Between 1998 and 2000, there were arguably two drivers in Formula One who were more recognisable than any other. Both Mika Hakkinen, driving for McLaren-Mercedes, and Michael Schumacher, driving for Scuderia Ferrari were at the peak of their powers, winning a remarkable 34 races between them out of the 49 races contested. While 1998 saw Hakkinen brilliantly hold off Schumacher, 1999 saw Schumacher miss six races while Hakkinen fought against the German’s team mate, Eddie Irvine. Once Schumacher was back to full strength in 2000 it was once again an epic all-out war between two of Formula One’s greats, both at the time were back-to-back world champions, and one race at the legendary Spa-Francorchamps will be remembered as one of the more dramatic duels between the two.
The 2000 Belgian Grand Prix
Heading into the race, Hakkinen led the championship by just two points from Schumacher. Hakkinen’s team mate David Coulthard a further four points behind and Schumacher’s new team mate Rubens Barrichello eight behind Coulthard. In the fight for the constructors’ championship, McLaren were just one point ahead of Ferrari, while Williams, now powered by BMW, had a mere 24 points to McLaren’s 112.
The beautiful forests surrounding Spa were notably dry for qualifying, and the thunderous V10 engines roared around the circuit to see Hakkinen take pole position, his fifth of the season, ahead of the surprise package – Jarno Trulli in his Jordan-Mugen-Honda, nearly eight tenths behind. Jordan traditionally had a strong record at Spa, and some drivers made their names there for the team. In third, was a very young and very impressive Jenson Button in his Williams, which was alongside Schumacher’s Ferrari. Coulthard was almost a second behind his team mate in fifth, ahead of Ralf Schumacher’s Williams, Jacques Villeneuve’s BAR, Heinz-Harald Frentzen’s Jordan, Johnny Herbert’s Jaguar and Barrichello’s Ferrari rounding out the top 10.
However, come race day, Spa being Spa, delivered the rain that it promises almost every race weekend. The traditional standing start was aborted, and the cars performed a rolling start, similar to the restart after a safety car. The 22 cars all got away cleanly and almost immediately Schumacher set his sights on Button. Coulthard fancied a bit of the action too as they headed to Les Combes for the first time. Lap 3 saw Hakkinen start to pull out a huge gap while Button now fought hard with Trulli. Unfortunately for the Brit, all that he succeeded in doing was letting Schumacher through at the end of the lap into the Bus Stop Chicane. Almost immediately after, Schumacher made easy meat of Trulli as Button tapped the Italian into retirement to add to his woes, letting Coulthard and Ralf Schumacher through in the process.
The track began to dry out as no further rain fell and Hakkinen and Schumacher went about trading fastest lap times, however, under pressure and on a damp track, Hakkinen went for a spin, and let the German through. On lap 21, Schumacher made his stop, for a huge amount of fuel and for dry tyres. Shortly afterwards, Hakkinen made his stop, which was notably quicker than Schumacher’s, but quite a way behind Schumacher. Although Schumacher had a healthy lead, Hakkinen went about slowly closing in on the German and with just five laps to go looked as if he had a realistic shot at passing Schumacher. Meanwhile, Coulthard got past Button for fourth with a bold move on the outside into Les Combes. Lap 40 came and Hakkinen had a real shot at Schumacher, but the German well and truly closed the door on the Finn, arguably too aggressively. One lap later, Hakkinen had another go, but this time had another obstacle in his way, Ricardo Zonta in the BAR. Zonta was being lapped and kept to the middle of the track, Hakkinen threw his car to the left and then to the right as he got a double toe and forced Schumacher to take the outside, Hakkinen the inside with Zonta being the filling in the middle. Hakkinen bravely outbraked Schumacher and went on to take the victory, making one of the most memorable moves in Formula One history. Michael Schumacher took second, ahead of Ralf Schumacher, Coulthard, Button, Frentzen, Villeneuve, Herbert, Mika Salo and Eddie Irvine. This extended Hakkinen and McLaren’s lead to six and eight points respectively in the drivers’ and constructors’ championships.
After the race, Hakkinen described the move as ‘different’. He said that the race was incredible and that his spin ‘wasn’t planned’, while Schumacher was convinced that the slipstream from Zonta would have been enough to hold Hakkinen off. Hakkinen, unhappy with Schumacher’s excessive defending, went and spoke to Schumacher face to face about it, showing the amount of respect that the two had for each other. Years later, in an interview with Sky Sports, Hakkinen explained how he pulled off the move. Eau Rouge, one of Formula One’s most famous corners, was a corner that was absolutely flat in qualifying, and almost flat in the race. Hakkinen decided that if he was to pass Schumacher, he would need to take a risk and take Eau Rouge completely flat out. He done this, and it quite clearly worked. This race was a prime example of the great rivalry that McLaren and Ferrari, Formula One’s two most successful teams both share.
Thank you for reading. Please take a moment to follow me on Twitter – @Craig_O_F1. Support LWOS by following us on Twitter – @LastWordOnSport and @LWOSworld– and “liking” our Facebook page.
For the latest sports injury news, check out our friends at sports injury alert.
Main image:
