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2001 Austrian Grand Prix 
Fan Reviews and Comments  

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A number of readers have sent in their reviews and comments about the race and we have decided to publish some. 
You can send your review to comments@newsonf1.com 

Yaman from India writes:

The Austrian GP was the sixth on the F1 calendars this year and is certainly one of the most picturesque locations of the season. Mika Hakkinen had won this race last year from pole position ahead of his team-mate David Coulthard. But this year everything looked different starting from qualifying. McLaren didn't seem to have the right setup but Ferrari and Williams did and they made full use of their advantage by grabbing the first two rows. Montoya upstaged his team-mate Ralf Schumacher by going second quickest while Michael Schumacher grabbed his fifth pole of the year. Barrichello started 4th. The McLaren's were very disappointing occupying the 4th row behind the Jordan of Jarno Trulli and the Sauber of Nick Heidfeld.
Race day started perfectly. The weather was beautiful and the crowds poured in to see what they hoped would be a superb race not unlike the first five this season. The formation lap went without any hitches but at GO there was a setback for three cars. Hakkinen stalled and so did Heidfeld and Frentzen. It was race over for Frentzen while Heidfeld started and Hakkinen did so too from the pits.
Michael who had started from pole position was pushed down to third place by the two Williams. Montoya for the second time in his F1 career led a race. This time though he was being chased by the other Schumacher Ralf, his team-mate. Coulthard improved to fifth while Barrichello remained in 4th. Jos Verstappen in an Arrows though made another superb start. Like he did in Malaysia he made it to the  top four before the first ten laps and in the process he overtook the remaining McLaren of Coulthard pushing him to 6th. He soon was challenging Barrichello who himself was threatening to overtake his team-mate. Verstappen lost his place as he was on a two stop strategy and pitted early. Michael was having trouble in keeping with the pace. The two Williams meanwhile looked set for and unprecedented 1-2 finish but that suffered a setback when Ralf had to retire due to a mechanical failure. Montoya too began to have trouble with his tyres and very soon Michael who was beginning to come to terms with his car was challenging him. After pursuing Montoya for a few laps Michael went for a very aggressive move by trying to overtake Montoya from the outside. Montoya responded with a similarly aggressive move by keeping his line and pace until the last moment and in the process was unable to brake and turn in time. Michael tried to evade him and went off track while Montoya made a trip to the gravel trap. Michael rejoined in 6th place while Montoya rejoined in 7th. This incident allowed Barrichello to take race lead while Coulthard took 2nd and Kimi Raikkonen 3rd!

Michael Schumacher used the pace of his car to regain third place before the pit stops. Barrichello pitted before Coulthard and the latter pushed very hard and opened a big gap going into his pit-stop and managed to come out before him and took over the race lead. Michael kept his third place and Raikkonen who had a bit of a scare in the pits with his rear left tyre managed to keep his 4th place. Now the race was between Coulthard and the two Ferrari's. The three drivers pushed their cars to the limit and fought a ferocious battle. But Coulthard managed to keep his cool and maintained a lead enough to win his second race of the season and the 11th of his career. Barrichello on the final corner was given team orders to let Schumacher pass and finish second. Raikkonen finished fourth ahead of Olivier Panis and Jos Verstappen. Barrichello meanwhile was very displeased with the orders given to him and he showed it throughout  victory celebrations and the post race press conference.
    
So, Coulthard once again is in reach of the championship lead as he single-handedly is pushing his McLaren to good results. Hakkinen meanwhile is having an extremely bad season and it almost seems as if there is a jinx on him. He must try his level best. Barrichello is unhappy with his position in the Ferrari team and one wonders if he will last with Ferrari even till the end of this season. Michael Schumacher meanwhile is doing moderately well but that might not be enough.
The Williams look strong especially Montoya and Sauber seem to be the best of the rest at the moment.

The superb circuit of Monaco comes next on the calendar. The Monte Carlo GP is a race that shall be extremely important to all ambitions of the drivers. It should be a very interesting race to watch.

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