Old Circuits
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Prior to the 2000 event, the last time a Formula One Grand Prix was held in the United States of America was back in 1991 when it was held in Phoenix. The late Ayrton Senna claimed victory in his McLaren Honda. 2000 saw the F1 circus return to America as they took to the revamped Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The circuit was constructed from the famous oval that plays host to the NASCAR Brickyard race and the Indy 500 and the new layout is now just over four kilometres in length. In the beginning of the Formula One World Championship the Indy 500 counted to the drivers overall placings in the drivers' title, but this came to an end after Jim Clark and Graham Hill won back-to-back Indy 500s for the Lotus team. The new circuit utilised the existing oval including the main straight and turn one, the cars running in clockwise direction. Additional sections were constructed in the infield to create the type of circuit the F1 cars are used to driving on. |
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In a race that was completely new to all 22 drivers, Ferrari driver, Michael Schumacher dominated the event
from start to finish. He led home a Ferrari one two for the first time on the new circuit, continuing his
domination from early in the season. Up until this race, McLaren driver, David Coulthard was still in with
a chance of victory, however he was taken out of contention and was forced to watch his dreams of taking
the drivers championship vanish.
2001 was double world champion Mika Hakkinen's final victory before he retired, thrilling the American fans with his special finesse after weeks of sadness due to the tragic terrorist attacks earlier in the month. In 2002 Michael Schumacher dominated the weekend from start to, almost, finish, the Ferrari star slowing down on the final lap so that team-mate Rubens Barrichello could catch up and the duo could cross the line with the smallest ever margin. The attempt failed and Barrichello crossed the line first by a fraction of a second. The 2003 race definitely began in Kimi Raikkonen's favour as he stormed away from the rest of the field having started from pole position. The rain, though, was not greeted with smiles by the Michelin runners, who saw their advantage over the Bridgestone runners dissipate. As the laps wore down Montoya watched his Championship dream die (he retired after colliding with Barrichello) while Raikkonen saw his strength, but it was Michael who had the biggest smile as he crossed the line to clinch another victory. 2004 was not a classic event by any stretch of the imagination as the race was compromised by poor decision making from race control, culminating in some serious on-track incidents. Michael Schumacher won the race from Rubens Barrichello while Takuma Sato took his first career podium in his BAR Honda. The first lap saw four cars eliminated from the proceedings before Fernando Alonso speared off the track and into the concrete retaining wall at the end of the straight. With debris on track the race continued and a lap later Ralf Schumacher suffered a tyre failure on the final right hander, slamming backwards into the wall. To add insult to injury at Williams, Juan Pablo Montoya was disqualified from the race on lap 57 of 73 for taking the spare car just second prior to the start of the race. The US Grand Prix was nothing but a farce. Ralf Schumacher - now with the Toyota squad - was again in the wars as he slammed into the wall at turn 13 in Friday practice in what was an incident almost identical to his crash the previous year. The problem was down to tyre supplier Michelin who told the teams that both its primary and option tyre was not safe to compete. After days of legal wrangling between the teams, the FIA, Michelin the race organisers the 20 cars took to the circuit for the formation lap only for the 14 Michelin runners to pit and not take the start of the race. Amongst the boo-ing and cat-calls from the understandably frustrated US fans Michael Schumacher led home the remaining five Bridgestone runners in what was one of the most farcical races in living memory and certainly one that Michelin will never be permitted to forget. It would mark Schumacher's and Bridgestones sole win of the season. |
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