2001 Canadian GP: Ralf beats Michael – first brothers' one-two

At the 2001 Canadian GP at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Ralf Schumacher won in the Williams ahead of his brother Michael Schumacher in the Ferrari. Mika Häkkinen finished third in the McLaren. For the first time in the history of Formula 1, two brothers took the top two places. The race was not decided by an overtaking move on track. Pit strategy made the difference: Michael had to refuel earlier, while Ralf stayed out longer and rejoined ahead of him after his stop.

Michael Schumacher started from pole position and kept the lead, with Ralf following from second on the grid. Behind them, Rubens Barrichello quickly passed Jarno Trulli (Jordan) and David Coulthard from fifth on the grid to run third. According to Wikipedia, Coulthard was running heavily fuelled on a one-stop strategy.

Further back, there were several collisions:

• Giancarlo Fisichella (Benetton) ran into the back of Enrique Bernoldi (Arrows) at the hairpin and then hit his team-mate Jenson Button on the straight. With broken suspension, Fisichella's race was over before he had completed a lap.
• On lap two, Eddie Irvine (Jaguar) hit the Sauber of Nick Heidfeld. Both spun onto the grass and retired. According to crash.net, Irvine admitted he was to blame.

Button also received a stop-go penalty for a jump start and parked his Benetton after 17 laps with an oil leak.

Barrichello had a day to forget. His traction control was causing misfires, so he switched it off. Shortly afterwards he spun at the hairpin – on lap 6, according to Wikipedia and grandprix.com – and dropped to 14th place. He then fought his way back up the field.

After 19 laps, the race was over for two drivers. Juan Pablo Montoya lost the rear of his Williams on a kerb and hit the wall. Barrichello, directly behind him, took evasive action and ended up in the barrier himself. The Safety Car was then deployed, coming back in after lap 23 according to Wikipedia. Earlier, Fernando Alonso had already retired his Minardi after 7 laps with a gearbox failure. He had started from 22nd on the grid after his qualifying times were deleted because his front wing had been mounted too low.

After the restart, Ralf closed in ever further on his brother. According to Wikipedia, the gap shrank to 0.521 seconds between laps 30 and 32. According to crash.net, the two ran nose to tail from roughly lap 26 to 45. Several of Ralf's overtaking attempts failed. He later said, according to grandprix.com: "I was following him quite easily."

The Ferrari's thirst proved decisive. Michael was using more fuel and had to pit first, on lap 46. He rejoined in second, and Ralf took the lead. The Williams driver then pushed flat out with a light car. According to Wikipedia, he stopped at the end of lap 51 and emerged 6.4 seconds ahead of Michael. Michael closed up once more but found no way past. Ralf won by a good 20 seconds, as grandprix.com and crash.net both report. It was his second win of the season after the 2001 San Marino GP.

Only nine of the 22 starters made it to the finish. The key retirements:

• David Coulthard (McLaren) had started the race with a front suspension problem. After 54 laps his engine failed. According to Wikipedia, the water temperature had risen too high. It was Coulthard's first race of the season without points. He remained defiant all the same: "I can still win the World Championship", he said, according to grandprix.com.
• Both BAR cars retired. Jacques Villeneuve suffered a driveshaft failure after 34 laps at his home race, while Olivier Panis retired after 38 laps with brake problems.
• Enrique Bernoldi (Arrows) had to retire after 24 laps with engine failure. According to grandprix.com, paper had blocked the radiator and the engine overheated.
• Jarno Trulli ran in the points for a long time. A fault with the brake master cylinder cost him his position shortly before the end, and his race was over after 63 laps.
• Jos Verstappen (Arrows) was on a two-stop strategy, according to crash.net. He retired after 65 laps with brake failure but was still classified tenth.

Winners: Mika Häkkinen started only eighth. He had damaged his race car on a kerb in qualifying and had to switch to the spare car. In the race he got past Ricardo Zonta and Kimi Räikkönen after the two had collided, taking his first podium of the season. The young Räikkönen drove to fourth place for Sauber despite a damaged diffuser. Jean Alesi made big gains: in the Prost, he went from 16th on the grid to fifth, gaining 11 places. His team-mate Luciano Burti also gained 11 places and finished eighth. Pedro de la Rosa scored his first point for Jaguar in sixth, according to crash.net. Zonta, standing in for Heinz-Harald Frentzen, finished seventh. Tarso Marques came home ninth in the Minardi from 21st on the grid, making up the most places.

Losers: Barrichello lost 12 places relative to his grid position, more than anyone else. Coulthard and Heidfeld each dropped 9 places. For Williams it was only half a good day, as Montoya failed to score after his crash.

In the 2001 championship standings, Michael Schumacher extended his lead. He now had 58 points, while Coulthard stayed on 40 after failing to score. Behind them were Barrichello on 24 and Ralf Schumacher on 22 points. Häkkinen jumped from 13th to sixth with 8 points. In the constructors' standings, Ferrari led with 82 points ahead of McLaren on 48 and Williams on 28.

But the day went down in history because of the family duel. Never before had two brothers finished a Grand Prix in first and second place. Several more Schumacher one-twos followed later. According to ESPN, however, Montreal was the only time Ralf finished ahead of Michael. For the moment, the race above all showed that Williams-BMW on Michelin tyres could challenge Ferrari. You can find all the results of the season in our 2001 results overview.