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2001 Drivers 13-26 Review
An in-depth look at the past season, team by team and driver by driver |
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| 13. Jean Alesi | ||||||
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In true Alesi style, his F1 swansong in 2001 was full of drama, but still lacking in actual results. His 2001 started with his relationship with Alain Prost as strong as ever, and with great hopes that the Prost AP04 with a Ferrari engine could propel him forwards. In truth, it did move him up, and his car was indeed ultra-reliable, but it wasn't quite as good as he would have wanted. On top of that, during 2000 many had already begun to concede that Alesi's sheer speed wasn't really there any more, and 2001 confirmed that, especially in his rather average performances even after he belatedly joined Jordan.
His experience shone through in races in his ability to keep the car on the road. In so doing he scored 4 points before falling out with Prost, and a further point at Spa for Jordan. He was classified in all but the last race, although he did spin out late at the Nurburgring. But the sad truth was that, even as he gave 110%, he only out-qualified Burti 5-3, and was beaten 4-1 by Trulli. Jordan's experiment in giving him a go was as much an exercise of sentimentality as it was one of tactical acumen, and in the end there was no reason not to go for Sato in 2002. Unfortunately, Jean's time in F1 was up. Back to the top. |
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| 14. Jacques Villeneuve | ||||||
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No-one had a more enigmatic season than the 1997 World Champion, who had also performed so fantastically during 2000. Jacques' 2001 season seemed full of promise for the first five laps or so in Melbourne, until THAT accident. Thereafter, his season never showed any real spark, despite his somewhat lucky podium finishes in Spain and Germany, and despite the fact that he never qualified outside the top 12 until the last three races of the year. If anything, his true best result in 2001 was 4th at Monaco, something of a traditional bogey circuit for him.
Whether or not he was still feeling the effects of his Melbourne shunt remained a matter of contention. His motivation seemed to rise and fall like the tide throughout the year, and may have also been affected by what was going on in his personal life. On one hand, there was the race at Indy where he only qualified a disinterested 18th, but on the other, the racer's edge still came out when he alone opposed the no-overtaking pact at Monza. There were also some of those confessions in the press of how he was past his best, and unwanted by the top teams, which not only seemed weird but also resignedly premature. Back to the top. |
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| 15. Jos Verstappen | ||||||
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Jos the Boss had what could only be described as an interesting season in 2001. He will be best remembered for his absolutely stunning drives in Malaysia, where he ran 2nd for much of the race in wet and dry conditions, and in Austria, where he passed Coulthard's McLaren and harried the Ferraris in the early stages, eventually finishing 6th and scoring Arrows' only point this year. He was easily the overtaker sans pareil in 2001, helped by low fuel loads early in races, but at least that often provided much admirable race-craft and excitement in Grands Prix where too many drivers rely on pit strategies.
But that was not really enough, and several other factors detracted badly from his season. Too often, from the middle of the race onwards, he could not capitalise on his brilliant opening stints. Whether or not it was his fault, he was also the one who took out race leader Montoya in Brazil. He was out-qualified by rookie team-mate Bernoldi 10 times to 7, and yet he lashed out at the Brazilian in a particularly vitriolic manner in the press, justifiably or otherwise. Although unswervingly supported by his legion of colourful Dutch fans, to many neutral observers, including ourselves, it seemed in poor taste. Back to the top. |
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| 16. Pedro de la Rosa | ||||||
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Last year, the not-all-that-young Spaniard was one of the rising stars of the field. His shafting by Arrows just before the season started was a blow, but also a blessing in disguise. It allowed him to be snatched firstly by Prost, then by Jaguar, which ended up being a full race drive from round 5 onwards. The only disadvantage there was that he had not had that much time to get to know the R2, and that counted against him as Eddie Irvine's strong mid-season made him look rather ordinary. On top of that, where Pedro fitted into the Jaguar philosophy (and marketing exercise) was never explained.
