The Line-League
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Season 2001

Grand Prix:
Malaysia - Sepang
Date: 03-02-2001
(Please check Houserules for explanation)
Qualifying
Damon Hill, the current Champion, did a pretty good qualifiying with only 19 stops and no faults and went on pole. Jos Verstappen had also a perfect lap but missed the first place by nearly 6 seconds, Mika Salo got third place with 19 stops too, but he was not fast enough. The pilots of Jaguar, always hunting the best time, were a bit unlucky between the corners, so the 4th place was the best they could get. The boys of Williams were not in a good shape today and had a big time-problem. Gerhard Berger couldn't control the speed of his car and overshot a couple of corners. So therefore for the Williams-Team only the 9., 11. and 12. place were left in the starting grid.
Race
The specialist for the Malaysian circuit, Heinz-Harald Frentzen made a very good start, and could overtake 4 cars on the way to the end of the first corner, matched for the lead with Damon Hill and Jos Verstappen. Behind these 3 leaders a crowd of 7 cars occupied the first corner. Gerhard Berger took a big risk and drove in 5th gear - like there were no cars in the curve - in the corner when only the inside lane on the right side was free. In the following straight there were hard slipstreaming-manoeuvers among the 8 cars, which helped Berger on 4th place. At the front, Frentzen finally took the leadership after the third corner and hold it to the finish-line, always 1 to 2 moves ahead of the following cars. The pole-position-man Damon Hill fell back meanwhile to the 6th place at the end of lap 1.

Because of a very bad set of tires, Villeneuve couldn’t finish the first lap and dropped out after only 20 moves. From the first to the second lap most of the cars were going to pit, due to the very hard race, some of them had to repair their damaged engines. At the end of the second lap, a big fight happened between Heidfeld and Berger for the second place. On the way to the last corner Berger pushed up his engine to 20.000 rpm which ended in a big blow-up of it. Unfortunately for him, the rest of the car was in a very good shape, so he might have been able to attack the leading car in the last lap. As Irvine heard about this break-down in the pit-radio he was that terrified, he also blew up his engine only one turn later. In the next turn, one of the many oil-spots terminated Mika Hakkinen shortly before he could reach the pits, placed on 4th at this time.

Nine moves before the end, Damon Hill began his big time in this race. He went from sixth to second place whithin 3 moves. Zanardi and Button had to let him pass without a fight, Verstappen couldn't shift down any more and had also no chance to counter. Nick Heidfeld lost the match of reaching the fifth curve and so Hill could go on finishing the race on second place. Mika Salo at the end of the field had to cancel his final attack by team-order, and was not allowed to shift up to fifth gear until Damon Hill had reached the finish-line to prevent the risk of a blow-up of Hill's wreckage of engine. Again there were no points left for the Williams-team.
Qualifying
Weather: Sun
Position: Driver: Team: Setup: Time/Points: Stops: Penalties: Total:
1 Hill (#1) Ferrari S / H 1:38,81 / 4 19   23
2 Verstappen (#5) Tyrrell S / H 1:46,39 / 4 19   23
3 Salo (#3) Ferrari S / H 1:53,96 / 4 19   23
4 Hakkinen (#7) Jaguar S / H 1:30,91 / 4 23   27
5 Frentzen (#2) Ferrari S / H 1:47,41 / 4 20 4 28
6 Zanardi (#9) Jaguar H / H 1:41,13 / 4 23 2 29
7 Heidfeld (#4) Tyrrell S / H 1:44,06 / 4 21 4 29
8 Villeneuve (#8) Jaguar H / H 1:33,87 / 4 21 5 30
9 Irvine (#10) Williams H / H 3:31,53 / 8 21 5 34
10 Button (#6) Tyrrell H / H 2:18,33 / 5 22 8 35
11 Schumacher R. (#12) Williams H / H 3:30,60 / 8 23 5 36
12 Berger (#11) Williams H / H 3:47,76 / 8 20 10 38
The Race
Length: 6:35
Weather: Sun
Hazards: 26
Best laps: Lap1: 21 Stops - Driver #2; Lap2: 16 - #2; Lap3: 16 - #2
Position: Driver: Team: Setup: T,Br,F,Bo,E,R    Stops: Crash: Points:
1 Frentzen (#2) Ferrari S / H 7, 2, 5, 3, 3, 2 53 10
2 Hill (#1) Ferrari H / H 8, 2, 4, 3, 3, 2 + 1 6
3 Heidfeld (#4) Tyrrell H / H 5, 3, 4, 3, 4, 3 + 2 4
4 Verstappen (#5) Tyrrell H / H 6, 2, 4, 3, 4, 3 + 5 3
5 Button (#6) Tyrrell S / H 6, 2, 4, 3, 4, 3 + 6 2
6 Zanardi (#9) Jaguar H / H 7, 2, 5, 3, 3, 2 + 6 1
7 Salo (#3) Ferrari H / H 8, 2, 4, 3, 3, 2 + 7 ---
8 Schumacher R. (#12) Williams H / H 8, 1, 5, 2, 3, 3 - 1 T (52) n.c.
9 Hakkinen (#7) Jaguar H / H 8, 1, 5, 3, 3, 2 - 15 R (38) n.c.
10 Berger (#11) Williams H / H 8, 1, 5, 2, 3, 3 - 17 E (36) n.c.
11 Irvine (#10) Williams H / H 8, 1, 5, 2, 3, 3 - 16 E (37) n.c.
12 Villeneuve (#8) Jaguar H / H 7, 1, 6, 3, 3, 2 - 33 T (20) n.c.