Coulthard wins after incident Verstappen/Montoya
Published on 01 April 2001 by Verstappen Info Page
After a very eventfull race David Coulthard won the Brasilian Grand Prix, Michael Schumacher was second and Nick Heidfeld third. Jos did not finish after he eliminated himself and race leader Juan Pablo Montoya after a collision. Jos did not expect Juan Pablo Montoya to brake so early.
First victory since July 2000
After Eddie Irvine had problems in his warming up lap, Mika Hakkinen was unable to start the race. Luckily all drivers managed to avoid the Fin. Jos overtook a few drivers in the first lap, as usual and was 14th after 1 lap. The safety car was brought on the circuit to make sure the marshalls were able to take the McLaren off the circuit.
When the race continued Montoya overtook Michael Schumacher at the end of the straight in a sensational way. Side by side they entered the cornet and Montoya took his first Grand Prix lead. Right after that Rubens Barrichello colided with Ralf Schumacher. Rubens had to exit the race and Ralf was able to drive on after a long pitstop.
Meanwhile Montoya and M. Schumacher improved the fastest time lap after lap. In lap 12 Jacques Villeneuve entered the pit for a check, Jos was 10th at that time and Luciano Burti in his Jaguar was threatening him.
In lap 25 M. Schumacher came into the pit for his regular pitstop, he went back on the circuit in 5th position, behind Jarno Trulli. Then the race continued like many others, until lap 38 when fate struck. Montoya, still race leader, overtook Jos. Jos made space and let him pass. Then Montoya braked a lot earlier than Jos expected and Jos colided into the back of Montoya's Williams. Result was that both had to exit the race. Disappointment for both drivers.
Coulthard went into the pits for his regular pitstop, then the rain started to fall. Everyone went in to change tyres. Coulthard changed his tyres very late which made him lose a lot of time. He re-entered the track in second position. Not for long though, Schumacher spun off track but managed to stay in front of Coulthard. In a spectacular overtaking action Coulthard took the lead.
He maintained this position until the finish, his first victory since France 2000. Schumacher came second, just in front of Heidfeld who gained a position when Frentzen retired from the race.
Short after the race we spoke with Jos, who felt guilty for the Montoya incident. "It was never my intention. I saw the blue flags and made space. When I followed him he braked very early. I was too close to react in time. I had a good start and we waited with the pitstop until it would start raining." When he came back into the pit he went to the Williams team and apologised for the crash. Montoya's comments were very professional; "that's racing". A very good mentality of a promising driver.
