Formula-1 2000 R13 Belgian Grand Prix Part 01
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00:00have got the classic dilemma at Spa.
00:03In qualifying, it was bright, sunny, hot and dry.
00:07We're going to be starting behind the safety car.
00:10That is absolutely for sure. Take it from me.
00:13Yesterday, it was hot, dry and sunny.
00:16This morning, at two o'clock, I got out of bed
00:19because the rain was making so much noise.
00:21I had to see how hard it was falling and the answer, very hard.
00:24It's been raining all this morning.
00:26You can see, looking down at this classic Ardennes circuit,
00:30that it's wet. It's wet.
00:32It's wet in most parts. It's damp in the drier parts.
00:36The teams are going to have a real problem about which tyres to fit.
00:40Some of them may even decide to start on the normal dry weather tyres
00:44in the hope that it will dry out quickly
00:46and they'll get a benefit straight away
00:48when the others have to come in and change.
00:50I don't think that will be the case, but we'll have to wait and see.
00:54It looks good for Mikko Häkkinen.
00:56To be honest, he's done well all the way through practising.
00:59He took qualifying position. He was fastest this morning.
01:03But he's got two young guns alongside him.
01:05Jarno Trulli, who's only been on the front row of the grid once in his life at Monaco.
01:10And, of course, the fantastic Jenson Button,
01:13who is starting third on the grid ahead of Michael Schumacher.
01:17Michael Schumacher, the rainmaster, who has won here five times in Belgium.
01:22One of them disallowed, but, nevertheless, this is his circuit.
01:27It's anybody's guess. What's yours?
01:30Well, I'm very surprised, really, in a way.
01:31They're starting behind the safety car,
01:33but I guess they're mindful of the huge accident that happened a couple of years ago.
01:37But in my view, that wasn't because of torrential rain or standing water.
01:41David Coulthard got out of shape as they went over the rain gully and lost the car.
01:45So I don't particularly think that was a start situation as such,
01:50other than I think it was more like a normal accident scenario.
01:54But, however, the drivers have had the benefit of going around the rest of the track.
01:59Very, very long circuit here.
02:01It's so often, as we saw in Hockenheim,
02:03on a long track where it's dry at one end and wet at the other.
02:06I was testing here last year in the middle of the year for Toyota in the Le Mans car,
02:10and it was snowing. The test actually got snowed off.
02:12So strange weather around here.
02:15Talking to four or five teams,
02:17some say it's going to rain very heavily before the end of the race.
02:20Others say it's not going to rain for the rest of the afternoon.
02:23Completely different scenario.
02:25But, of course, the drivers at the front, and Hackenheim in particular,
02:29will be very, very pleased about this safety car situation.
02:32He was nervous, clearly, in the press conference yesterday after qualifying,
02:36realising he's got, truly, alongside him, who's relatively experienced,
02:40and young Jenson just behind him,
02:43who he was quite clearly concerned about,
02:45without being negative towards the younger guys.
02:50He was quite clearly concerned about it.
02:53So it suits all of those at the front.
02:54Michael Schumacher may well have been asking for the safety car start,
02:58but he probably had the most to gain by having a regular start.
03:03Well, whatever, the La Source corner is the one that has caused problems
03:08at the beginning of many, many of the Belgian Grand Prix.
03:11So Micah Hackenheim, I think, has got most to gain from this situation.
03:15He'll come behind the safety car, he'll know when it is going to pull in,
03:19he will have a clear track in front of him,
03:21and he'll have a car's length advantage over the rest.
03:23Well, they're just taking the covers off, as you can see,
03:26and the medium wet that I showed you on the gridwalk
03:30is the one that every car I can see out of the window has on.
03:34So, unsurprisingly, that is the tyre they're going to run.
03:38They don't need, there's not a lot of deep standing water anywhere,
03:41I don't think they'll have aquaplaning problems.
03:43They will all have to have lifted the car this morning,
03:46because the plank and the floor underneath can powerboat sometimes
03:50if there's a lot of standing water later on in the car,
03:52just aquaplaning off the road,
03:54literally because of the water pressure on the floor of the car,
03:56lifting the wheels off the ground.
03:58So the cars will be a bit higher,
04:00they will have softened them off with the anti-roll bars,
04:02softened the springs a little bit, Jenson Button too, on those medium wets.
04:07And I think also they will have added some fuel to give themselves a bigger window.
04:12They noticed this morning after 12 laps of running,
04:15the track was not fully dry at all.
04:18So they're expecting the track to take about 20 laps to dry, I think,
04:23unless the sun bursts through.
04:25And I imagine they'll be running just a little bit longer in this first stint
04:28than they would normally do so.
04:30I would think that when the lap times come down to around about two minutes
04:35and the pole position time this year was Micka Hakkinen's 1 minute 50.6 seconds,
04:41when the lap times come down to around about two minutes,
04:44we can expect to see them coming in and switch to dry tyres if it doesn't rain.
04:49My hotel proprietor, who's a bit of a weatherman, says it is going to rain.
04:53So, again, we'll have to wait and see.
04:56So I'm expecting when they get round to the end of this lap, Mario,
04:59that they'll just carry on behind the Mercedes Benz.
05:02And perhaps I think it's the wrong call.
05:06I know it's dangerous out there, I know it's terrifying.
05:07I've raced here many, many times in the rain.
05:09That first lap, heading up to Les Combes,
05:12you can't even see your own steering wheel sometimes.
05:15But, you know, we've started races here at Spa
05:19with five times more water on the track than they've got there.
05:21I really think this is an overcautious call this time.
05:24Well, just let's remind you what the order is behind the safety car
05:28as they make their way down from Les Combes to Rivage,
05:33which is Turn 8 in this 22-corner circuit, 4.4 miles long.
05:39Nicky Häkkinen is leading round and behind him is Jarno Trulli,
05:44the young Italian in the yellow Jordan.
05:46Then it's Jenson Button, Michael Schumacher, the Rainmaster,
05:50David Coulthard is fifth on the grid, Ralf Schumacher is sixth.
05:54So both the Williams BMWs are in the top six.
05:57So safety car is coming in at the end of this lap.
06:00Effectively, the clock has started for the race.
06:03And so they're counting this as the formation lap.
06:06As normal, this is part of the Grand Prix,
06:09just like the green flag lap would normally be
06:12as they go round to the grid,
06:14with the exception that there will be no start procedure.
06:17So the race starts.
06:19Now, my understanding of the computer here is the safety car will peel off
06:23into the pit lane, will not go through the bus stop.
06:25And it's then Häkkinen who becomes the safety car, effectively,
06:29becomes the pace setter, but I think he'll be long gone by then.
06:32If he understands, and the teams will now be on the radio to the drivers saying,
06:37safety car is in this lap.
06:39And that's going to confuse more than four of them.
06:41Yeah, and they have to hold station until they've gone over the start and finish line.
06:47And that, of course, is before La Source.
06:50Is anybody going to get the jump on the man in front of him
06:53or the men in front of him?
06:55It calls for superlative timing in this situation
06:58when the cars are already rolling on the track.
07:01Jarno Trolli having a look on the inside of Mikko Häkkinen's McLaren.
07:05There's Ralf Schumacher.
07:07Jacques Villeneuve is well up.
07:08Watch him.
07:09He's in 7th position in the B.A.R.
07:12And this year, he's not gone through La Source flat out.
07:16There's almost a dry line.
07:18Oh, Roo, sorry.
07:20There's very few of them.
07:21I don't think I've ever seen a trace in my life
07:23where they genuinely went flat out.
07:25And the green flags are waving.
07:26This race is effectively underway now.
07:30So, safety car.
07:32We're looking at them as they come through the chicane.
07:34And the Belgian Grand Prix at racing speeds is on.
07:38Mikko Häkkinen leads Jarno Trolli.
07:40Michael Schumacher has a look on the inside of Jenson Button
07:43as they go round La Source.
07:45No changes yet.
07:46David Coulthard still there in 5th position.
07:49And Michael Schumacher closing up marginally on Jenson Button
07:54as they come into Eau Rouge.
07:56It looks flat.
07:57It's anything but.
07:58Over the crest.
07:59So, there is Button.
08:00Schumacher, and Schumacher is definitely closing on the Williams.
08:04Yes, Button quite cautious through Eau Rouge there.
08:06Michael's got a run at him, but I don't think he's close enough.
08:09Coulthard's not far behind either.
08:11And now they're all in the ball of spray.
08:13So, Jenson Button's got the visibility.
08:14Coulthard's running around the outside there of Michael Schumacher.
08:18So, he appears to have some good straight line speed.
08:20That'll come in useful later on.
08:22Meanwhile, Häkkinen,
08:23carelessly moving ahead at the front.
08:25And still, as they come down to Rivage again,
08:30Schumacher is coming up behind Jenson Button,
08:33but cannot, of course, get past the Williams at this point in the race.
08:36Now, it looks to me as though the circuit is going to start drying out.
08:40We'll get a dry line emerging at some point in the future.
08:44Meantime, David Coulthard is right up behind Michael Schumacher,
08:48and Micah Häkkinen, of course, is stretching away.
08:50And David Coulthard on this lap has gone through the first sector faster than anybody else.
08:55It's Button, Schumacher, Coulthard, Häkkinen still leading.
08:59Jarno Trulli second in the Jordan,
09:01and in sixth place, Ralph Schumacher.
09:02No change there.
09:03I can't imagine this pressure for a 20-year-old like Button
09:07to have Michael Schumacher bearing down in a Scarlet Ferrari
09:11in the early stages of his first ever Belgian Grand Prix.
09:15But look already at the dry line beginning to emerge
09:19as Häkkinen keeps moving ahead.
09:21Coulthard was quite slow in the middle section.
09:23He's dropped away now from the back of Michael Schumacher,
09:26but they're all very much line astern.
09:27Now, let's make this quite clear.
09:29As this circuit dries out, it's going to be critical when they come in for dry weather tyres,
09:35because if you stay out too long on wet weather tyres,
09:38they overheat, they start to choke, they lose their tread,
09:41and therefore you lose grip.
09:43And it could be an inspired decision,
09:45like the one that won Olivier Panis the Monaco Grand Prix in 1997
09:50to change tyres, that wins this race.
09:53But that is in the future.
09:54Meantime, there is Rubens Barrichello.
09:56He's gained one place in the Ferrari.
09:59He started 10th on the grid.
10:01He's got ahead of Johnny Herbert.
10:03Remember, Rubens Barrichello started 18th at Hockenheim for the German Grand Prix
10:08and came through to win it with an inspired drive.
10:11There is the race leader, Mikko Häkkinen, going up to Lecombe on lap 3.
10:15And Häkkinen already finding the need to go over on the wetter part of the racetrack
10:20to cool those wets.
10:21They were chunking this morning.
10:23They've got to somehow make them last into the first sensible pit stop window.
10:28I would have thought about lap 12,
10:30so that they can get through the race with only two fuel stops.
10:33So they need to conserve the tyres.
10:35And already Häkkinen going over to find some puddles.
10:38But everybody does that, and quite quickly,
10:40even the off-line parts of the racetrack become much drier.
10:44So, they're around the very difficult Pouhon
10:48as we look down from the helicopter onto the circuit at La Source.
10:54Häkkinen leading the yellow Jordan, then Jenson Button,
10:57then Michael Schumacher.
10:58Behind Michael Schumacher, David Coulthard,
11:02and then the Williams BMW of Ralph Schumacher.
11:05And there's Barrichello.
11:06The point of that replay, I think, is watching Barrichello passing Herbert.
11:10So, that was a replay of the start.
11:13A very boring start, you have to say.
11:15And other than that move by Barrichello,
11:17very little has happened down the field
11:19as Häkkinen comes through Spavolo, heading down now towards Blanchimont.
11:23Which is where the dry line is definitely emerging.
11:26The lighter part of the tarmac that you can see is the drier part.
11:31And you can see even now that there is spray coming up from the tyres.
11:34There's a lot of trees in that sector of the course.
11:37They release moisture and wetness onto the track
11:40for quite a long time.
11:42But Micah Häkkinen now is leading by 2.1 seconds
11:46at the end of the third lap.
11:48He's just made the fastest lap of the race.
11:50Two minutes, 5.4 seconds.
