Australia

Australia
A highlight of the year for me as I am a Track Marshal. This year I was located at Turn 4. We're pretty lucky that we are the first to see the new driver changes and car liveries but because the track is usually a road around Albert Park Lake it gets fairly dusty so you see some sliding and caution on the first day.

Friday: Not really eventful except Schuey's brilliant barrel roll at Turn 6.  Apparently it is the first time he has flipped his car.  A friend of mine at 6 said he was imploring photographers not to take pictures of the car in no certain terms "Get away from the fucking car!!" He spent the rest of the session up in a cherry picker watching his colleagues. Hmmm, Interesting.

Saturday: I spent some time at the turn in to 5 and singled out Schuey, Hakkinen and Coulthard going through there absolutely flat. The commitment of those drivers is phenomenal. I had to take my earplugs out and stand right next to the fence so I could enjoy them blasting past at the turn in just feet away from me. Towards the end of the session Luciano Burti lost it out of 5 and put it in the wall. Aftermath looked pretty full on but everyone was OK.  I really feel for my fellow marshals when they have to clean up carbon fibre debris and car parts strewn over the track. Support events were pretty tame but we did have a Lambo and Ferrari F355 put it in the wall earlier. That Lambo went in sideways with a massive THUD! Didn't look like much from the other side of the track but when you saw the side that hit the wall... When you watch a Ferrari F355 sliding out of control backwards into a wall and then hit, well... you cry, really.

Sunday: We've all seen the accident between Jacques and Ralf and I had a clear vantage point to Turn 3 where it happened. I heard Villeneuve's engine rev really hard after the impact with Ralf and that's what caught my attention. As I turned, I saw the white flash of his car flying through the air and a split second later saw Ralf sliding out across the track into the gravel. At the time I had no idea who had flown through the air only that the car was white (Williams or BAR). I ran around the corner to see the aftermath and see Villeneuve sitting in his destroyed car (mildly in shock, I reckon) and just getting out while Ralf also got out of his car. Ralf went over to him and they seemed to be OK but I could not believe the devastation. Tiny pieces of car were still flitting down from the sky just as the dust was clearing. Then the Safety Car came out and you should have seen Schuey Sr. flip his visor and crane his neck out of the car to see if he could spot his bro when he came around next lap. Then the ambulance came and we all thought it was some minor injuries to a spectator because the level of safety is excellent.  The rest will remain in my memory and sadly we lost a marshal. Tragically, it was his first Grand Prix. Rest in Peace Graham Beveridge. The race continued and Coulthard's overtaking on Rubens for 2nd place at Turn 4 was masterly (a taste of things to come). A bit of argy bargy but clean and fair. The result was as we expected, only Hakkinen's departure was a bit of a downer.

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Malaysia
All I can say is Tyre Choice, Regenmeister Michael Schumacher and strategy. Ferrari 1-2's always seem special. McLaren really seemed to be out at sea (no pun intended). Verstappen was pretty awesome as well in the Arrows which is disappointing in some ways because it is so inconsistent.

Brazil
3 words - Juan Pablo Montoya. Jesus, that was like the second coming !! Thank you, Jos, for ruining what could have been one of the most incredible rookie performances to date ( Although, Jacques Villeneuve's debut in Melbourne '96 has to rate the highest ). Brickbats to Rubens - mate, you get the yips at your home race every single time. Another storming drive by DC.

San Marino
Well done, Ralf, on your first win. It was commanding, smooth and well run. I'm very pleased for Williams as they've been out in the wilderness these past few years and their commitment to BMW and Michelin is starting to pay dividends. They are to be watched closely and I think we will see a few more podiums and wins before the season is out.

Spain
Four cars stalling on the grid at the start with the introduction of Traction and Launch control did not bode very well and it would have been absolutely shit scary for those drivers. Talk about heartbreak for Hakkinen. Clutch going on the very last lap while in the lead ! Bad luck old chum, looks like you'll be taking the back seat to DC this year.

Austria
Top race really.  Coulthard deserved the win after a brilliant stint before his first pitstop and the furore over team orders is really a crock. Rubens, you are #2 whether you like it or not. Deal with it. It's great to see some life being breathed into the "racing" thanks to none other than Juan Pablo Montoya of the BMW.WilliamsF1 team. The F1 newsgroups seemed to go a little ballistic about the fact that someone had to take the blame for that "racing incident" between JPM and Schuey.  Schumi, as much as I love you, overtaking around the outside? Hmmm, methinks not.

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Monte Carlo
Ferrari do it again at the expense of McLaren ("We have the electronic bugs ironed out"). The shot of Coulthard freaking out in his stalled car on the grid pretty much said a lot about where the championship looks to be heading.  Juan, a word of advice, power sliding around an open circuit - ok. Around Monaco, in the words of Keke, "not ferry adfisable".

Schumi drove a steady and calculating race and the advantage of the Zero McLaren factor maybe had a lot to do with the end result.  Bad luck to Mika, he deserves better. Brilliant to see Irv on the podium for Jaguar.

 Bernoldi's demolition of Coulthard's chance of fairing well was completely within the rules and Ron Dennis and Norbert Haug remonstrating with the young driver at the end of the race was absolutely deplorable. Remember Ronny, ol' boy, to finish first you must first finish ?? Not likely. Dick.

