Main Menu This Week     Grand Prix Driver Pos Team Pos Austria Monaco Canadian European French British GGG		| GGG Home   | Index   | Info   | This Week   | Diary   | News   | Email GGG  Austrian Grand Prix Preview 11/05/2001   Friday's Practice   Saturday's Qualifying    Austria View : For a small nation with no major automotive industry, Austria can boast a surprising tradition in grand prix racing. The very first Austrian Grand Prix was run in 1964 at Zeltweg Airfield, a couple of kilometres from its present home. It was won by Lorenzo Bandini in a Ferrari. As for local drivers, their F1 involvement goes back unbroken for three decades and the man who started it all was Jochen Rindt. The A1-Ring circuit hosts its fourth Austrian Grand Prix this weekend. It replaces the old Osterreichring, on the same site as the current track. To many it was quite simply the best circuit in the world with a breathtaking collection of climbs, drops and high speed turns. The new layout still makes use of the natural contours provided by the Styrian mountains, but safety concerns mean that most of the ultra-quick corners have gone. However, the fresh mountain air, the excellent viewing facilities and splendid scenery make it a popular venue. Info : Teams and drivers will still be suffering from recent rule changes if last week's testing is anything to go by. BAR are obviously still in trouble, as they blew another engine in a big way testing at Silverstone. They also suffered clutch trouble as did Nick Heidfeld, although he and Kimi Raikkonen used the same clutch for two days, and everyone is practising starts. Last Year's Result 1 Mika Hakkinen McLaren 1 hr 28:15.82 2 David Coulthard McLaren + 12.53 3 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari + 30.80 4 Jacques Villeneuve BAR + 1 laps 5 Jenson Button Williams + 1 laps 6 Mika Salo Sauber + 1 laps There have been just four Austrian Grands Prix in recent years, and Mika Hakkinen has starred in every one. Just remember his comeback last year, after a lacklustre start to the season. He has been on pole position twice, and won twice. But David Coulthard has finished second in every race, whereas Michael Schumacher has only had a sixth and a third. McLaren have been in the first two for every one of the last four races, and have been in the points all the way back to 1981. As a circuit, it will be one where traction control will really matter, particularly in the first two corners. But it's also a race where there can be a fair number of small accidents, at those two corners, as we've seen in years past. Weather : Prediction of rain for Sunday 2001 Result 1 David Coulthard McLaren 1 hr 27:45.93 2 Michael Schumacher Ferrari + 02.19 3 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari + 02.53 4 Kimi Raikkonen Sauber + 41.59 5 Olivier Panis BAR + 53.78 6 Jos Verstappen Sauber + 1 laps 71 Laps = 190.852 miles (307.146 km) Result : David Coulthard held off a desperate late challenge from Ferrari duo Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello to earn a superb victory in Austria on Sunday. Coulthard’s World Championship hopes looked set to suffer after he qualified a lowly seventh, but due to a mixture of fine driving, strategy, and a number of drivers either falling off the circuit or even failing to get over the start line, the Scot was able to snatch a remarkable victory and close the gap on Schumacher to four points. The impressive Kimi Raikkonen belied his lack of experience by driving a mature race to take fourth for Sauber, BAR’s Olivier Panis was fifth, while Jos Verstappen picked up a much needed point for the Arrows by holding off Eddie Irvine. The day, though, was unquestionably Coulthard’s, who is having his finest season to date. He took the lead after running until lap 51 – longer than any of his nearest rivals - before refuelling and when the McLaren emerged from the pits with both Barrichello and Schumacher hot on his tail the race resembled a 20 lap dash to the finish. Leading in such a scenario was, according to team boss Ron Dennis, the "most difficult place to be” but the Scot was faultless and took the chequered flag with both Ferraris finishing less than three seconds behind him. Both WilliamsF1s charged past the Ferrari at the start with the Colombian taking the lead and Ralf Schumacher second. But Ralf’s race came to a premature end when the technical gremlins struck on lap 12. His older brother then began to eat into Montoya’s lead and was clearly faster. However, the F1 rookie refused to budge, and there was an air of the inevitable when, on lap 16, the pair collided and ended up in the gravel. Both were able to continue. Qualifying 1 M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari 1:09.562 2 MONTOYA Williams + 0.124 3 R.SCHUMACHER Williams + 0.207 4 BARRICHELLO Ferrari + 0.224 5 TRULLI Jordan + 0.640 6 HEIDFIELD Sauber + 0.649 