11:52And look at Button coming out the inside of Trulli.
11:55Ja, Jenson Button takes second place with a great out-braking manoeuvre.
11:59Can he find the traction?
12:01No! Trulli's taking it back again.
12:03Button having to run wide because of the speed.
12:05He carried into La Source and lost that place.
12:08But that shows what James Allan was saying earlier on
12:11about Button and Williams and BMW being determined to win this race if they can.
12:16He's certainly absolutely right.
12:18Jenson Button attacking right from the start.
12:21And this is only his 13th Grand Prix.
12:24He's going for it again.
12:25And Lecombe has a look round the inside of Trulli
12:29with Michael Schumacher still not making up ground.
12:31In the meantime, of course, Micah Häkkinen is pulling away all the time.
12:35David Coulthard closing up on the Ferrari.
12:38And behind him, Ralf Schumacher.
12:39It's second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth virtually together.
12:43Yes, Häkkinen one and a half seconds faster than anybody else on the last lap
12:47and two seconds faster than most in the top seven of the field.
12:51So Häkkinen really hooked up, found some grip, found some confidence.
12:56It's truly under pressure.
12:57And Jenson Button looking calm and still finding time
13:01to go over and cool those tyres a little bit.
13:03Look, virtually a dry line through Pouhon.
13:05Yeah, and Button four tenths of a second faster than Trulli on the previous lap.
13:11He's pushing all the time.
13:12Jarno Trulli is definitely holding up.
13:14Now, this is an enormous benefit for Micah Häkkinen.
13:17And the man who is really suffering at the moment is David Coulthard.
13:21Remember, he is third in the World Championship,
13:24only six points behind his teammate.
13:26And if David Coulthard can't get ahead of Häkkinen and win this race
13:30or at least finish in front of the Finn,
13:33there's a danger that he may have to resort to team orders
13:35from Tauron, Dennis and the McLaren team in Juta.
13:38Now, Jenson can stay close through Blanchimont.
13:40He must have a great chance of going down the outside of Trulli.
13:43I'm sure he's going to and outbrake him.
13:45No, he's positioned his car wrong.
13:47And he's let Micah through.
13:49Bad mistake there from Jenson.
13:50He went the wrong way completely.
13:52He needed to go around the long way around, around the outside there.
13:55He really snookered himself on that move.
13:58Micah Schumacher then is attacking up to third position.
14:01Jenson Button won't take that line down.
14:03He has another look.
14:04David Coulthard is still there behind David Coulthard.
14:07Ralph Schumacher and Button attacks again.
14:09Hits Trulli, spins the car.
14:11Button keeps going and Coulthard gets through.
14:14David Coulthard has taken advantage of that spin there.
14:17And they go down to Eau Rouge together.
14:20This is fantastic.
14:21This is 180 mile an hour Grand Prix Formula One wheel-to-wheel racing.
14:26Yeah, Ralph is through.
14:27So, really, two or three terrible corners there from Jenson,
14:31finally showing his inexperience.
14:33A clumsy move on Trulli.
14:35He came in too late.
14:36Trulli had already been surprised by Micah Schumacher.
14:39Jenson tried to catalyse on that,
14:41but there really was nothing else going to happen except Trulli turning in on him
14:45and then managed not to make contact with Coulthard.
14:48Coulthard leapfrogged a pair of them.
14:49And then Ralph Schumacher making good on the move too.
14:53Bit of goal for Jarno Trulli,
14:55who was doing so well in a qualified second.
14:57But now that's opened up things for Micah Schumacher.
15:00The crowd loves that.
15:01You can see the Scarlet Jackets waving
15:04because Micah Schumacher now is second to Micah Hakanen.
15:08Micah Hakanen has put up the fastest lap of the race
15:10in just over two minutes and five seconds.
15:12Remember what I said earlier on,
15:14when the lap times come down to about two minutes,
15:16we can expect them to start coming in for dry weather tyres.
15:19But that's not yet a while.
15:21And Ralph Schumacher has a look at David Coulthard now.
15:25And Ralph Schumacher is ahead of Jenson Button, unseen by us.
15:29No, no, no, we covered that one, Marie.
15:32Ralph Schumacher cleared Jenson Button.
15:34They were side by side into Eau Rouge.
15:35Hopefully we'll see a replay of that.
15:37And Jenson quite sensibly yielding to his teammates.
15:40Teammate had the line.
15:41There was no point in them tangling in such a fast corner.
15:44And they live for another day.
15:46I'm not sure how Coulthard is going to handle
15:49Ralph Schumacher behind him.
15:50Coulthard appears to have a major problem
15:52in the middle sector of the race.
15:54He's two seconds slower than teammate Hakanen.
15:57He's clearly got a balance problem on the car.
15:59They've been changing the car for the conditions.
16:01And Coulthard not at all hooked up in the middle part of the lap.
16:04And I think he's going to have those Williams keeping him
16:06close company for a while.
16:08Michael Schumacher, let's see what time he does.
16:09He's still 1.4 seconds slower as Michael Schumacher
16:13than Hakanen up front.
16:14Hakanen now with a 10.8 second lead.
16:16Yeah, the McLaren engineers and Hakanen together
16:19have done a superb job on getting the balance of the car right.
16:23They were working at it all through Friday
16:25in the two practice periods.
16:27Here is Zonta, Riccardo Zonta in the B.A.R.
16:31Going over the chicane there at the end of the lap.
16:35He won't suffer there.
16:37And he...
16:38And lap six now.
16:40And here coming towards us is Michael Schumacher in second place.
16:44Some cars coming in the pit lane, Murray.
16:46I think they're going to slicks already.
16:48Some cars, and I can see the Ferrari mechanics
16:50outside my window ready too.
16:52So some cars ready to go to slicks this early.
16:56Yeah, in has come Nick Heidfeldt.
16:59In has come Marc Genet.
17:01In has come Verstappen.
17:04And there is Heidfeldt coming out.
17:06He's changed his tires on the Prost
17:08from the wet weather tires to the dry ones.
17:11So now Heidfeldt is out on the track,
17:13so is Verstappen, so is Genet.
17:15They've lost time in the pits, but they could gain it.
17:17And look at Button.
17:18Button in the background pushing his teammate,
17:21Ralf Schumacher, very hard indeed for fourth place.
