2001 International Formula 3000 Championship
The 2001 International Formula 3000 Championship was the 35th season of the second-tier motorsport feeder championship of Formula One and the 17th season to be held under the International Formula 3000 Championship name. It featured the 2001 FIA International Formula 3000 Championship, a one-make motor racing series, recognised by the sport's governing body, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, as the second highest class of competition of single seater racing cars. 37 drivers representing 13 teams contested 12 races, starting in Brazil on 31 March and ending in Italy on 15 September as they competed for the Drivers' and Teams' Championships.
The calendar featured two significant changes from the 2000 season. They were the inclusion of a season-opening round at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace in Brazil to bring the series to South America for the first time in the modern era and a season-ending event at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza in Italy. Three teams withdrew from the championship before the season: Fortec Motorsport withdrew after they were unable to sign any decent drivers and desired to focus on other junior series. MySap.com pulled out when its owner David Brown left its parent company McLaren to join the Jordan Grand Prix team in Formula One and the World Racing Team withdrew due to a lack of financing, driver stability and concentration on the American Le Mans Series.
Justin Wilson of the Coca-Cola Nordic Team won three races over the course of the year and secured the Drivers' Championship with one race to go. He became the first British driver in history to win the International Formula 3000 Championship and accumulated a record-breaking 71 points. The runner-up was Super Nova Racing driver Mark Webber, who was 32 points behind, after a series of accidents prevented him from having a mathematical chance to claim the drivers' title in the final third of the season. Wilson's teammate Tomáš Enge in third tied with Webber on championship points with two race victories. Coca-Cola Nordic Team took the Teams' Championship with two rounds remaining, ahead of Petrobras Junior Team and Super Nova Racing.
Teams and drivers
The following teams and drivers were under contract to compete in the 2001 International Formula 3000 Championship. As the championship was a spec series, all competitors raced with a Lola B99/50 chassis with a V8 engine developed by Zytek. Teams competed with tyres supplied by Avon.Team changes
Thirty entries spread across thirteen teams were initially entered into the championship with the publication of a drivers' list on 2 December 2000. MySap.com withdrew from the championship after its team principal David Brown left its parent company McLaren and moved to the Jordan team in Formula One. Car owner and former sports car driver Gabriele Rafanelli withdrew the World Racing Team from the series to focus on the American Le Mans Series operation and tired of Formula 3000 due to a lack of financing and driver stability. European Formula Racing ended its partnership with the Arrows Formula One team and causing team owner Paul Stoddart to re-brand the team to European Minardi F3000. Fortec Motorsport were included on the initial entry list before the team later withdrew from the championship because they could not locate any decent drivers to sign and they wanted to focus on other junior series. Prost Grand Prix changed the name of its team from Gauloises Formula to F3000 Prost Junior Team after they lost sponsorship backing from the tobacco company Gauloises.Driver changes
The 2001 season saw several driver changes. Defending series champion Bruno Junqueira left the Petrobras Junior Team and moved to Championship Auto Racing Teams to drive for Chip Ganassi Racing. His teammate Jaime Melo left the team to join Durango on a one-year contract with the option to extend by another season afterwards, partnering series debutant Gabriele Lancieri, who progressed from the Italian Formula 3000 Championship. Italian series champion Ricardo Sperafico drove the second Petrobras car; his twin brother Rodrigo Sperafico moved from the same championship to join Coloni and partnered Fabrizio Gollin. Fabrice Walfisch, who drove for Coloni and later Astromega, joined the European Touring Car Championship in 2001, and André Couto left the series to drive in Japanese-based series. Nordic Racing employed Tomáš Enge from MySap.com to replace the outgoing Kevin McGarrity.joined the championship with the DAMS team
Team Astromega changed their entire line-up. They signed the German Formula Three champion Giorgio Pantano to drive his first season in the championship and the WRT driver Ananda Mikola joined him. Driver Fernando Alonso went to Formula One to join Minardi, and Marc Goossens left the team. DAMS also had a new line-up in its team. Franck Montagny switched to the World Series by Nissan and Kristian Kolby competed in the American Indy Lights. The 1997 Barber Dodge Pro Series champion Derek Hill and the Gauloises Formula racer Sébastien Bourdais replaced them. Antonio García graduated from the World Series by Nissan to join the Red Bull Junior Team to pair with German Formula Three driver Patrick Friesacher. With this, Enrique Bernoldi moved to Formula One and drove for the Arrows team. Super Nova Racing signed Mark Webber from European Arrows and Mário Haberfeld from Fortec. European Minardi employed David Saelens from Super Nova, to partner Andrea Piccini, who left Kid Jensen Racing after two seasons.