In general, his performances throughout his 13-race stint were OK, although not particularly great, except his drive at Monza to 5th place, which was an excellent example of controlled and patient tyre conservation. The five races in a row where he out-qualified Irvine, from Britain to Italy, probably reflected a slight drop in the Ulsterman's form rather than any advantage de la Rosa had, although Pedro did show some real qualifying pace at times. There were still some rough edges in his race driving though, like in his overly ambitious first lap desperados in Germany and Belgium. Back to the top. |
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| 17. Olivier Panis | ||||||
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The popular Olivier left the McLaren test role to join BAR with high hopes of lifting them that one step further, but as the season wore on, his motivation seemed blunted by the lack of development on what turned out to be not a great BAR 03 chassis. Having said that, his season was made to look decidedly worse than what it was by his grid positions of 17th, 13th and 17th in the last three races, because prior to that he was only outside the top half three times (including a brilliant 6th in Canada), despite his perceived lack of qualifying speed, and the fact he was generally out-qualified by team-mate Villeneuve.
His reputation as an excellent race driver remained largely intact. Only once did he retire by running off the track, at Silverstone where was accidentally shoved off by Villeneuve. He should have kept his 4th in Australia (where he was demoted to 7th), and he was 4th again in Brazil and 5th in Austria. His races were sometimes blighted by poor strategy, as in Germany where he finished 7th behind two Benettons and a Prost. Having re-signed for BAR early, perhaps his poor late-season form was also due to regrets about the McLaren seat which had opened up, for which he would surely have been a contender. Back to the top. |
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| 18. Heinz-Harald Frentzen | ||||||
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This was ultimately a very disappointing season for the man many thought was the driver of the year in 1999. After saying in Melbourne that the Jordan EJ11 was a great car, and running third for the first few laps, he was punted into a spin by Rubens Barrichello and it was as if his season went downhill from there. He was consistently good in the first few races, scoring 5th in Australia, 4th in Malaysia and 6th at Imola, and was on track for more points in Brazil, but thereafter he was let down by his car, a few too many driver errors, and the fact that Jarno Trulli was easily out-qualifying him.
His sudden withdrawal at Montreal raised doubts about his health, and some of his performances in the middle of the season rightly aroused questions about his motivation. His falling out with Eddie Jordan was dramatic, but not entirely surprising. After that he put in some good efforts for Prost, and of course qualified that fortuitous 4th at Spa before stalling on the line. Starting 12th at Monza was also a fine result, but at times his race pace was being matched by Tomas Enge, which reflected as well on the Czech as it did poorly on Heinz-Harald. Back to the top. |
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| 19. Tarso Marques | ||||||
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The perennial tail-ender of the 2001 field, Marques was the 'surprise signing' for European Minardi, bringing with him a reputation of being something of a talent, and having impressed in CART. Although he never matched the expectations, and was soundly beaten by team-mate Fernando Alonso (the one exception being Malaysia), Marques could blame the same difficult transition from muscular CART cars to nervous narrow-track groove-tyred F1 machines that so blighted Alex Zanardi's 1999. It was also to be expected that Alonso would get the better of Minardi's limited resources.
Marques was also made to look bad because Alonso simply drove so well. But Tarso only missed the 107% qualifying cut three times (Melbourne, Silverstone and Spa, where Alonso also didn't make it), and only in Britain was he prevented from starting. He also, surprisingly, scored the team's best results, two 9ths in Brazil and Canada. Only in Melbourne did he seem particularly ragged and out of his depth. Otherwise, he impressed with his mature and realistic approach, the same approach that saw him willingly and gladly step down for Alex Yoong because the Malaysian was bringing the team much-needed funds. Back to the top. |
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| 20. Luciano Burti | ||||||
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Unspectacular in terms of results, the young Brazilian was nonetheless the master of disaster in 2001. He had more big accidents than anyone else, namely in qualifying in Australia (due to a suspension failure), two in Germany including his terrifying start-line flip, and of course his season-ending smash at Spa, due partly to his impetuosity in trying to pass Eddie Irvine at that particular spot. Still, he could be depended upon to show a fair turn of qualifying and race speed, and in out-qualifying Jean Alesi three times out of eight he earned himself some respect.
Burti's problem was that he isn't regarded as one of the true young guns, and his original promotion to the Jaguar race seat always felt like stop-gap measure until someone better came along. When they signed Pedro de la Rosa, it was only a matter of time before Burti got shafted, and it was logical that he took Mazzacane's Prost seat. While he got a chance to develop as a driver with the French team, the fact that he was being used as a chess piece, plus his big accidents, showed signs of denting his confidence somewhat, something he could ill-afford if he was ever to seriously impress. Back to the top. |
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| 21. Enrique Bernoldi | ||||||
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Truth be told, in 2001 Bernoldi didn't do that bad a job, but in a year when there were hardly any stand-out rejects, it's just that he didn't do anything all that good either. Perhaps where he was most impressive was in qualifying, where he beat team-mate Jos Verstappen 10 times, but then again, the Dutchman has always been abominable over a single lap, and never did Enrique beat him by that much. Still, an average qualifying position of around 18th spot (that is, above the last two rows) was a good effort, especially considering that the Arrows was a clear second-worst car.