17:24Ferrari with slicks in the pit lane, Murray.
17:26So I would guess they'll be bringing in Michael Schumacher.
17:29He's probably calling, yes, bring me in for some tires.
17:32So often here at Spa, we've got this drying situation.
17:35Coulthard still under pressure from those two Williams.
17:38Yeah, and it's working because fastest first sector now
17:40is Jean Alesi down in 17th position in the Prost.
17:44And he's been in and taken on dry weather tires.
17:48This, as I expected, is going to transform the race.
17:51He's too far down to do much other than benefit him up
17:55to about 10th position.
17:56But if Schumacher comes in before Micah Häkkinen,
18:00we could see a change.
18:01Although Häkkinen is now some 11 seconds ahead of the Ferrari.
18:05And Häkkinen did not come in that time around.
18:07Is Schumacher in?
18:08Is Schumacher in then?
18:09So James is in the pit lane.
18:11Well, Martin, there's been a huge amount of debate about this.
18:14First they were, then they weren't, then they weren't.
18:16It's an extraordinary gamble.
18:17He's still a few seconds a lap off the sort of pace
18:20you need to be on.
18:21But I think Michael is throwing the dice,
18:22trying to force McLaren into decision.
18:24And over his shoulder, in comes his brother.
18:26He's obviously seen what Michael is doing and Ralph is in too.
18:29So Jenson's still on wax.
18:30Nice stop from Ferrari, but, well, incredible gamble.
18:34Yes, I think it's a smart move.
18:35You've got Alesi out there much faster than anybody else.
18:38Those that have stopped are faster.
18:40Even cars that are significantly slower than the leaders
18:43normally are already faster, James.
18:45I think McLaren have made a mistake
18:47by staying out this extra lap.
18:49We'll soon know, because the fastest lap we've had so far
18:52as Frensen exits the circuit,
18:54exit the pit lane, followed by Rubens Barrichello,
18:57the fastest lap we've had so far in the opening laps
19:00in the semi-weight conditions was
19:02Vika Häkkinen, two minutes and five seconds.
19:06Now, if Schumacher...
19:07Yes, John Alesi has just gone round in two minutes and two seconds.
19:11So that's three seconds faster in the Prost
19:13than Alesi in the McLaren.
19:15Schumacher could really benefit from this.
19:17Yes, McLaren have made a mistake here.
19:19They should have had their two drivers in last...
19:21At least one of them now, last time around,
19:23because this means that still one of the McLaren drivers
19:26has to do a further lap.
19:28They can't, but they're too close together on the track to come in.
19:31Now, Kulkarn is 17... Actually, he might get away with it.
19:3417 seconds behind leader Häkkinen at the moment.
19:37They may be able to pick both McLarens on the same lap.
19:39I think Kulkarn's going to certainly lose some time
19:42if he follows teammate in, but they're a lap too late.
19:45McLaren have called it, I believe, slightly wrong.
19:47Well, there is Mikko Häkkinen,
19:50well and truly in the lead of the Belgian Grand Prix
19:53over the dry tarmac,
19:55comparatively dry, into the pit lane.
19:58So, Mikko Häkkinen comes in.
20:00Now, where is Michael Schumacher?
20:02Because Häkkinen had about a 17-second lead,
20:06at least when he came in,
20:08but Michael Schumacher, meantime,
20:10is on the fastest lap of the race.
20:12He's gone through the first sector in just 55 seconds,
20:15and that is really flying.
20:17But remember, Häkkinen had a 10.8-second lead
20:20before the pit stop started,
20:22so I would imagine he should come out in front of Michael Schumacher,
20:25but not by much.
20:27The lead will certainly be reduced.
20:29Well, there's just been a flash past the commentary box.
20:31I missed which car it was.
20:33It was Kulkarn.
20:34So, there is Häkkinen turning on and rejoining the circuit,
20:37followed by his teammate, David Coulthard.
20:40So, Mikko Häkkinen is still there.
20:42David Coulthard behind him in the pits now.
20:45You can see Jenson Button in the Williams.
20:48So, there are going to be very few cars now
20:51left on wet weather tyres,
20:53as Mikko Salo just misses Jenson Button
20:56as the Englishman turns out of the pit lane.
20:59We're on lap 8 now, out of 44.
21:02Well, the loser here, then, is Coulthard.
21:03He's still on the wet tyres.
21:05He should have pitted a lap earlier.
21:07He should have called,
21:08and then that would have given him an advantage
21:10rather than a disadvantage.
21:12He's now got to pit.
21:13So, Häkkinen, it takes about 26 or 27 seconds to pit here
21:17because it's such a long sector on the 80 kilometre,
21:2150 miles per hour speed limit,
21:22and Coulthard's tyres will be shot to pieces by now.
21:26Yeah, and that's the second time in similar circumstances
21:29that David Coulthard will have suffered
21:31in comparison with Mikko Häkkinen,
21:33but having a better call.
21:35We're on lap 8 now, the Belgian Grand Prix.
21:38Still a long, long way to go,
21:41but Mikko Häkkinen, having made his pit stop,
21:43is leading the race.
21:45Jenson Button has stopped.
21:46Michael Schumacher has stopped.
21:48Eddie Irvine, who's up into fifth position, has stopped.
21:51Eddie Irvine in the Jaguar,
21:53but David Coulthard has not stopped
21:56and is therefore going to lose the second place
21:58that he has been holding.
22:00Meantime, as I said earlier on,
22:02Mikko Häkkinen is maintaining his iron grip
22:05on the Belgian Grand Prix,
22:07coming up towards the bus stop again
22:09to complete his eighth lap.
22:12And Jorna Lacey, the man that came in
22:14and made that first tyre stop,
22:16has moved up from 17th to 8th position
22:19as a result of an inspired call.
22:22Rubens Barrichello, who started 10th in the Ferrari,
22:25is down in 11th position,
22:27and the top six at the present moment
22:29as Häkkinen goes through into his ninth lap.
22:32It's Häkkinen.
22:33Coulthard is coming into the pits now.
22:35Jenson Button will move up into second position
22:38ahead of Michael Schumacher,
22:40and here they come.
22:41No, Schumacher's in second.
