Formula 1 Flashback - Sunday September 2, 2001 - Belgian GP (with video)

September 2nd, 2007

Formula 1 Flashback - Sunday September 2, 2001 - Belgian GP (with video)

This day in 2001 the Belgian GP was held in Spa-Francorchamps. Juan Pablo Montoya started the race from pole position. The race had to be restarted after Frentzen’s Prost stalled on the grid. On lap 4 Luciano Burti crashed out after collision with Eddie Irvine. Race was stopped and restarted again for 36 laps.

Burti missed out the rest of the season (he was replaced by Tomas Enge) and in fact never returned to F1 afterwards. His team, Prost, only competed in 3 more races and wen bankrupt before the 2002 began.

Besides Burti and Irvine two other drivers did not take part in the restarted race - Kimi Raikkonen in Sauber and Fernando Alonso in Minardi…
Montoya did not convert the pole position into the race win. He retired on lap 2 after an engine failure. Michael Schumacher went on to win the race. That was his 52nd race win, breaking previous Alain Prost’s record of 51 race wins.
This was the place of the last ever podium for Benetton F1 team (Fisichella) and last point finish for Jean Alesi (this was also his first point for Jordan).

Race result, Belgian GP 2001
1) Michael Schumacher - Ferrari - 1:08:05.002
2) David Coulthard - McLaren-Mercedes +10.098
3) Giancarlo Fisichella - Benetton-Renault +27.742
4) Mika Häkkinen - McLaren-Mercedes +36.087
5) Rubens Barrichello - Ferrari +54.521
6) Jean Alesi - Jordan-Honda +59.684
7) Ralf Schumacher - Williams-BMW +59.986
Jacques Villeneuve - BAR-Honda +1:04.970
9) Heinz-Harald Frentzen - Prost-Acer +1 Lap
10) Jos Verstappen - Arrows-Asiatech +1 Lap