#Schumacher2000: An Epic Pass Puts Hakkinen In Charge

Zigwheels’ Schumacher 2000 series looks back to twenty years ago when Michael Schumacher won Ferrari’s first drivers’ championship since 1979. The previous feature can be read here. 

Overtaking appears to be a rare occurrence at the front of an F1 race classification. The sport is going through a major overhaul for 2022 to rectify the situation. There are still some iconic scraps that can never be forgotten. Along with Gilles Villeneuve and Rene Arnoux fighting for second in the 1979 French Grand Prix, Mika Hakkinen’s pass on Michael Schumacher in the 2000 Belgian GP ranks very high. Hakkinen’s pass was not only thrilling but significant too in battle for the 2000 drivers’ and constructors’ titles. 

Schumi on the ropes

As covered in the previous article of this series, the 2000 French GP was the first of five consecutive races that season where Schumacher failed to win. Including the French GP, there were three straight DNFs (Did Not Finish) in that barren streak. The Hungarian GP was the fourth race in that five race winless streak where Hakkinen handily won while Schumacher was a distant second. From scoring zero points in the first three races of the season (while Schumacher scored 30), Hakkinen led the standings. Schumacher was two points behind and going into the Belgian GP at Spa-Francorchamps, it wasn’t looking particularly rosy for Schumacher and Ferrari. 

Spa was a different circuit in 2000 despite the location being the same as the present day. The circuit only became a permanent racing facility in 2002, before which most of it consisted of public roads. That included the old Bus Stop Chicane, which was actually a bus stop! The kerbs installed at the chicane used to heavily unsettle the cars that went through it and riding the kerbs was vital for getting a good lap time. 

McLaren-Mercedes and Hakkinen were the class of the field in dry conditions and his advantage over the field was clear to see in qualifying. Hakkinen’s pole position time of 1min.50.646sec was a massive 0.773 seconds faster than second placed Jarno Trulli’s (a qualifying specialist) Jordan-Mugen Honda. Rookie and future F1 champion Jenson Button was third for Williams, who were in the first year of their association with engine suppliers BMW. Schumacher could only manage fourth, just over a tenth of a second slower than Button and 0.906 seconds behind Hakkinen!

The equalizer

Rain is the great equalizer in F1 and allows a driver to make up for the deficiencies of the car. Schumacher’s first win for Ferrari was in heavy rain in the 1996 Spanish GP, where he could only manage ninth in dry weather qualifying. Back to the 2000 Belgian GP, and a downpour prior to the start had left Spa soaked with the safety car kicking up heavy spray. Wary of a repeat of the carnage at the start of the 1998 Belgian GP, the start of the 44-lap race was behind the safety car. 

The safety car period lasted for just one lap, however, and the race was underway with Schumacher poised to make progress. By the end of the fifth lap, Schumacher was up to second behind Hakkinen. The field soon stopped for dry weather tyres (and refuelling as it was allowed from 1994 to 2009) and by the end of lap nine, Hakkinen maintained his advantage over Schumacher. The track was still fairly wet, so the drivers were still avoiding the damp kerbs (including the ones at the Bus Stop Chicane). 

It was time for Schumacher to put the hammer down and four consecutive fastest laps brought him within 4.6 seconds of Hakkinen by the beginning of lap 13. That was when the race took a dramatic turn. Hakkinen made the mistake of running on to the damp kerb at the Stavelot corner, causing his McLaren to spin. Schumacher stormed past the Finn and into the lead of the race. By lap 22 Schumacher had increased his lead to 11 seconds over Hakkinen before pitting and taking on a lot of fuel. The stop dropped him to third while Hakkinen tried to build enough of a lead to come ahead of the German by the time he made his stop. 

The fight

Hakkinen pitted on lap 27 and lost the lead to Schumacher, however the race was far from over yet. The frontrunners stopped again on lap 34, ten laps from the end of the race. By this point, the track had a clear dry line and the problem of the Ferrari F1-2000 degrading its tyres faster than the McLaren MP4-15 came back to haunt Schumacher. It first occurred in the French GP, and now Schumacher was being forced to find any remaining water on the track to try and cool his tyres. 

By lap 40 Hakkinen was right behind Schumacher and tried to pull the textbook Spa overtaking move. A move like that requires the following driver to be close to his prey coming out of the La Source hairpin, make up ground through Eau Rouge and Radillion (they were not ‘easy flat’ back then) and then catch the slipstream going on to the Kemmel Straight. Then would come a late-braking move at the Les Combes chicane at the end of the straight. 

Thanks to the controversial incidents in the 1994 Australian GP and the 1997 European GP, Schumacher had a reputation of a driver willing to occasionally get dirty in order to win. He once again pushed the boundaries of acceptable on-track etiquette as he aggressively went right on the Kemmel straight on lap 40 as Hakkinen attempted a pass. The cars made contact and Hakkinen was forced to lift. An opportunity presented itself on the very next lap, though.

The pass

Lap 41 of the 2000 Belgian GP, Schumacher and Hakkinen, the two best drivers in F1,  top two in the race, top two in the 2000 drivers’ championship and three laps left in the race. Talk about a great setup for a thrilling finish. And thanks to the BAR-Honda of Brazilian Ricardo Zonta, that’s exactly what we got. 

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With the hapless Zonta about to be lapped by Schumacher and Hakkinen, the frantic fans, teams in the pitlane and millions watching around the world were on tenterhooks. The leaders caught Zonta on the Kemmel straight, which worked out perfectly for Hakkinen. Getting a slipstream from both Zonta and Schumacher, the Finn moved to the right of the BAR-Honda while Schumacher passed the lapped car from its left. 

To this day, I - a Schumacher fan - remember Hakkinen’s decisive move at full speed that thrilled and disappointed me in equal measure. On a dry track, with the Ferrari’s tyres pretty much shot, there was no way Schumacher would stay ahead. It was fitting though, that it would take an incredible move like that to get the better of a driver like Schumacher. 

As Hakkinen and Schumacher stamped on the brakes at the end of the straight, the move was done. The Finn had the lead and took the chequered flag 1.1 seconds ahead of Schumacher. It was probably the finest win in the career of Hakkinen’s F1 career. The Finn was the favourite to win the drivers’ title for the third consecutive year, and getting to three titles before Schumacher whose last championship came in 1995. With four races left in the 2000 season, Hakkinen had 74 points to Schumacher’s 68 and McLaren were on 125 points to Ferrari’s 117 points. Ferrari looked like they would have to wait another year to see a driver in scarlet overalls to be crowned as F1’s champion. 

So Schumacher and Ferrari well and truly had their backs to the wall as the F1 circus headed to Monza the ‘temple of speed.’ How would the German respond to the battering he and Ferrari received over the five previous races? He would respond the way champions do. Look out for the next in this series to find out.