page_title: 2001 Malaysian Grand Prix
section_title: Race
hierarchical_section_title: 2001 Malaysian Grand Prix / Race
caption_attribution_description: English: Rubens Barrichello, Indianapolis, 2002
context_page_description: The 2001 Malaysian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Sepang International Circuit in Sepang, Selangor, Malaysia in front of a crowd of 75,000 spectators on 18 March 2001. It was the second round of the 2001 Formula One World Championship and the third edition of the event as part of the series. The race was won from pole position by Michael Schumacher, driving for Ferrari. His teammate Rubens Barrichello finished second and McLaren's David Coulthard was third.
  The race was delayed and shortened from 56 to 55 laps because Giancarlo Fisichella of the Benetton team was out of position on the starting grid. When it did start, Michael Schumacher led the first two laps until he and Barrichello skidded on oil left by Olivier Panis' British American Racing car, as a tropical monsoon begin to fall. They ran into a gravel trap and Jordan driver Jarno Trulli took the lead for one lap until he and several drivers aquaplaned in the deteriorating weather. Coulthard led for 11 laps after a phase of pit stops for wet-weather tyres before Michael Schumacher passed him on lap 16.
context_section_description: The race took place in the afternoon from 14:00 MST and in front of a crowd of 75,000 spectators. The weather at the start was overcast but hot and humid. The air temperature ranged from 32 to 33 °C (90 to 91 °F) and the track temperature 41 to 44 °C (106 to 111 °F); forecasts four days earlier predicted conditions to be consistent with sunny skies. Every driver, except for Burti, began on the soft compound tyres. Five minutes before the pit lane was officially closed, Michael Schumacher's race car had an oil leak, prompting him to drive the spare Ferrari that was setup for his teammate Barrichello. He avoided a pit lane start because he exited the area one minute before it closed.
  On the formation lap, Frentzen's engine misfired due to a computer-hardware error that limited his rev limiter to 4,000 rpm as he drove away from his starting slot. Just before the race was due to start, Fisichella was out of position because he missed his starting slot and was stranded in the middle of the grid. He drove to his original starting position and was perpendicular across the track with not enough steering lock and rolled between the two cars ahead and behind him. Because series regulations barred drivers from reversing, this resulted in an aborted start. A new start time of 14:10 MST was planned and the race was shortened from 56 to 55 laps since drivers were required to do a second formation lap. During this lap Montoya ran to his garage to take the spare vehicle because his race car had an engine problem.
  Michael Schumacher, from the pole position, made a brisk getaway to maintain his startline advantage going into the first corner. His teammate Barrichello made a slow start and fell from second to fourth as Trulli was to the left of him and Ralf Schumacher to his right. Ralf Schumacher slid before turn one and he defended his position at the corner. That caused the left-front corner of Barrichello's Ferrari and the rear of Ralf Schumacher's Williams car to connect; Schumacher spun 180 degrees in front of the pack, sending him to the rear of the field. In doing so, Irvine was sent into a half-spin by Verstappen as Räikkönen drove near the pit lane wall with a broken transmission. Elsewhere, Häkkinen slowed to avoid piling into Ralf Schumacher. He fell from fourth to eighth as his teammate Coulthard moved from eighth to fourth after going into the grass to avoid the incidents. Verstappen moved from 18th to sixth by the end of the first lap by driving on the inside, as Ralf Schumacher fell from third to 20th over the same distance. At the end of the first lap, Michael Schumacher led his teammate Barrichello in second by 1.3 seconds, with Trulli a further 1.8 seconds behind in third.
  As the two Ferraris pulled away from the rest of the field on lap two, Panis' engine failed, pitching his car backwards into the gravel trap. Leaking oil pooled on the track and dripped onto his hot exhaust, where it ignited. Fisichella overtook his teammate Button for 11th as Ralf Schumacher moved from 20th to 14th. An unexpected monsoon shower began to fall on lap three. The two Ferraris continued to pull further away from the rest of the field, although they were unaware of Panis' deposited oil. Both drivers slid on the oil and into the gravel trap, and navigated back onto the track in third and seventh. Trulli took the lead with Coulthard in second. None of the leaders made pit stops to switch to wet-weather compound tyres immediately because half of the track was dry while the final hairpin was flooded. On lap four, Montoya, Bernoldi, Heidfeld and Villeneuve aquaplaned into a gravel trap and retired. Race officials deployed the safety car on the lap though several cars, including Trulli, Coulthard and Barrichello, aquaplaned into the turn 15 hairpin.
  During the safety car period, several drivers made pit stops for rain tyres. Although he had no radio communication with his team, Coulthard exited the pit lane leading while Ferrari had a fraught stop. After Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn called both Michael Schumacher and his teammate Barrich
caption: Rubens Barrichello (pictured in 2002), who finished in second, had a 72-second pit stop due to a tyre mix-up early in the race.
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