Just like how 1998 was, and like 1999 promised to be, the 2000 F1 World Championship was a battle between the era’s two greatest drivers – Michael Schumacher and Mika Hakkinen. Or at least it was at the end. With over half the season completed, Schumacher was being chased all the way by not only Hakkinen, but his team-mate David Coulthard, who outdrove Schumacher brilliantly to win the French Grand Prix two rounds previously. In the next round in Austria, Hakkinen led home a McLaren one-two after Schumacher retired on the first lap, leaving Coulthard and Hakkinen second and third in the standings, the Scotsman cutting the German’s lead to just six points going into Schumacher’s home race.
2000 German Grand Prix
In qualifying, Coulthard’s quickest run during wet and changing conditions was enough to give him pole position, over a second faster than second-placed Schumacher. Hakkinen gave a cautious performance to qualify fourth, behind the Benetton of Giancarlo Fisichella. The biggest loser of the session was Schumacher’s team-mate, Rubens Barrichello, who struggled in the changing conditions and qualified a lowly eighteenth.
At the start, Hakkinen got a fast getaway and took the lead going into turn one. Behind him, Schumacher moved to the left and left Fisichella with nowhere to go, and the two collided and were out on the spot. At the end of lap one Hakkinen led Coulthard with Jarno Trulli’s Jordan third. Ferrari’s interest in the race now rested on Barrichello, who was up to tenth by the beginning of lap two, and soon overtook both BARs of Jacques Villeneuve and Ricardo Zonta for eighth, and was fifth with over 20 laps completed. For McLaren it was an ideal scenario, with both cars first and second with their main title rival out of the race, but things would take an ironic twist on lap 25.
On the straight leading towards turn two, a man in a transparent cagoule emblazoned with the insignia of Mercedes – McLaren’s engine supplier – appeared from behind the barriers. After walking a short distance along the grass, he even managed to cross the race track to the other side. The Safety Car was immediately deployed and teams took advantage of this by calling in the drivers for tyres. McLaren called in Hakkinen first and left Coulthard in the lead but on worn rubber. He pitted a lap later but emerged sixth. The track-invader was caught on lap 27, and was later revealed to be a disgruntled former Mercedes employee who later apologised for his actions.
The Safety Car pulled-in on lap 29 but was out again just one lap later after a collision involving Jean Alesi’s Prost and the Sauber of Pedro Diniz at the entrance to the third chicane. Alesi hit the barriers hard and a meadow of carbon fibre was left scattered along the circuit. Racing got underway again on lap 31 and light rain soon began to fall. Williams’s Jenson Button was first to pit for wets and soon all but four drivers – Barrichello, Coulthard, Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Zonta – had pitted. The quick thinking of the Williams crew helped Button – who had started at the back of the grid after an engine misfire on the parade lap – up into the points. Barrichello now led from Hakkinen, who, despite still being on slick tyres, opened up a gap over just over eleven seconds as the rain started to fall heavily.
After 45 laps, Barrichello took the first win of his Formula 1 career, and possibly drove the best race of any driver all that season. Hakkinen finished second with Coulthard third. Button finished fourth in an impressive and mature drive. The second Sauber of Mika Salo finished fifth with Pedro De La Rosa – omnipresent in the points positions throughout the race – rounded-up the top six.
The result left Hakkinen and Coulthard equal on 54 points, cutting Schumacher’s advantage to just two points, with Barrichello now just eight points behind the McLaren duo. Ferrari maintained their four point lead in the constructors’ standings going into round twelve at Hungary.
