2000 Australian Grand Prix

Entrants

Three drivers make their Formula One debut this weekend. Jenson Button starts for Williams, becoming the youngest British driver ever to start a Formula One race — a fact that has not gone unnoticed in the paddock; Sauber’s Mika Salo remarked that because of Button’s inexperience, he could “hurt himself or somebody else.” Nick Heidfeld lines up for Prost alongside Jean Alesi, and Gastón Mazzacane takes the second Minardi seat. Rubens Barrichello starts his first race for Ferrari, replacing Eddie Irvine who moves to Jaguar. It is Jaguar Racing’s first Grand Prix since the team was rebranded from Stewart.

Weather

Sunny, air temperature 20 °C.

Practice

Four sessions are held before Sunday’s race: two one-hour sessions on Friday and two 45-minute sessions on Saturday. Häkkinen sets the fastest lap in the first session on a slippery track. Zonta and Heidfeld both spin into the gravel trap; Herbert’s car cuts its ignition due to a possible engine failure; Schumacher’s session is curtailed when a camera mounted atop his Ferrari melts a wiring loom.

Schumacher records the day’s fastest time in the second session despite removing a rear wheel in a sideways accident at Turn 14 after missing his braking point. Coulthard finishes second and Barrichello third.

In the third session, Schumacher sets the fastest time. Häkkinen’s engine fails on his first flying lap, and McLaren mechanics spend 42 minutes changing both drivers’ engines and gearboxes to enable participation in the final session. Button crashes at Turn 10 at 160 mph after clipping a kerb, removing the rear wheels from his Williams and halting the session for ten minutes. After qualifying 21st — 1.6 seconds slower than teammate Ralf Schumacher — Button said “it can’t get worse than this.” Schumacher leads the fourth session as well, with Coulthard second and Frentzen third.