The 2001 Formula One season ended the way it began, early Sunday morning in Suzuka, as Michael Schumacher won the Grand Prix of Japan from the pole.
Schumacher’s dominant win pushed the already-crowned 2001 World Champion to yet another record, passing Alain Prot for most career points. Earlier this season the German set the record for most wins, now with 53, and most points in a season.
“Despite the records, to finish the season with a high in first position, that's what you wish to do and then you go into the long winter break we're going to face now,” Schumacher said. “Obviously, we've had maybe two races which have been a little bit difficult for us, Monza and Indianapolis, now we're back to normality and that's a great end and a great result for the championship we have achieved, to finish off the season for the team, for everyone.”
Juan Pablo Montoya finished second, followed by David Coulthard, whose third place finish secured his second place position in the championship standings. Schumacher’s Ferrari teammate Rubens Barrichello was battling Coulthard for second in the standings but will finish the season third after his fifth place finish in Japan.
“I did everything I could this year and that was it, second place was the best I could do,” Coulthard said. “There was a big gap to where Michael finished. I think I was helped a little bit by Mika at the end there… so I thank him for that. It's nice to finish the season, as Michael said, on the podium. To win would have been fantastic but I've never been that good around Suzuka, so it isn't a bad result.”
Once Schumacher was crowned the champion, Ferrari openly shifted its focus to helping Barrichello finish the season second, but it wasn’t meant to be. Barrichello qualified fourth in Japan, behind Schumacher and the Williams cars of Montoya and Ralf Schumacher. Barrichello would have had to win the race to pick seven points on Coulthard to move up in the standings but he was never quite able to gain any ground.
“I couldn't be any help (to Rubens),” Michael Schumacher said. “First of all, the plan was that he gets by the two Williams and then once he's by them, then obviously I would have let him by and let him do his race. That was the plan. As he couldn't get by, then there's no point in sacrificing my own race and maybe give away first position if whatever happened later in the race, and I think that was quite right.”
Mika Hakkinen finished fourth in what very well could be the last race of his career. The two-time World Champion will take the 2002 season off to spend more time with his family, but some question whether or not the Finn will come back in 2003. Hakkinen finished the season fifth in the standings, dreadful considering he finished second in 2000, but delightful considering he had seven DNFs.
"The race was as I expected it to be” Hakkinen said. “The team performed well and we had the right strategy. I want to thank everybody who I have worked with for the past nine years for all the effort they put into making my career so successful. I'm happy that David finished on the podium, and I must admit that by letting him past I wanted to give him something back for the occasions in the past when he has helped me. It will take some time to understand my new life and establish whether I enjoy it or not.
“Right now I'm looking forward to my sabbatical but I'm sure I will also miss Formula One."
Ralf Schumacher finished sixth, while Jenson Button finished seventh, and Jarno Trulli finished eighth in his last race with Jordan.
Jean Alesi hit the highs and the lows in his last weekend as a F-1 driver. After leading practice Friday he qualified to start the race 11th, but retired from the race on lap six, after he hit a spinning Kimi Raikkonen’s Sauber. Neither driver was injured.
“I really wanted to win points for Jordan before leaving, and I think we deserved to do so,” Alesi said. “But it was a tough race and we were not competitive enough today. I just was not able to go any faster – I don’t know why we were so slow. I feel really down about finishing the season like this but I have good memories from my two years at Jordan.
“These years have been a very important stepping stone in my career I want to say thank you to my mechanics, engineers and all my friends in the team.”
