The 2001 Belgian Grand Prix (officially the 2001 Foster's Belgian Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held before 85,000 spectators at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Francorchamps, Wallonia, Belgium on 2 September 2001. It was the 14th round of the 2001 Formula One World Championship and the 48th Belgian Grand Prix counting as part of the World Championship. Ferrari driver and World Drivers' Champion Michael Schumacher won the 36-lap race starting from third. David Coulthard finished in second for McLaren with Benetton's Giancarlo Fisichella third, scoring the final podium of the Benetton team.
Juan Pablo Montoya of the Williams team won the pole position by recording the fastest lap in the one-hour qualifying session; he stalled on the grid and forfeited pole. His teammate Ralf Schumacher lost the lead to Michael Schumacher into Les Combes turn. Michael Schumacher led the next four laps before the race was stopped for an accident involving Jaguar's Eddie Irvine and Luciano Burti of Prost on lap five. The race was declared null and void and recommenced with a revised distance of 36 laps. Michael Schumacher led every lap of the restarted race to take his eighth victory of the season. Schumacher overtook the four-time world champion Alain Prost's all-time career wins total with his 52nd, a record he held until Lewis Hamilton surpassed it at the 2020 Portuguese Grand Prix.
Burti was kept in hospital with facial bruising and a concussion until 10 September; his accident helped enhance helmet safety. The race result allowed Coulthard to further his World Drivers' Championship advantage over the second Ferrari driver of Rubens Barrichello by four championship points in second position. Barrichello in turn moved another two championship points clear of fourth-placed Ralf Schumacher. In the World Constructors' Championship, McLaren in second moved further ahead of Williams in third by nine championship points as Jordan passed British American Racing (BAR) for fifth with three races left in the season.
Background
The 2001 Belgian Grand Prix was the 14th of the 17 races in the 2001 Formula One World Championship and the 48th time it was part of the Formula One World Championship. It took place at the 21-turn Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Francorchamps, Wallonia, Belgium on 2 September. While the track's length has been reduced from for safety reasons, it is still the longest in Formula One. It contains a number of fast and long sweeping corners along with a high degree of gradient change, which puts a high amount of g-force on the driver.
Before the race, both the World Drivers' Championship and World Constructors' Championship were already settled, with Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher having claimed both titles in the preceding Hungarian Grand Prix, with the closest team McLaren too many championship points behind to be able to catch them. Several positions in the standings were undecided. In the battle for second place, David Coulthard of McLaren was five championship points in front of the second Ferrari of Rubens Barrichello in third and a further two ahead of Williams' Ralf Schumacher in fourth. In the Constructors' standings, McLaren in second were 13 championship points ahead of Williams, while Sauber and British American Racing (BAR) contended for fourth.
Although a crash during testing at the Mugello Circuit left him with a sore neck, doctors deemed Michael Schumacher fit to compete in Belgium. He stated that he would be unwilling to be concentrated in his driving, and did not say when he felt he would surpass four-time world champion Alain Prost's all-time record of 51 race victories (broken in ), which he equalled in Hungary. Coulthard said he set himself the objective of winning the season 's final four races to consolidate second in the World Drivers' Championship. Barrichello stated he had also targeted second and his teammate Michael Schumacher promised to help him, saying, "For me the season has just started."
There were 11 teams (each representing a different constructor) of two drivers each entered for the event. Several teams modified their cars to suit the mid-downforce setup of the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. Williams debuted a lighter and stiffer chassis by for driver Ralf Schumacher with a revised aerodynamic package for better airflow to the FW23. Ferrari introduced a new front wing to the F2001 that was built upon a set of solutions tested in the previous race and adapted to suit the layout of the track. The Jordan team reverted to the aerodynamic configuration they used for the EJ11 at the preceding Hungarian Grand Prix. Prost adopted a new rear suspension geometry with a deformable structure and a new semi-axle structure, characterised by a large extractor profile. Benetton, Arrows and Jaguar carried over technical innovations developed for use in Hungary to Belgium, while Minardi manufactured a new chassis, the PS01B, which featured a revised rear crash structure and gearbox.
Practice
There were four scheduled practice sessions prior to Sunday's race, two one-hour sessions on Friday and two 45-minute sessions on Saturday. The Friday practice sessions were held in cool and overcast conditions that turned to a downpour in the afternoon, causing several drivers to aquaplane on the wet track. In the first practice session, Michael Schumacher was fastest with a lap of 1:48.655, followed by Jordan's Jarno Trulli, Barrichello, Mika Häkkinen of McLaren, Ralf Schumacher, Jean Alesi in the second Jordan, the Saubers of Kimi Räikkönen and Nick Heidfeld, Juan Pablo Montoya of Williams and Giancarlo Fisichella's Benetton. Coulthard lost control of his car by running wide onto sodden dirt, hitting a kerb at the exit of Les Fagnes corner, a right-hander taken at and collided with a left-hand side metal barrier head-on, tearing the right-front wheel from his car's tethers. His damaged car skidded backwards along the wall before stopping. Coulthard clambered out of the car unhurt; he missed the second practice session while it was repaired.
