Formula 1

About the season

At Spa, Schumacher passed Alain Prost to become the most successful F1 driver of all time with his 52nd win, a record that stood until Lewis Hamilton broke it in 2020. At the French Grand Prix, Schumacher celebrated his 50th career victory while having to fight off his own brother Ralf, who had started from pole, a rare instance of two siblings battling for a race win. The Italian Grand Prix at Monza was held just five days after the September 11 attacks: Ferrari ran with blacked-out nose cones and no sponsor logos, and the traditional champagne spraying was dropped from the podium ceremony. Amid that somber weekend, Williams rookie Juan Pablo Montoya claimed his maiden Grand Prix win, beating Ferrari on home soil. Michael Schumacher won the 2001 Drivers' Championship with 123 points (Ferrari), 58 points ahead of the runner-up. Ferrari won the Constructors' Championship with 179 points, 77 points ahead of the runner-up. Across 17 completed races this season, there were 156 retirements. 5 different drivers won a race this season. Michael Schumacher took the most race wins, 9 in total. Schumacher won the season-opening race, the Australian Grand Prix. Burti made the biggest gain of the season at the Australian Grand Prix, from grid position 21 to finishing 8 (up 13 places). The season's biggest upset win came from Coulthard at the Austrian Grand Prix, starting from grid position 7. The closest finish of the season came at the Monaco Grand Prix, with a gap of just 0.431 seconds. The Canadian Grand Prix saw the most retirements of the season, with 13 drivers failing to finish. The most dominant win of the season came at the German Grand Prix, with a margin of 46.1 seconds. Schumacher won the Japanese Grand Prix, the final race of the season.