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U.S. Grand Prix: Facts and Figures Posted: Tuesday September 24, 2002 9:36 AMINDIANAPOLIS (Reuters) -- Facts and figures for Sunday's U.S. Formula One Grand Prix:
Circuit: Indianapolis.
Lap distance: 4.192km/2.605 miles.
Total distance: 73 laps (306.016 km/190.139 miles).
2001 pole time: Michael Schumacher (Germany) Ferrari
one minute 11.708 seconds.
Fastest race lap: Juan Pablo Montoya (Colombia) Williams
one minyte 14.448 seconds.
Past form of leading drivers at Indianapolis:
2001 2000
Michael Schumacher 2 1
David Coulthard 3 5
Rubens Barrichello 15 2
Ralf Schumacher R R
Juan Pablo Montoya R -
Jacques Villeneuve R 4
Nick Heidfeld 6 9
Jarno Trulli 4 R
Kimi Raikkonen R -
Giancarlo Fisichella 8 R
Eddie Irvine 5 7
Olivier Panis 11 -
Pedro de la Rosa 12 R
Jenson Button 9 R
Heinz-Harald Frentzen 10 3
R-retired.
Resume of past races: 2001: McLaren's Mika Hakkinen, angered by being demoted from the front of the grid to the second row for an infringement in the warm-up, took the last win of his career in an emotionally-charged race after the Sept. 11 attacks on America. Ferrari's Schumacher was second after team mate Barrichello, who had led for a while, developed engine problems while in second place on the penultimate lap. Hakkinen's team mate David Coulthard was third. 2000: Schumacher and Barrichello delivered a Ferrari one-two. McLaren's Mika Hakkinen retired after 25 laps while second. Heinz-Harald Frentzen, in a Jordan, held off BAR's Villeneuve for third place. The start was moved back eight meters because of the "yard of bricks" across the start-finish line. Schumacher had complained it could penalize him at the start by causing wheel-spin as he pulled away. The Circuit The race is run over an infield circuit which incorporates part of the 2.5-mile oval used for the Indy 500, the American classic won in the past by Canadian Jacques Villeneuve and Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya. The grand prix is run clockwise around the track rather than in the normal Indy anti-clockwise direction and drivers encounter banked corners. The straight is the longest in Formula One, giving the drivers the opportunity to drive full out for over 20 seconds and achieve speeds of around 320kph. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is also the oldest motor racing circuit still in use in the world, originally built in 1909 as a car test track. It is the largest sporting arena in the world, with more than 250,000 permanent seats. The venue has been nicknamed "The Brickyard" since the days when the track was paved with bricks. A yard of bricks is still exposed on the start-finish line. The 2000 race, the first in America since 1991, drew more than 200,000 spectators -- a Formula One record. Last year's attendance was 175,000. Drivers' perspective: "The Brickyard is a circuit that has got a lot of rhythm and so an important key to performing well in Indy is to have a well balanced car," says Montoya. "I think it is probably one of the best circuits for overtaking, having such a long straight and turn one into the oval is an especially good place for passing." Formula One statisticsWins Michael Schumacher has won a record-equalling fifth drivers' title while Ferrari is constructor's champion for the fourth season in a row. Schumacher became the first driver to win 10 times in a single season at the Belgian Grand Prix. Ferrari took its run of successive podium finishes to 51 races in Italy when Rubens Barrichello led his teammate home. There has been a Ferrari driver on every podium since the 1999 European Grand Prix. The Italian team has won 13 of the 15 races so far this season and Schumacher, who matched the record five championships of the late Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio at the French Grand Prix in July, has taken 10 of them. Schumacher has won a record 63 grands prix, 44 for Ferrari. Ferrari has won 157 grands prix since 1951. McLaren has won 135 times, Williams 108. Pole position Schumacher has 48 career pole positions, and is closing in on the record of 65 set by the late Brazilian Ayrton Senna. The German has started on pole five times this season but Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya is the king of qualifying with seven poles in 15 races for Williams. Ferrari is the team with most poles in grand prix history (156), followed by Williams (119) and McLaren (112). Indianapois There are no U.S. drivers in Formula One. Montoya could become the first driver to win the Indianapolis 500 and the Formula One Grand Prix at the Motor Speedway. The Colombian won the Indy 500 in 2000. Only four Formula One drivers -- Britons Jim Clark and Graham Hill, Brazilian Emerson Fittipaldi and American Mario Andretti -- have won both events but in their days the U.S. GP was not run at Indianapolis. Trend Schumacher has notched up a record 20 successive points finishes and is the only driver this season to have completed the maximum number of laps and scored in every race. He has been on the podium for 17 races in a row, Monza last year marking his most recent failure when he finished fourth. Ferrari has won 13 of 15 races this season and can equal McLaren's 1988 record of 15 wins in a season. It has also won eight consecutive races, still short of its own record of 14 wins in a row in 1952-3. Youngest Renault's Briton Jenson Button will be in his 50th Formula One Grand Prix. Already the youngest driver ever to score a point, he becomes the youngest to make 50 starts.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. |
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