2001 Malaysian Grand Prix

Championship standings

Michael Schumacher leads with 10 points after the opening round. Coulthard is six points back in second and Barrichello has four in third. Nick Heidfeld and Heinz-Harald Frentzen hold fourth and fifth.

Previous race

At Melbourne, Schumacher won his fifth consecutive Formula One victory from pole, with Coulthard second and Barrichello third. Häkkinen retired on lap 26 with a suspension failure. The race was marred by the death of marshal Graham Beveridge, struck in the chest by Villeneuve’s right-rear wheel — detached by a wheel tether failure — after a collision between Villeneuve and Ralf Schumacher. It was the second marshal fatality in successive seasons after Paolo Gislimberti at the 2000 Italian Grand Prix.

Out of respect for Beveridge’s death, the top three drivers refrained from spraying champagne on the podium. Olivier Panis and Jos Verstappen each received a 25-second post-race penalty for overtaking under yellow flags, dropping Panis from fourth to seventh and promoting Heidfeld to fourth and Räikkönen to sixth.

Frentzen complained on his website that Sauber’s fast corner exits suggested illegal traction control; he later clarified he was not specifically alleging illegality, but the comments drew a sharp rebuke from Schumacher.

Between-race developments

Circuit officials at Sepang moved kerbs at turns five and six and shifted guard rails at turns two and fifteen back by two metres in response to Beveridge’s death.

Practice

Four practice sessions ran over Friday and Saturday. Barrichello topped the Friday morning session and Jarno Trulli set the day’s fastest time in the afternoon. Enrique Bernoldi had all his qualifying lap times deleted after the FIA technical delegate found the Arrows A22’s front wing dimensions were less than the required 100 mm above the reference plane.

On Saturday, Coulthard was fastest in FP3, with Barrichello leading the final session. Montoya set no times in FP1 due to a fuel pump failure. Battery problems sidelined Montoya again in FP2, and two fuel pump failures limited Alonso to just the final 20 minutes of the same session.