7 COULTHARD McLaren + 0.769 8 HAKKINEN Ferrari + 0.780 9 RAIKKONEN Sauber + 0.834 10 PANIS BAR + 0.873 11 FRENTZEN Jordan + 1.361 12 VILLENEUVE BAR + 1.496 Qualifying After taking his first-ever pole in Austria Schumacher will line up alongside Juan Pablo Montoya on the front row after the Colombian enjoyed by far his best qualifying session of his F1 career as he at last reproduced his race pace into the qualifying hour. The biggest story of the day was the non-performance of the two McLarens. With David Coulthard leading the way all weekend it seemed a reasonable prediction that they would be the team to beat, but it was anything but the case. Both Coulthard and Hakkinen struggled for pace throughout the session and it wasn't until the final minute of the session that the Scot gained some respectability by taking seventh place on the grid, with his team-mate one place behind him Team Stats To Date: Ferrari Schumacher has out-qualified Barrichello 5 times this season Average gap between drivers in qualifying: 0.309 Schumacher's average qualifying position 1st, Barrichello's 4th From 10 starts, Ferrari have finished 7 times (70%) and in the points 7 times (70%) McLaren Hakkinen has out-qualified Coulthard 4 times this season. Average gap between drivers in qualifying: 0.221s. Hakkinen's average qualifying position 2nd, Coulthard's 5th. From 10 starts, McLaren have finished 8 times (80%) and in the points 7 times (70%) Williams Schumacher has out-qualified Montoya 5 times this season. Average gap between drivers in qualifying: 0.646s. Schumacher's average qualifying position 3rd, Montoya's 8th. From 10 starts, Williams have finished 3 times (30%) and in the points 3 times (30%) Benetton Fisichella has out-qualified Button 4 times this season. Average gap between drivers in qualifying: 0.352s. Fisichella's average qualifying position 18th, Button's 19th. From 10 starts, Benetton have finished 8 times (80%) and in the points 1 time (10%) ) BAR Villeneuve has out-qualified Panis 3 times this season. Average gap between drivers in qualifying: 0.006s. Villeneuve's average qualifying position 9th, Panis' 10th. From 10 starts, BAR have finished 6 times (60%) and in the points 2 times (20%) Jordan Trulli has out-qualified Frentzen 4 times this season. Average gap between drivers in qualifying: 0.103s. Frentzen's average qualifying position 7th, Trulli's 6th. From 10 starts, Jordan have finished 8 times (80%) and in the points 6 times (60%) Arrows Bernoldi has out-qualified Verstappen 3 times this season. Average gap between drivers in qualifying: 0.101. Verstappen's average qualifying position 16th, Bernoldi's 17th. From 10 starts, Arrows have finished 4 times (40%) and in the points 0 times (0%) SauberHeidfeld has out-qualified Raikkonen 3 times this season. Average gap between drivers in qualifying: 0.194s. Heidfeld's average qualifying position 11th, Raikkonen's 12th. From 10 starts, Sauber have finished 6 times (60%) and in the points 4 times (40%) Jaguar Irvine has out-qualified de la Rosa 1 time this season. Average gap between drivers in qualifying: 1.012s. Irvine's average qualifying position 13th, de la Rosa's 21st. From 10 starts, Jaguar have finished 4 times (40%) and in the points 0 times (0%) > MinardiAlonso has out-qualified Marques 4 times this season. Average gap between drivers in qualifying: 1.109s. Marques' average qualifying position 22nd, Alonso's 20th. From 10 starts, Minardi have finished 6 times (60%) and in the points 0 times (0%) Prost Burti has out-qualified Alesi 1 time this season. Average gap between drivers in qualifying: 0.016s. Burti's average qualifying position 14th, Alesi's 15th. From 10 starts, Prost have finished 7 times (70%) and in the points 0 times (0%) Friday Practice 1 COULTHARD McLaren 1:11.245 2 HAKKINEN Ferrari + 0.027 3 BARRICHELLO Ferrari + 0.156 4 R.SCHUMACHER Williams + 0.310 5 M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari + 0.402 6 HEIDFIELD Sauber + 0.531 7 FRENTZEN Jordan + 0.732 8 RAIKKONEN Sauber + 0.944 9 PANIS BAR + 1.014 10 VILLENEUVE BAR + 1.045 11 MONTOYA Williams + 1.054 12 Irvine Jaguar + 1.101 Friday Practice David Coulthard set the pace in Austria this morning, finishing top of the practice timesheets. The Scot took the top spot from McLaren team mate Hakkinen in the closing seconds of the second session, with Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello behind the pair in third. Ralf Schumacher posted the fourth fastest time, ahead of brother Michael in fifth. The dusty track caught a number of drivers out during both practice hours, with Schumacher and Coulthard both taking trips across the gravel. Both Arrows drivers also left the track, and Olivier Panis beached his BAR mid way through the second hour. Coulthard and Schumacher seemed evenly matched for much of the morning, even posting identical times half way through the second hour.