On 2 September 2001, Michael Schumacher surpassed Alain Prost’s report of 51 Method 1 victories, profitable the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps.
Prost had been the report holder since 1987, when he matched Jackie Stewart’s tally of 27, and went on to clinch practically as many wins from then on, till his 1993 retirement.
The 1993 season, coincidentally, marked Schumacher’s continued emergence. By 2001, he had change into a four-time world champion; his race-winning Hungarian GP drive meant he equalled Prost when it comes to each victories and titles, as he clinched that 12 months’s crown with 94 factors to David Coulthard’s 51.
Prost knew his time as F1’s most profitable driver in historical past – by that metric – was coming to an finish and was at peace with it. “He deserves this type of report,” the Frenchman mentioned of Schumacher. “I do know he has been motivated very a lot to get this type of report, which is comprehensible. You can’t win greater than 50 races if you happen to’re not good and he’s one of the best in the mean time, among the best of all time, and he deserves to have this report.”
Schumacher once more proved his expertise at Spa-Francorchamps, although he was solely third on the grid following qualifying on a drying monitor; Williams locked out the entrance row, with Juan Pablo Montoya and Ralf Schumacher some two seconds sooner after playing on dry-weather tyres sooner than their rivals.
However the incident-filled race immediately took a flip for the more severe for Williams, as Montoya stalled on the grid for the second formation lap (after Heinz-Harald Frentzen suffered the identical destiny earlier), whereas Ralf Schumacher’s automotive was inexplicably left up on its jacks forward of the second begin.
That second begin occurred due to a hefty shunt for Prost Grand Prix’s Luciano Burti, following a collision with Jaguar’s Eddie Irvine coming into the high-speed Blanchimont curve. The concussed Brazilian was dominated out of the rest of the season.
Schumacher inherited the lead on the second begin, with Fisichella unintentionally serving to him run away
Photograph by: Rainer W. Schlegelmilch / Getty Photos
Whereas these first 4 laps had been declared null and void, which means they formally by no means existed, the second beginning grid was based mostly on the classification on the finish of the opening motion, so the Schumachers locked out the entrance row till the Williams mechanics’ blunder took Ralf out of the battle for victory, with each FW23s ending up in the back of the pack.
From then on, Michael Schumacher was merely untouchable, albeit helped by Benetton’s Giancarlo Fisichella storming from fifth to second initially and slowing the opposite frontrunners down. The newly topped four-time champion pulled a 20-second hole by lap 9, when he made his first pitstop.
Schumacher maintained that tempo to deliver his benefit to 31 seconds over McLaren’s Coulthard, who had lastly discovered a well beyond Fisichella, on lap 28 – with simply eight extra excursions remaining. And that was regardless of making a mistake on lap 17, when the Ferrari driver ran vast at Stavelot.
From then on, Schumacher took it simple to cross the end line 10 seconds forward of Coulthard, who was the runner-up within the championship, with Fisichella an additional 18 seconds adrift, whereas Williams narrowly failed to attain any factors.
Schumacher romped to victory with little competitors
Photograph by: LAT Photos through Getty Photos
So, Schumacher beat Prost’s report in fashion, although he insisted he didn’t care all that a lot about it.
“I am unable to say I am a lot motivated by statistics,” he mentioned, “however after all it does imply one thing to have that quantity [52] on my account. However I shall be extra delighted in just a few years when I’m sitting on my couch, with a beer and cigar, enthusiastic about it.”
In the meantime, Prost reiterated how impressed he had been by the driving force who, statistically, was now his equal.
“I do know higher than anybody how powerful it’s to be a world champion and the way very powerful it’s to be a four-time champion,” the Frenchman insisted.
“Michael has the qualities to succeed together with his skills and his focus and motivation. That’s the reason I consider he generally is a five-time or perhaps a six-time champion. He and Ferrari are a giant pressure now. I do not know if he can win 60 or 70 races, however there isn’t any purpose why not.”
Schumacher went on to set a 91-victory marker that lengthy appeared unassailable – till Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen began rewriting the report books.
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