22:43James.
22:45Yeah, how expensive is this going to be?
22:46Well, I reckon he's going to lose about 30 to 35 seconds.
22:49He could be about 11th at the end of all this.
22:51What was interesting was that Ferrari brought
22:53Barrichello in right behind Schumacher.
22:55Just after I finished talking about it,
22:57Rubens came straight in as well.
22:58Now, he's still in the hunt, albeit down in 11th.
23:00I think DC's lost a big chunk of time here again.
23:03Well, he has indeed, because coming in has cost him dear.
23:06Micah Häkkinen is leading.
23:08Michael Schumacher is second.
23:10The gap is seven seconds,
23:11and it was a heck of a lot more than that earlier on.
23:14There's a long way to go in this race.
23:16Yes, well, we saw Häkkinen going into Lecombe.
23:18We know that's the first sector of this lap,
23:20normally about 31 seconds,
23:22and Coulthard was just exiting the pits.
23:25So we know, as James predicted actually,
23:27Coulthard is now about a half a minute behind.
23:30Disaster for him.
23:31Yeah, that puts him down into 11th or 12th position
23:35at the present moment,
23:37and David Coulthard desperately needed a win here today,
23:41as he had last year in Belgium,
23:44to keep his World Championship hopes alive.
23:46It's beginning to look more and more like, again,
23:50a Micah Häkkinen versus Michael Schumacher battle
23:53for the World Championship.
23:55It is lap 10 out of 44 in Belgium,
23:59and Michael Schumacher is starting marginally
24:02to cut into the lead of Micah Häkkinen.
24:05He's Denau, and here is Giancarlo Fisichella,
24:09followed by Jos Verstappen in the arrows,
24:11bouncing his way across the chicane,
24:14and there's some sort of a problem.
24:15He moves to one side,
24:16and Jos Verstappen goes through and gains the place.
24:20He's up in front of the finish line.
24:22He goes through and gains the place.
24:24He's up into 16th position.
24:25Yes, Fisichella's car there, engine dying on him,
24:28and that's put the safety car on standby
24:32while we're in a break,
24:33but I do not believe they'll have to use it.
24:35I think they've managed to clear Fisichella's car
24:38out of the way, and the race will continue.
24:40Michael Schumacher, fastest lap of the race.
24:42Down comes the gap to Micah Häkkinen,
24:44which was some 10 seconds, now is 5.1 seconds.
24:50Michael Schumacher has got the bit between his teeth.
24:53He knows that he needs desperately to win this race.
24:55He's two points behind Micah Häkkinen
24:58in the World Championship chase
25:00with just four races to go after this one,
25:04and if he can win this race,
25:05he'll be two points ahead at the end of it.
25:08Coulthard ended up in ninth place now
25:11after that disastrous moment
25:13when he chose not to come in as early as possible for slicks
25:16and then had to go one extra lap
25:18while Häkkinen was in for his stop.
25:20I think they could have pitted the two McLarens together,
25:22but it does take time to get the other tyres out,
25:25get the other fuel rig ready,
25:27but nonetheless, it's cost Coulthard a lot of time.
25:29He's down in ninth place.
25:30So Häkkinen, Michael Schumacher,
25:32Ralf Schumacher in third, John Alaci,
25:34the first man to go on to slicks is in fourth,
25:37Jenson Button fifth, Jack Villeneuve sixth,
25:39Barrichello seventh, Frentzen eighth,
25:41Coulthard ninth, Pedro Diniz,
25:44who has not stopped yet, in 10th place.
25:46And if Michael Schumacher there can't catch Häkkinen,
25:48no one else can.
25:49This is the man you are watching who won here in 1992,
25:53only his second year in Formula One,
25:56and then he was driving a Benetton.
25:58He won again in 94, only to be excluded
26:02because of a faulty plank underneath the car.
26:05He won in 95 for Benetton.
26:07He won in 96 for Ferrari and 1997 for Ferrari.
26:11And Louise Goodman has news for us.
26:13I'm standing here with Jarno Trulli.
26:15Jarno, I guess Jenson Button's not your best friend
26:17at the moment.
26:18Well, I'm disappointed.
26:20I know it can happen.
26:21Unfortunately, it happened between me and him,
26:24two young drivers.
26:26I think it was just a misunderstanding,
26:29especially it thought that was enough room to overtake,
26:34but in fact there was not,
26:35and just hit me on the back in the spawn
26:37and the engine stall.
26:39I was struggling because my tyres went,
26:42especially my rear tyres, because track was drying up
26:44and I wasn't on the IQ level.
26:46Thanks Jarno, bad luck.
26:47Well, that's magnanimous of Jarno Trulli,
26:50and David Coulthard is pushing now.
26:52He's in ninth place behind.
26:53There he is in the background
26:55as we look at Jean Alessi reveling in the conditions
26:59and in a Prost which is actually going well for once.
27:02He's in third, fourth position
27:05as Fisichella walks in, having talked to Louise Mika Hakkinen.
27:08Now he's only four point,
27:11only four point nine seconds ahead of Michael Schumacher.
27:19So Schumacher then, a new fastest lap of a 1.56.1.
27:23He's now pulled the gap down to four point nine seconds
27:27and Ralph holding station there in third.
27:28So Alessi's early move, early gamble.
27:31He really had nothing to lose, did he?
27:33Running so far down the field.
27:34He went to slicks at least a lap early than anybody else
27:38and two and three laps earlier than some of the others.
27:40And it paid off immediately.
27:42In fact, he would be the trigger
27:43for most of those early pit stops.
27:45They would have seen immediately his first section time
27:48on the wet, on the slicks, rather,
27:50was already much quicker than anybody else.
27:53And that triggered all the rest of the stops that we've seen.
27:56The most experienced man in Grand Prix racing.
27:58This is his 180th Grand Prix.
28:00There is the gap between Mika Hakkinen and Michael Schumacher,
28:04which is continuing to be marginally reduced lap by lap.
28:07It's down to four point six seconds.
28:09Michael Schumacher has gone fastest again.
28:12One minute 55.2.
28:15The fastest lap last year was one minute 54,
28:18as near as makes no difference to the nearest tenth of a second.
28:21The circuit is still damp in parts.
