Sunday June 18th, 2000
He went off the road briefly, and he was worried for much of the time about a spurious sensor reading, but nothing could stop Michael Schumacher from winning his 40th career victory in today's Canadian Grand Prix, also giving Ferrari its first 1-2 finish in Canada since 1985.
Schumacher, who started from pole position, burst into the lead at the start and spent the first 10 laps fending off the attentions of David Coulthard. On the 11th lap the Scot received indication of a 10 second stop and go penalty, and Schumacher was left under threat from only the Ferrari itself - in the form of his own car, and his teammate Rubens Barrichello.
"I made my pit stop early because we thought something was wrong on the car," Schumacher revealed later. "But the mechanics could find nothing wrong so I continued."
He says he was worried about the rear brakes, and as a precaution wound the balance bias forward on to the front brakes. That was why, he says, he slid briefly off the road on the 47th lap. "The track was very slippery when it started to rain," Schumacher explained, "and then it got better, and then worse again. I locked my brakes in Turn One and decided to drive through the gravel."
Barrichello had a tough race, having to fight his way up to second place by the finish. "I made a good start, but Villeneuve made a perfect one because he came past me on the outside," Barrichello said. "Then when the rain came I had my chance to pass him. After the race at the Nurburgring where I lost a lot of time coming in late for my stop, I discussed the situation with the team. I said that even if I had to make an extra stop if the rain stopped, it would be quicker to come in immediately. So I was given the option to come in behind Michael."
He lost second place to Giancarlo Fisichella because of the mock-up in the pits, which saw his crew anxiously looking for the right tyres, but the Brazilian quickly regained his position when the the Benetton driver slid momentarily off the road. In the closing laps, as Schumacher was cautious, Barrichello closed a 32-second gap to the 6th closest finish in F1 history - 0.174s by the flag - though Ferrari say that there was never any question of him disobeying team orders not to challenge the German.
"I respect Ross Brawn, who told me to drive slowly," Rubens said. "I told him, 'Ross, I am driving slowly!' I have no problem with backing off to protect Michael, when I was asked to do so by the team."