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Canada
Schumacher².  What an awesome performance by the Schumacher Bros.  I was on the edge of my seat for 43 laps and it was good to see someone making Schuey Sr earn his bread and butter.  The BMW Williams was absolute perfection and the Michelins had a big part to play in this victory.  I could not believe the speed that it carried especially when Schuey Jr pulled several fastest laps while bro pitted.

Again, McLaren have a lot to answer for in preparation for their World Champion elect. Apparently, he had a wheel nut on his seat that was supposed to be for the front suspension which he threw out of the car just before the warm-up lap started.

 Hakkinen drove well for his first podium of the year and congrats to Alesi for his 5th.  He threw his helmet into the crowd he was so happy!  On a final note, the future starts with K for Kimi.  This young man is driving bloody superbly and maybe J P Montoya needs to learn a lesson or 2 about level-headedness from him.

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Aah, yes, those bloody white lines separated Ralf from win No.3 and 4th place. But, rules is rules and JPM kept his head and earned a 2nd place. Schuey Sr. was ahead of the rest, yet again, but his car breaking down before lining up to the grid was a serious worry.  Seems Ferrari are starting to let things slip a little with Williams quite happy to pick up the pieces.  All in all a pretty boring race as Schuey Sr races on to his 4th World Championship... that is unless little bro decides to spoil the party.  Let's wait and see!

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Another mercurial drive by none other than the Schumeister Sr.  The ridiculous introduction of the rule where a stranded driver on the grid cannot use the T-Car to race in eliminated Hakkinen.  It is so farcical, Hakkers is having a very painful year.  Thanks DC for speeding in the pit lane.  That gave the Schumacher brothers the edge they really needed.  I was especially pleased for Rubens who came from 8th to 3rd with a 3 stopper. Sauber are superbly consistent with Heidfeld in the points (6th) and nice to see a Jordan in the points with Trulli in 5th.

Schuey's 50th win and amazingly he may equal Prost's record number of wins ( 51 ) in no better place than at Silverstone where the very first Formula One race was run in 1950.  There is no doubt he will go on to win more races and become the most successful F1 racer in the history of the sport. Man, that gives me goose pimples just thinking about what an unbelievable achievement it is in the time Schuey has been in the sport. (since Belgium 1991).

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Hakkinen breaks the drought !!!  It is a credit to Mika who is a really fantastic guy that he has kept his chin up and driven as best he can for the team.. well... most of the time.  He looked like he had the same form as he did in 98 and 99 when he was romping in the world championship.  Great qualifying and flag to finish race with no mistakes.

Coulthard is having shocking mid-season form and Silverstone delivered bad vibes from Lap 1. Bad luck, dude. Schumi is on the podium again and the circus is genuinely happy that Mika is back in the groove.

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Like the expression goes, "They're dropping like flies"  Frentzen got the arse from Jordan by FAX!! Why?..very interested to find out but everyone's keeping schtoom, what with all the lawyers and hangers-on.  Hockenheim is a real engine breaker and a lot of the big guns dropped. Both McLarens, Montoya (Sadly, because he would have most certainly won this race if he had stayed in except for a botched pitstop), Schumi and others.

Bit of action at the start and we can start to see signs of Ferrari faltering with Schumi's gearbox dying causing Burti's huge shunt.

I am very pleased for Schumi2 with a win at his home grand prix. It must be an incredible feeling and he drove very wisely and carefully, stroking it all the way home.  And, yay, finally the Benetton's get some decent points. Go for 2nd place in the championship, Ralfy!

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And it passed that in 1994 Michael Schumacher would earn his first world championship in controversial circumstances and take the mantle from the great Ayrton Senna. And he would assert himself in 1995 with a second world championship and show the world there was no doubt he was the real deal. And then he chose to rebuild a team and moved to Ferrari.  1996 was a year of learning and in 1997 he was challenging again but he lost his cool with Jacques and got his hand slapped.

In 98 he was challenging again. In 99 he broke his leg but stamped his genius all over the sport in Malaysia that year. The momentum had gathered and the Scuderia won their first Constructors Championship in 20 years.

 The new millennium brought his 3rd Driver's Championship and it was whispered that he may surpass some fairly prominent records. And now it is 2001 and he has just taken his 4th World Championship with 4 races still to go. And he has won 51 races, just like Alain Prost - The most in the history of the sport. He will be the greatest driver ever. He is the greatest driver ever. Michael Schumacher - 2001 Weltmeister.

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Williams worked so hard to get Montoya and Schu2 on Pole and 2nd respectively... and then they showed us how to blow it. Juan Pablo was absolutely spewing when his engine stalled and I can't blame him. Everytime things look good, he gets pissed on. I'm hanging out for him to bring it home soon.

Frentzen blew it. A fantastic 4th in qualifying only to stall on the grid. Benetton really got their shit together with their new aero package and their launch control is just the ants pants. Fisi and Button just rocketed off the line and made blinding starts both times.

I'm happy that Jean scored his first points for Jordan, at the expense of his teammate who blew up just after Alesi lost 6th. And I am especially happy that Luciano Burti got away with a couple of bruises after a 190mph shunt at Stavelot that would have killed him a couple of years ago. In fact, the first aerial shots of the accident just after they pulled the car out of the tyre wall showed him not moving in the car and it was "Uh-oh..this looks bad" then the blankets went up around the scene and it was "Oh shit.. this looks really bad" He's a very lucky boy. Irvine is no to blame at all, Burti was just way too optimistic to overtake at that corner.

So Schuey has become the "winningest" driver in the history of the sport and it is right that this record has come at the track he debuted at 10 years earlier. Sensational.

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