28:23They're staying on the dry bits.
28:25It's Williams BMWs in third and fifth places.
28:29And if Jean Alessi can get some points for Prost
28:32by staying in the race and staying in the points,
28:35it will break their duck.
28:37They've gone all this season without scoring a single point
28:40and they richly deserve one after all the travail they've had.
28:44So sit back, you're watching a great duel now
28:46between two double world champions.
28:49They're in a league of their own.
28:50They're one and a half to two seconds faster
28:53than anybody else on the racetrack.
28:55They're trading fastest times.
28:56Mika Hakkinen comes through with a new fastest lap.
28:59Michael Schumacher, just four odd seconds down the road,
29:02beats that straight away.
29:04And Hakkinen sets off then on yet another fastest lap.
29:07They're really just head-to-head now.
29:09And if Alessi can keep up the pace,
29:11he's going to catch Ralf Schumacher for third place
29:14before very much longer.
29:16He is lapping some eight tenths of a second.
29:18There's Fisichella.
29:19It was Jarno Trolli, of course, that Louise Goodwin was talking to.
29:22And Alessi is lapping some eight tenths of a second faster
29:26than Ralf Schumacher, third position, and out!
29:29That's Hakkinen, Mika Hakkinen running off the circuit.
29:33What has happened? Has it cost him the lead?
29:35Has the camera cut to the McLaren?
29:37He's spun in Stavolo.
29:39He's spun on his way through Stavolo.
29:40He appears to be picking up speed.
29:42I think he's just swapped ends on the way into Stavolo.
29:45We'll doubt see a replay.
29:47Or did he just pull off the track?
29:48Well, whatever. He was only leading by 4.6 seconds.
29:52And we're going to get the answer now.
29:53Chui's through. Chui's easily gone through.
29:56Michael Schumacher leads the Belgian Grand Prix.
29:59Oh, there he is.
30:00And there in the background is Mika Hakkinen.
30:02This is a terrific development.
30:05Mika Hakkinen was some four seconds ahead of Michael Schumacher.
30:09Whatever happened to him?
30:11The spin at Stavolo has cost him dearly.
30:13It's cost him the lead.
30:15Yes, it was a spin.
30:16Car 1 spun and continued at turn 15 at Stavolo.
30:19So Hakkinen, I hope we see a replay as Heidfeld out of the race.
30:25I hope we see a replay.
30:26I suspect Hakkinen's just caught a white line somewhere
30:29and the car's swapped ends at him.
30:31Now he is the pursuer and Michael Schumacher has a lead of 5.6 seconds to defend.
30:37On lap 14 out of 44.
30:39So one third of the race completed.
30:42Five times Belgian Grand Prix winner.
30:45Michael Schumacher for Ferrari can regain the lead in the World Championship
30:50if he can stay where he is.
30:51But two thirds of the race still to go.
30:54Ralf Schumacher is now pulling away from Jean Alési
30:58and starting to close on Hakkinen.
31:00Now here, have a look at this as we look down on the Ferrari
31:03waiting for the replay to start and rejoin the race.
31:07And there is Michael Schumacher.
31:09Jenson Button is still there, secure ahead of Jacques Villeneuve
31:13who's again in the points for BAR.
31:16And Rubens Barrichello is moving through the field
31:19not as quickly and dramatically as he did in Germany.
31:22But he's now up from 10th to 7th.
31:24He's one place off World Championship points behind Jacques Villeneuve
31:29and he's lapping faster than the BAR.
31:32He's four tenths of a second behind him.
31:34There's a colossal battle between the 1997 World Champion for Williams,
31:39Jacques Villeneuve and Rubens Barrichello
31:42as race leader, race leader, Michael Schumacher in the Ferrari
31:46exits the bus stop and completes his 14th lap.
31:50Now 30 laps to go.
31:53Where is Micah Hakkinen?
31:54Look back, the gap was just about four.
31:57It's now five, 6.1 seconds.
32:00Michael Schumacher has lapped half a second faster.
32:05We're just going to see a replay here.
32:07This is Hakkinen having quite a small spin.
32:09I think they've been struggling to find the Belgian TV crew here.
32:12They just caught the end of it.
32:14I think he almost certainly caught the white line on the way in
32:17and it was a half a spin effectively,
32:19but it cost him the lead of this Grand Prix.
32:28Lap 16 and this is the battle in the race.
32:31As you look at Jacques Villeneuve in sixth position,
32:34being challenged by Rubens Barrichello.
32:35Behind Barrichello is Fredson, only just behind him,
32:39and David Coulthard, who suffered from that very late pit stop,
32:43is down in ninth position.
32:46And Louise Goodman has got Giancarlo Fisichella with her.
32:50Giancarlo, reliability let you down yesterday
32:52and it's let you down again today.
32:54Yeah, we had a problem, maybe an electrical problem.
32:58We need to check it.
33:00I was driving very careful at the beginning of the race.
33:04There was a possibility to do a good race, but...
33:08What are the conditions like out there?
33:10Now it's OK for dry tyres.
33:12At the beginning it was wet, but after a few laps,
33:16there was the circuit getting dry
33:18and there were rain tyres, so it was quite difficult.
33:22Well, there are places to pass it at Spa,
33:26but Rubens Barrichello is not finding one to get past Jacques Villeneuve
33:30and get that 1.46 position in the Drivers' Championship.
33:34Just three retirements so far.
33:35Jarno Trulli, Fisichella we've just heard from,
33:38and Nick Heidfeld in the Prost.
33:39A new fastest lap for Michael Schumacher, 55.0.
33:42That lap, it was 56.0 for Häkkinen.
33:45The lead now up to 7.6 seconds.
33:47You're watching Barrichello still chasing Villeneuve
33:50and just behind them, Fredson trying to hold off Coulthard.
33:54And the rest of the pack, with the exception of Jean Alessi in fourth place,
33:57who's driving brilliantly.
33:59Now he's got his slicks on
34:01and just, just beginning to capture Raul Schumacher.
34:05Should be a good scrub there later on.
34:07Slow-mo replay of Jenson Button.
34:09I think this is just one of those moody things
34:11the director here likes to do,
34:13to show you the wheel movement and the aggression of some of those slow corners.