Nicolas Minassian left Super Nova and the series to join CART as teammate to Junqueira at Chip Ganassi Racing. KJR released Bas Leinders and he moved to KTR to partner Joël Camathias, who transferred from the World Series by Nissan. Financial concerns meant Jeffrey van Hooydonk was unable to secure a seat in the championship and he went to drive in Belcar; his compatriot Yves Olivier and Christijan Albers of European Arrows entered the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters. Italian F3000 competitors Gabriele Varano and Nicolás Filiberti joined the championship by signing for the Prost Junior Team. KJR employed the Formula Palmer Audi driver Justin Keen and Yann Goudy from Italian F3000 to fill the seats vacated by Piccini and Leinders.
Mid-season driver changes
Kid Jensen Racing replaced Yann Goudy with Gianluca Calcagni for the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari round. The team later withdrew from the championship before the Circuit de Catalunya event due to ownership problems and Calcagni driving for them in Imola created tension with the series' governing body. Shortly before the A1 Ring round, Ananda Mikola's sponsorship money was slow to arrive to Astromega and a poor performance resulted in his replacing by Dino Morelli for the next four events. Enrico Toccacelo later drove in Morelli's place for the rest of the season.Stéphane Sarrazin made a one-off appearance for Prost at the Monaco round as a replacement for Nicolás Filiberti, who was absent due to "personal issues". Prost later replaced the underperforming Filiberti with Zsolt Baumgartner for the remainder of the year from the Nürburgring round on and the French Formula Three champion and Porsche Supercup driver Jonathan Cochet drove Gabriele Variano's entry. Prost subsequently backed one of its major sponsors to enter a Latin American driver in its team and the German Formula Three series winner Norberto Fontana was drafted in place of Cochet for the season's final three rounds. Before the Monaco round, Red Bull terminated Antonio García's contract, and they replaced him with Ricardo Maurício.
European Minardi was represented by the Formula Nippon racer and Jaguar test driver Tomas Scheckter in one of its cars for the Hockenheimring race after David Saelens sustained an injury in an accident during the Silverstone event. Rodrigo Sperafico ended his campaign after the same event and was replaced at Coloni by Marc Goossens for the rest of the season with new sponsorship brought to them. García replaced Jaime Melo at Durango from the Hungaroring round on, and German Formula Three driver Jaroslav Janiš drove Tomáš Enge's Nordic car at the season-ending Monza event, while Enge substituted for Luciano Burti at the Prost Formula One team after the latter was injured at the Belgian Grand Prix.
