieving nine victories and five second places and Ferrari won the Constructors award. The season marked the reintroduction of traction control, with the FIA permitting its use starting at the Spanish Grand Prix. Traction control had been banned since 1994.

Future world champions Fernando Alonso and Kimi Räikkönen made their grand prix debuts in Melbourne, for Minardi and Sauber respectively. Colombian former CART champion Juan Pablo Montoya was also making his F1 bow at Williams.

There were new beginnings for French companies Renault and Michelin. After four years out of the sport, Renault returned to supply engines to the Benetton team, while Michelin’s comeback as a tyre supplier provided Bridgestone with competition for the first time since Goodyear left the sport at the end of the 1998 season.

At the end of the season, double world champion Mika Häkkinen announced his intention to take a one year sabbatical; eventually this became full-time retirement. Also racing for the last time in 2001 was Jean Alesi, who passed the 200 race mark shortly before his final Grand Prix in Japan. Veteran British commentator Murray Walker gave his final commentary at the United States Grand Prix (which would also turn out to be Mika Häkkinen’s last victory in the sport).

The Prost and Benetton names disappeared from the sport at the end of 2001; Prost folded due to a lack of finances while Benetton was rebranded as Renault after the French manufacturer bought the team outright.

The championship was won with ease by Michael Schumacher, who finished 58 points clear of David Coulthard in second place. It was Schumacher's fourth world championship, equalling Alain Prost's total. With Michael Schumacher's team mate, Rubens Barrichello, tallying 11 podiums throughout the season, Ferrari also won the Constructor’s Championship by a substantial margin. Williams drivers Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya both scored their maiden wins in the sport, at San Marino and Italy respectively. The younger Schumacher added victories in Canada and Germany, giving the team four wins in total, marking a return to success for the Oxfordshire team after three years without a victory.

McLaren secured four wins during the season. These were shared equally amongst their drivers; Häkkinen winning in Britain and America, Coulthard triumphing in Brazil and Austria.