34:17And Barrichello there dropping back a little bit from Villeneuve.
34:20Lap 17, it's fairly steady in terms of gaps at the present moment.
34:25Michael Schumacher in the lead is easing away from Micah Häkkinen.
34:29Raul Schumacher is steady in third position.
34:32Jean Alessi is steady in that determined and well-deserved fourth place
34:37as a result of that inspired tyre call.
34:40Jenson Button is 10.1 seconds behind Alessi in fifth position.
34:46But Jacques Villeneuve, the battle between Jacques Villeneuve
34:49and Rubens Barrichello, who are forcing each other on,
34:52is enabling them to close on Jenson Button in fifth place.
34:56James Allen?
34:57Murray, the $10 million question now is when will they have to stop again?
35:00Because of the very early stops for tyres,
35:02people only put a very little bit of fuel in.
35:04They didn't want to lose too much time and places.
35:06But I reckon the front runners started this race
35:08with enough fuel to go through for about lap 20 to 21.
35:11So with that extra fuel,
35:12you've got to figure they're going to come in around about the late 20s.
35:15But there is the possibility that people have got different fuel loads on board now,
35:18and that could well be decisive in about 10, 15 laps time.
35:21And this, of course, is emphasising what a team sport Formula 1 is.
35:2554.5 now for Michael Schumacher in the lead.
35:28He's just finding more and more grip.
35:30And a 55.7 for Häkkinen.
35:32So pulling that leader a further 1.3, 1.2 seconds up to 8.8.
35:37Michael now just waltzing off into the distance.
35:41And Ralf Schumacher's second fastest lap that time around in third place.
35:45Yeah, Ralf Schumacher, who has finished second for Jordan here in Belgium.
35:50To go back to the point I was making as you watched Michael Schumacher
35:53about it being a team race,
35:54the team managements will now be plotting the fuel loads
35:58that their drivers need to come in for when they stop.
36:02And it's going to be just as critical and crucial that they get it right
36:06as it was that they called the tyre stops correctly.
36:09And Michael Schumacher now the master of Spa.
36:13And the rain master, as I was talking on earlier on, is continuing to pull away.
36:17Watch Michael, Murray.
36:18He's going onto the wet parts of the track, although he's on dry tyres.
36:22He's going, whenever he gets a reasonable chance,
36:25across the road to try and cool those slicks down.
36:27They're very soft here.
36:29They've all gone for the softer type of race tyre.
36:32I imagine the cars are running quite a lot of fuel
36:34because they stopped so early in the race.
36:36And Michael feeling the need just to cool those tyres down.
36:39Very, very unusual to see a driver on slick tyres
36:43going over onto the damp parts of the circuit.
36:45But he's paying off. He's on yet another blistering lap.
36:48Yeah, his 139th Grand Prix.
36:51This is experience.
36:53He's scored more World Championship points than any other current driver.
36:58634 points at the present moment.
37:02Second only to the great Alain Prost,
37:05who had scored nearly 800 when he retired.
37:08Michael Schumacher continues now, exits the lap.
37:12This is the end of his 18th lap.
37:15The gap of 8.8 seconds over Micah Häkkinen
37:18is sure to have been increased as a result of that fastest lap that he has just had.
37:24In fact, it's increased by over a full second.
37:27It's nearly 10 seconds now.
37:29Häkkinen's picked his pace up, but Michael on a 54.2.
37:32Let's see if he feels the need again down the straight this time
37:35to wander over to the right-hand side.
37:38Yes, he does look, and that's paying off.
37:40That's game Michael Schumacher, four or five seconds on his lead.
37:43He's so smart, he's thinking all the time.
37:46He needs less of his capacity to drive the car,
37:49leaves plenty spare to think what's going on around him
37:52and how he can maximise everything that's available to him.
37:55And I'm sure the McLaren team must be on the radio to Häkkinen
37:59to tell him to do the same thing.
38:00There's that stop that James Allen was talking about.
38:04John Alessi comes in from fourth position for his fuel stop
38:08as opposed to the tyre stop which he made earlier on in the race.
38:13Now, he may have lost the place to Jenson Button.
38:16I can't tell you at the moment because we're watching the McLaren,
38:20as is Ron Dennis, the McLaren team boss there.
38:23The McLaren of Micah Häkkinen in second place in Belgium.
38:28And Häkkinen has already had five second places this year,
38:31but he needs a victory here, just as Michael Schumacher does,
38:35to do something about the World Championship
38:38and riveting it for one or other of them.
38:41Schumacher, lap 19.
38:43Häkkinen, lap 19.
38:45Gap nearly ten seconds.
38:46Ralf Schumacher is holding pace very well indeed in the Williams BMW.
38:51He's only losing about three-tenths of a second a lap.
38:54He's under 19 seconds behind his brother who is in the lead.
38:59Yes, if you look at the form work of the last ten Grands Prix,
39:01so that's 20 starts for the McLaren team.
39:04They've had 20 finishes.
39:06Michael, of course, had a string of non-finishes,
39:08mostly down to accidents, it has to be said,
39:10rather than mechanical problems,
39:12although the engine did fail on him at the French Grand Prix.
39:15So you'd have to say that McLaren have the upper hand in the reliability states.
39:20But right now, Michael easily has the upper hand in speed,
39:24although Micah Häkkinen now having to respond to that extra push from Michael Schumacher,
39:29but still losing a further three-tenths of a second last time around.
39:33Jenson Bunn pushing to try to get that position from Jean Alési out of the bus stop.
39:40Is he going to be coming in on this lap?
39:42No, indeed he is not.
39:45The Prost is the only car that's come in for its first fuel stop,
39:49as opposed to tyre stop so far.
39:51Jenson Bunn exits last source, very tight indeed compared to a lot of the drivers.
39:56And here is Michael Schumacher bumping his way across the chicane at the bus stop.
40:02And hello, this is Eddie Irvine and Micah Sarlow battling for 12th position.
40:08Irvine in the Jaguar, Sarlow getting through on the inside,
40:11is he to take that 12th position?
40:13His car's been beautifully set up for the race,
40:15he was sixth fastest in the warm-up this morning.
40:18And here again are Jacques Villeneuve and Rubens Barrichello,
40:23still now battling, but now for fifth place.