Michael Schumacher recorded the day's quickest lap in the second session at 1:48.655. Trulli did not improve his lap but duplicated his first session result in second. Barrichello remained in third, with Fisichella was fourth-fastest, ahead of Häkkinen and his compatriot Räikkönen. Ralf Schumacher, Jaguar driver Eddie Irvine, Alesi and Benetton's Jenson Button rounded out the top ten fastest drivers. Rain fell came 16 minutes in and eased five minutes later. Button hit an armco metal barrier along the pit lane exiting the Bus Stop chicane. The impact damaged a track-rod on Button's car. As Michael Schumacher was about to overtake Pedro de la Rosa's Jaguar going downhill to Eau Rouge corner, he could not see him due to spray reducing visibility and he hit the rear of De la Rosa's car. His front wing was broken and De la Rosa's left-rear wheel was punctured. Montoya lost control of his car on a wet kerb and he damaged it after a spin into a tyre wall out of Les Combes corner.
The third practice session was delayed for two hours due to fog, rain showers and low clouds reducing visibility. Race organisers later cancelled it for safety reasons because the emergency medical helicopters were grounded in Liège. When the sky cleared at 10:00 local time, it was agreed by the Grand Prix organisers that a single 45-minute session would be held without practice starts to prevent a delay in television coverage for qualifying. Williams led the session with Montoya fastest with a 1:47.974 lap and Ralf Schumacher in second. Häkkinen, Coulthard. Barrichello, Fisichella, Irvine, BAR driver Jacques Villeneuve, Button and Alesi completed the top ten ahead of qualifying. Several drivers ran off the slippery track surface during the session. De la Rosa, Irvine and Häkkinen went wide into the grass at the Bus Stop chicane, while Heinz-Harald Frentzen of the Prost team and Button ran off at Les Combes turn.
Qualifying
Saturday afternoon's one-hour qualifying session saw drivers limited to twelve laps, with the starting order decided by their fastest laps. During this session the 107% rule was in effect, requiring each driver to remain within 107 per cent of the fastest lap time to qualify for the race. Heavy rain at the start meant the field stayed in their garages for 26 minutes before cars on intermediate tyres ventured onto the track. By then, sunny weather allowed the track to progressively dry and cars were fitted with dry tyres in the last five minutes. Williams were the first team to switch their cars onto the dry tyres earlier than any one else. Montoya traded the fastest lap with his teammate Ralf Schumacher and took the second pole position of his career with a 1:52.072 lap, with Ralf Schumacher second. Michael Schumacher in third drove the spare Ferrari before switching to his race car when the track dried. Frentzen was hesitant to switch to the dry tyres until his team owner Alain Prost convinced him to do so and qualified fourth. Barrichello, fifth, used the intermediate tyres throughout. Villeneuve ran conservatively because he feared making an error and took sixth. Häkkinen qualified in seventh, bemoaning his conservative driving style due to the timing of the switch from intermediate to dry tyres. Eighth-placed Fisichella reported that the feel of his car was adequate in changeable weather. Coulthard fell from third to ninth in qualifying's final seconds due to his team telling him there was insufficient time to have the dry tyres fitted to his car and traffic slowed him. De la Rosa, tenth, experienced a loss in oil pressure.
Panis in 11th was affected by an electrical fault that a change of steering wheel failed to rectify; his third timed lap was set too late to improve his position. Räikkönen was 6th in the final ten seconds until a reoccurring transmission fault left him in 12th. Alesi chose not to switch to the dry tyres and was 13th. Heidfeld in 14th had the same transmission fault as his teammate Räikkönen and yellow flags were waved when he stopped at Burneville corner. An excessive amount of oversteer and driving on intermediate tyres left Button in 15th. A lack of time to switch from the intermediate to dry tyres restricted Trulli to 16th. Irvine in 17th switched to the spare Jaguar because the exhaust on his car broke and the spare had excess understeer. 18th-placed Luciano Burti of Prost was delayed for half a minute because of a tyre pressure adjustment error that prevented him from improving his best lap. Jos Verstappen was 19th in the faster Arrows car. Irvine slowed him and a plan to do two timed laps did not come to fruition as he crossed the start/finish line three seconds after qualifying ended. Minardi's Fernando Alonso started 20th due to him being on intermediate tyres at qualifying's end. The Arrows and Minardi formation continued on the eleventh row with Enrique Bernoldi 21st after he lost time because he was called to the weighbridge with five minutes left and he ran out of fuel at the Bus Stop chicane. Tarso Marques took 22nd after Ralf Schumacher slowed him and his car's rear suspension buckled on his fourth timed lap.
Post-qualifying