Race 1 of 17 in the 2001 Formula One World Championship
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Race details[1][2]
Date
4 March 2001
Official name
LXVI Qantas Australian Grand Prix
Location
Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit, Albert Park, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Course
Temporary street circuit
Course length
5.303 km (3.295 miles)
Distance
58 laps, 307.574 km (191.118 miles)
Weather
Cloudy, sunny later
Attendance
128,500
Pole position
Driver
Michael Schumacher
Ferrari
Time
1:26.892
Fastest lap
Driver
Michael Schumacher
Ferrari
Time
1:28.214 on lap 34
Podium
First
Michael Schumacher
Ferrari
Second
David Coulthard
McLaren-Mercedes
Third
Rubens Barrichello
Ferrari
Lap leaders
[3]
Motor car race
The 2001 Australian Grand Prix (officially the LXVI Qantas Australian Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 4 March 2001 at the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit in Albert Park, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, before a crowd of 128,500 people. It was the first round of the 2001 Formula One World Championship and the 16th Australian Grand Prix that counted towards the Formula One World Championship. Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher won the 58-lap race from pole position. David Coulthard of the McLaren team finished second and Schumacher's teammate Rubens Barrichello third. It was Schumacher's fifth consecutive victory in Formula One and the 45th of his career.
Michael Schumacher won the 33rd pole position of his career by recording the fastest lap in qualifying. He maintained the lead until a major accident on lap five involving Williams' Ralf Schumacher and British American Racing (BAR) driver Jacques Villeneuve resulted in the death of spectator marshal Graham Beveridge, who was struck in the chest by Villeneuve's right-rear wheel. The incident necessitated deploying the safety car. The race restarted eleven laps later with Michael Schumacher in first place until the pit stop phase for fuel and tyres. Coulthard led for three laps until his stop before Michael Schumacher regained the lead which he maintained to win the race.
Graham Beveridge was the second marshal to die from injuries sustained during a Formula One race after Paolo Gislimberti at the 2000 Italian Grand Prix just under six months before. His death was investigated by the sport's governing body, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), who concluded it was a "freak accident". A coroner's report concluded the organisers of the race, the Australian Grand Prix Corporation, were responsible for the accident and it was "avoidable".
Following this, Michael Schumacher left Australia as the leader of the World Drivers' Championship with ten points. Coulthard was four points behind in second and Barrichello a further two adrift in third. Nick Heidfeld of Sauber and Jordan's Heinz-Harald Frentzen were fourth and fifth. In the Constructors' Championship, Ferrari led with fourteen points and McLaren were second with eight points. Sauber and Jordan followed in third and fourth with sixteen races left in the season.
This race also marked the debuts of future World Champions Fernando Alonso and Kimi Räikkönen, with the latter scoring his first F1 career point.
^"2001 Australian Grand Prix: LXVI Qantas Australian Grand Prix". Chicane F1. Archived from the original on 17 July 2006. Retrieved 29 April 2019. "2001 Australian Grand Prix". Motor Sport. Archived from the original on 8 May 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
^Elizalde, Pablo (7 March 2001). "The Australian GP Review". Atlas F1. 7 (10). Archived from the original on 12 March 2001. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
^Cite error: The named reference regulations was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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