40:26It was sixth position, and the race order at the present moment,
40:30Schumacher, Häkkinen, Ralf Schumacher third, Jenson Bunn is fourth,
40:35but as a result of that stop by Jean Alési, which has dropped him to tenth position,
40:40Jacques Villeneuve is fifth, you're looking at Rubens Barrichello, who is sixth,
40:44Frentzen is seventh, ahead of David Coulthard eighth, ninth and tenth,
40:48Denis and Alési, but Alési should come up again now,
40:52having made his fuel stop, when the others have to start coming in.
40:56So Denis has not stopped at all, he was the only driver brave enough to start the race on slicks,
41:01that's why he fell to the back of the field early on, but he got the benefit later on,
41:05so Denis up into ninth place in the Sauber,
41:08not having stopped for tyres or fuel at this point of the race.
41:12And he is lapping about two seconds a lap slower than the flying Michael Schumacher in the lead in Belgium,
41:19and lap 21 coming up to half distance, which is lap 22,
41:24as the bus stop they're coming up to, they being Villeneuve and Barrichello.
41:29Just imagine the G-forces of the tyre loading there.
41:32Yes, it's very difficult to follow somebody through Blanchimont at 195,
41:35and Barrichello taking a pit stop,
41:37Barrichello clearly thinks his best way past Villeneuve is to come in early and find some clear air,
41:43but to follow somebody else through Blanchimont, the problem is,
41:46you can't see the track, you're turning in at 190 miles an hour,
41:50and you've really got to have a bit of blind faith and follow the other driver,
41:53and you cannot pick up your reference points,
41:55but Barrichello found his reference points at his pit stop,
41:58and it appears to all be going well, the refuelling rig is off already,
42:02and a great stop there by Ferrari, that could, could just launch Barrichello past Villeneuve,
42:08when he has to stop, but Barrichello needs to maximise this outlap now,
42:11hope he doesn't get too much traffic, looks like he's already got a Jaguar in front of him,
42:15now Barrichello must absolutely nail it from the first corner.
42:19Yeah, well he knows the score, fourth in the World Championship, he's got a victory behind him,
42:24you've probably noticed those copper earthing strips being flattened by the car,
42:29when he came in to get rid of any static on the Ferrari safely.
42:34So Rubens Barrichello on what is an increasingly dry track now,
42:39the fastest lap we've had so far, Michael Schumacher on lap 18,
42:441 minute 54.2, and that is about three-tenths of a second slower
42:51than Mika Häkkinen's fastest lap last year, when the conditions of course were very much better.
42:56And the gap between Schumacher and Häkkinen is now ten seconds,
43:00as you watch David Coulthard battling Heinz-Harald Frentzen's Jordan
43:05for the last World Championship point at the moment, sixth place.
43:09As Coulthard needs to clear Frentzen, he's lapping some one and a half seconds slower than Häkkinen,
43:16and we know the pair of them have got similar pace around this racetrack,
43:19but Coulthard can't get anywhere in the turbulent air following the Jordan.
43:23If he's going to have any chance of some sensible points today,
43:26he needs to clear this Jordan very quickly.
43:29His World Championship chances are beginning to slip away this afternoon,
43:33this is a bad afternoon for David Coulthard in the year 2000.
43:37Yeah, you have to say, Martin, he's had some pretty rough luck this season, one way or another.
43:41He lost those six World Championship points in Brazil for a car irregularity,
43:46which was no fault of his after he'd finished second.
43:49Yes, but I'll be wondering why he didn't demand to come in earlier for slip-tying.
43:54It looked like it was ready for slicks.
43:56If I can see it up here, I'm sure they can feel it and see it down there.
44:00It looked like slicks.
44:01He should have called, should have demanded, unless he was told he couldn't come in, of course.
44:06Well, Pedro Diniz has finally made that stop from 9th position.
44:10The last man to make his first stop comes in from 9th place in the Sauber.
44:15Incidentally, there's a strong rumour going round here that Johnny Herbert,
44:20who we thought was going to race in America next year,
44:23is in fact again going to rejoin the Sauber team next season.
44:26I emphasise, as ever, it's a rumour.
44:28I think that's got to the bottom of that a little bit.
44:31That's a bit, suddenly having a laugh, starting a rumour.
44:33I think it came not very far away from Johnny, actually,
44:36seeing how fast it would come back to you and how far round it would go on its way.
44:39It's gone to a lot of people now, hasn't it?
44:42About 40 million.
44:43Schumacher in the pits.
44:46A little bit earlier than we expected, but that's because we've been doing a bit of research.
44:49We found the fuel nozzle, when he came in first time round, was only on for two seconds.
44:53There's only 24 kilos of fuel.
44:55So in comes Michael Schumacher.
44:56Now, the target here is to get back out again ahead of Jenson Button.
45:00That's what Ferrari are trying to do.
45:02And certainly ahead of Jacques Villeneuve.
45:04A quick word also on Rubens Barrichello's stop.
45:06That was a switch, guys. He's now on a three-stop strategy.
45:09Keep an eye out for it.
45:10Right, well, the seconds are ticking and 11.1 of them go
45:15as Michael Schumacher exits the pit lane.
45:18He was leading Micka Häkkinen by five seconds,
45:22just over five seconds when he came in.
45:24Now, where is Jenson Button?
45:25Well, there is Ralf Schumacher.
45:27So it looks as though the Ferrari objective has been achieved.
45:32The gap between Ralf Schumacher, who's third,
45:34and Jenson Button, who's fourth, was 17 seconds.
45:37And now the Ferrari is sandwiched between the two Williams,
45:42and Michael Schumacher has made his stop.
45:46Now, Häkkinen's been told to push.
45:47He's just done the fastest first section of any lap this afternoon,
45:51by some margin indeed.
45:52So Häkkinen, the team will have been on the radio.
45:56You must maximise these next few laps,
45:58because Schumacher stopped very early, as James pointed out.
46:01I would have thought there's just enough fuel gone in that car,
46:04James will be calculating it anyway,
46:06to get him to the end of the Grand Prix.
46:09Häkkinen, now on a push.
46:18Lap 24, 20 laps to go in Belgium.
46:21You're looking at Ralf Schumacher,
46:24who is currently...