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  2000 European Grand Prix

Race details
Race 6 of 17 in the 2000 Formula One season
The Nürburgring (last modified in 1995)
Date	May 21, 2000
Official name	LI Grand Prix of Europe
Location	Nürburgring, Nürburg, Germany
Course	Permanent racing facility 4.556 km (2.831 mi)
Distance	67 laps, 305.252 km (189.675 mi)
Weather	Dry at first, rain later on
Pole position
Driver	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes
Time	1.17.529
Fastest lap
Driver	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari
Time	1:22.269 on lap 8
Podium
First	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari
Second	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes
Third	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes

The 2000 European Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Nürburgring on May 21, 2000.

Report

Qualifying had David Coulthard on pole position, with Michael Schumacher second, Mika Häkkinen third, Rubens Barrichello fourth, Ralf Schumacher fifth and Jarno Trulli sixth.

At the start, Coulthard missed the lights for a second and Häkkinen had a blinder. Häkkinen and Schumacher touched but both went through safely with Häkkinen ahead of Schumacher, Coulthard, Barrichello and Jacques Villeneuve. Behind them, Jarno Trulli tangled with Giancarlo Fisichella, putting Trulli out.

Coulthard had a problem and was keeping Barrichello behind him while allowing Häkkinen and Schumacher to get away. So, by 10 laps, Häkkinen and Schumacher were four seconds ahead but the first rain drops fell on lap 11 and Schumacher pulled out from behind Häkkinen and took the lead at the chicane. Next lap, Barrichello dived ahead of Coulthard as the rains became stronger. It continued for three laps with the Ferraris on a clear track pulling away from the McLaren behind them until Coulthard went into the pits on lap 14. Soon Schumacher went into the pits followed by Häkkinen. Both of them were slow but Schumacher came 4 seconds ahead of Coulthard and Häkkinen came 5 seconds behind him. Barrichello went on lap 18 from the lead but he found out that he was down in ninth place after his stop. The order was: Schumacher, Coulthard, Häkkinen, Ralf, Pedro de la Rosa, Fisichella, Eddie Irvine, Jos Verstappen and Barrichello.

Ralf soon pitted and was back down in 10th while Häkkinen passed Coulthard for second and Barrichello passed Verstappen and Irvine to be up to sixth. Fisichella passed de la Rosa soon afterward but Barrichello was closing on both of them. On lap 29, Verstappen tried to pass Irvine and got ahead but Irvine refused to lift and the two collided and Ralf hit Irvine's car, taking all three of them out. At the front, Schumacher and Häkkinen were threading their way through backmarkers, but the gap between them was increasing. Coulthard was dropping way at over a second a lap because of his gearbox problems and soon Barrichello was up to fifth by passing de la Rosa. At the front, Schumacher went into the pits on lap 35 with a 20 second lead. He rejoined 7 seconds behind Häkkinen.

Häkkinen with a lighter fuel load was pulling away from Schumacher at a second a lap as the Ferrari was fueled to the flag. But he was only 10 seconds ahead with 7 laps fuel left and 17 seconds needed to have a chance to get ahead of Schumacher. On lap 41, Barrichello overtook Fisichella for fourth but he was already a lap down on Häkkinen and Schumacher. Häkkinen pulled away until lap 45 when he pitted. He rejoined 11 seconds behind Schumacher and again started to close in. Behind them, Barrichello was closing in on Coulthard rapidly but he was well behind. Fisichella stayed ahead of de la Rosa after their stops. Häkkinen reduced the gap to 5 seconds but Schumacher started to pull away again. The race ended with Schumacher winning by 13 seconds from Häkkinen, Coulthard holding off Barrichello with Fisichella and de la Rosa with the other points.

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap
1	2	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	1:17.529
2	3	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	1:17.667	+0.138
3	1	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:17.785	+0.256
4	4	Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari	1:18.227	+0.698
5	9	Ralf Schumacher	Williams-BMW	1:18.515	+0.986
6	6	Jarno Trulli	Jordan-Mugen-Honda	1:18.612	+1.083
7	11	Giancarlo Fisichella	Benetton-Playlife	1:18.697	+1.168
8	7	Eddie Irvine	Jaguar-Cosworth	1:18.703	+1.174
9	22	Jacques Villeneuve	BAR-Honda	1:18.742	+1.213
10	5	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Jordan-Mugen-Honda	1:18.830	+1.301
11	10	Jenson Button	Williams-BMW	1:18.887	+1.358
12	18	Pedro de la Rosa	Arrows-Supertec	1:19.024	+1.495
13(EX)	15	Nick Heidfeld	Prost-Peugeot	1:19.147	+1.618*
14	19	Jos Verstappen	Arrows-Supertec	1:19.190	+1.661
15	12	Alexander Wurz	Benetton-Playlife	1:19.378	+1.849
16	16	Pedro Diniz	Sauber-Petronas	1:19.422	+1.893
17	8	Johnny Herbert	Jaguar-Cosworth	1:19.638	+2.109
18	14	Jean Alesi	Prost-Peugeot	1:19.651	+2.122
19	23	Ricardo Zonta	BAR-Honda	1:19.766	+2.237
20	17	Mika Salo	Sauber-Petronas	1:19.814	+2.285
21	20	Marc Gené	Minardi-Fondmetal	1:20.162	+2.633
22	21	Gastón Mazzacane	Minardi-Fondmetal	1:21.015	+3.486

Source (qual times): http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=43323&FS=F1

• Nick Heidfeld had qualified 13th but was later excluded because his car was found to be underweight. He was not allowed to start the race.

Source (Heidfeld): http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=43303&FS=F1

Classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	3	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	67	1:42:00.307	2	10
2	1	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes	67	+13.822	3	6
3	2	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	66	+1 Lap	1	4
4	4	Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari	66	+1 Lap	4	3
5	11	Giancarlo Fisichella	Benetton-Playlife	66	+1 Lap	7	2
6	18	Pedro de la Rosa	Arrows-Supertec	66	+1 Lap	12	1
7	16	Pedro Diniz	Sauber-Petronas	65	+2 Laps	15
8	21	Gastón Mazzacane	Minardi-Fondmetal	65	+2 Laps	21
9	14	Jean Alesi	Prost-Peugeot	65	+2 Laps	17
10	10	Jenson Button	Williams-BMW	62	Electrical	11
11	8	Johnny Herbert	Jaguar-Cosworth	61	Collision	16
12	12	Alexander Wurz	Benetton-Playlife	61	Collision	14
Ret	23	Ricardo Zonta	BAR-Honda	51	Spun off	18
Ret	20	Marc Gené	Minardi-Fondmetal	47	Throttle	20
Ret	22	Jacques Villeneuve	BAR-Honda	46	Engine	9
Ret	7	Eddie Irvine	Jaguar-Cosworth	29	Collision	8
Ret	19	Jos Verstappen	Arrows-Supertec	29	Spun off	13
Ret	9	Ralf Schumacher	Williams-BMW	29	Collision	5
Ret	17	Mika Salo	Sauber-Petronas	27	Halfshaft	19
Ret	5	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Jordan-Mugen-Honda	2	Engine	10
Ret	6	Jarno Trulli	Jordan-Mugen-Honda	0	Collision	6

Notes

• Lap leaders: Mika Häkkinen 20 (1-10, 36-45), Michael Schumacher 46 (11-15, 17-35, 46-67), Rubens Barrichello 1 (16)
• Nick Heidfeld qualified his Prost-Peugeot in 13th position, but his car was found to be two kilograms underweight, and he was excluded from the race. This would have been his first Formula 1 race in his home country of Germany.