Bernoldi unfairly gained the reputation as a mobile chicane this year, although the fact is he was co-operative whilst being lapped. It was only when he was involved in battles for position, notably at Monaco and Monza, that he sometimes went a bit too far in holding his place. But that was to deny that, on light fuel loads, he could sometimes be mildly impressive in moving up the field, especially in Austria where he even passed Jacques Villeneuve. Unfortunately, Enrique was never made to feel very welcome in the paddock, least of all in his own team, where Verstappen made him feel decidedly unwanted. Back to the top. |
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| 22. Jenson Button | ||||||
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For the second year in a row, a Benetton driver takes out our 'Reject of the Year' Award. We are not Button bashers - we justifiably lauded him to the skies after his debut season. But this year when faced with an awful Benetton, Button had to do something he never had to contemplate at Williams. He had to make a brute of a car work for him, which is as much a part of an F1 driver's skill as sheer speed and racing ability, and in this regard he failed miserably. No driver was more soundly trounced by his team-mate than Jenson, maybe except Rubens Barrichello; yet Giancarlo Fisichella is no Michael Schumacher.
Maybe there was an element of Jenson taking his success for granted, but we'd prefer to believe that, when faced with having to develop a car, he simply could not or would not step up to the plate. Only in the last three races, as the B201 became more driveable, did Button qualify in the top half of the field, but in mid-season he started three GPs in succession from the last row. In races he was generally unspectacular, although he managed to keep the car on the road. Two points all year was about right, and his learning experiences will be useful as he fortuitously stays with Renault for 2002. Back to the top. |
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| Gaston Mazzacane | ||||||
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Gaston Mazzacane was at Prost at the start of the season for one reason and one reason only his PSN money. He could never match Alesi's speed, but he also suffered most of the Prost AP04's teething problems. He did OK in the Sepang monsoon, briefly running ahead of both Ferraris, but right from the outset it was clear that Alain Prost wanted someone more capable than him in the car. It was no surprise when he was unceremoniously dumped after only 4 races for Luciano Burti, and even desperate F1 teams don't seem keen on the Argentine any more. Perhaps CART beckons in 2002.
Back to the top. |
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| Ricardo Zonta | ||||||
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Ricardo Zonta filled the Jordan seat twice, replacing an unwell Frentzen in Canada, and taking over again at Hockenheim after the German was fired. He might have hoped to have then kept the seat, but Eddie Jordan always had the hots for Jean Alesi. Driving at short notice, he was quite superb at Montreal, fast and tidy, with only car gremlins costing him points. Unhappily, he was far more ragged and unimpressive in Germany. Formerly a bright young talent, he too has lost the attention of major F1 teams, and more testing anonymity for Jordan is on the cards for the Brazilian in 2002. Back to the top. |
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| Tomas Enge | ||||||
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Tomas Enge had spent 2001 doing some very good things in F3000 for Nordic, and for most of the year was a championship contender. Brought in to replace the injured Burti at Prost for the last three races, he was the first Czech driver in F1. While his qualifying pace was nothing stunning, he could often match Frentzen's lap times in the races, which was no mean feat. Two finishes at Monza and Indianapolis were just reward for some quiet but respectable performances, and since he brings healthy sponsorship from Coca-Cola with him, Prost will be quite keen to hang onto him for 2002 if possible.
Back to the top. |
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| Alex Yoong | ||||||
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Alex Yoong looked like racing for Minardi as early as the mid-season, but in the end only appeared for the last three races. The lucrative Malaysian money he offered was the sole reason why Paul Stoddart was interested in him, and his performances showed that he isn't quite up to F1 standard just yet. But like most pay drivers he can keep the car on the road and do a solid if uncompetitive job. To his credit, simply making the grid at Monza in difficult circumstances was a fine achievement, and with a mature head, more testing, and a full-time Minardi drive in 2002, he may do quite a respectable enough job.
Back to the top. |
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