Season calendar
A 12-race calendar for the season was released by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile at a meeting of the FIA World Motor Sport Council in Seville on 4 October 2000. All events were held in support of Formula One races and on the Saturday of those meetings. The series expanded from 10 to 12 races: a South American event to begin the season was at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace in Brazil and it was the championship's first race to be held outside of Europe in the modern era. The second additional season-ending round was held at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza in Italy. Drivers and teams had most of June off as the Toyota Atlantic Championship supported the Canadian Grand Prix.Regulation and sporting changes
Technical changes
Cars were required to have their wheels attached to their primary structures by means of a single tether for each wheel to prevent them from becoming detached from the vehicle in the event of an accident. They also had thick anti-intrusion panels installed onto the monocoque sides.Sporting changes
Teams who finished 12th or higher in the 2000 International Formula 3000 Teams' Championship were granted automatic entry into the 2001 series. The final three slots were allocated to new entries or those who had won national Formula 3000 series. Had there been not enough entries via that process, the final three teams in the 2000 season received invitations to compete in the order they finished in the championship. The time for a practice session was lengthened, two 45-minute qualifying sessions held in late afternoon took place the day before the event and the overall race distance was decreased to.Season report
Pre-season
The first official pre-season test took place at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari from 14 to 15 February 2001. The two days had Justin Wilson pace the field with a time of 1 minute and 37.850 seconds and he later damaged the rear of his car in a collision with a tyre wall. Minardi Formula One driver Fernando Alonso helped its Formula 3000 team with chassis setup and provided its two drivers with a performance benchmark. A second official pre-season test was held at the Silverstone Circuit between 12 to 13 March 2001. Sébastien Bourdais topped the overall time sheets for DAMS with a 1 minute and 36.326 seconds lap in mixed weather conditions.Opening rounds
The season began in Brazil. Brazilian drivers took the first four positions in qualifying with Jaime Melo claiming pole position for the first time in his career from Ricardo Sperafico, Rodrigo Sperafico and Antônio Pizzonia. The stewards neutralised the race on lap one with the safety car to clear the track when Pizzonia swerved to avoid Ricardo Sperafico's vehicle; the latter swerved to avoid other competitors and it caused him to spin and crash into the barrier at the bottom of the Senna S chicane. Melo slowed sharply and allowed Pizzonia, Rodrigo Sperafico and Tomáš Enge to pass him under safety car conditions. At the lap four restart, Wilson overtook Melo into the first corner, and moved into first when four separate ten-second stop-and-go penalties were imposed on Pizzonia, Rodrigo Sperafico and Enge for their earlier transgressions. Wilson led the rest of the race to win in motor racing for the first time since the 1998 Formula Palmer Audi, and was the first British driver to win in International Formula 3000 since Jamie Davies won at the Autodromo di Pergusa in the 1997 season. He lost control of his car afterwards and avoided hitting the pit lane wall. Webber, the pre-season favourite, took second from Melo in third, who had engine problems. The stewards later gave Webber a 25-second time penalty for passing David Saelens before the start/finish line after the safety car entered the pit lane for the restart. He moved from second to seventh.Webber took his first Formula 3000 pole position in qualifying for the Imola round by leading both sessions with Patrick Friesacher second and Darren Manning third. He led every lap of the race to take his first win of the season after he took painkillers to ease the effects of a broken rib. The victory lowered his points deficit over Wilson to one point. A crash for Gabriele Varano after losing control on the kerbs on the exit of the Tamburello chicane caused him to become dizzy and prompted the safety car's deployment. In an accordion effect behind the safety car, Derek Hill made contact with the rear of Gianluca Calcagni's car, who had turned to the right to avoid colliding with slower cars ahead of him. Both drivers avoided hitting marshals tending to Varano. Nordic locked out the front row for the first time at the following race in Spain with Wilson on pole position and his teammate Enge second. Enge passed Wilson at the start of the race at the first turn and maintained it throughout a processional round for his second Formula 3000 victory. Enge passed Webber for second place in the drivers' championship and was one point behind his teammate Wilson. An error from Wilson allowed Bas Leinders to pass him and take second place.
The A1 Ring in Austria hosted the fourth round of the 2001 championship. Wet weather conditions affected the second qualifying session and a lap from Sébastien Bourdais in the first session was fast enough to earn him the second pole position of his career. A first-lap collision between Bourdais and Friesacher at Castrol Kurve corner caused eight cars to retire and allowed Leinders to move into the lead, just as Wilson progressed to second. After a safety car period to clear the area, Wilson passed Leinders on the outside on the fifth lap and he held off the latter to win for the second time in International Formula 3000. The victory further extended Wilson's championship lead to seven points over his Nordic teammate Enge. During qualifying at Monaco Webber took a second pole position of 2001 after he crashed at the outside of La Rascasse turn late in the second session in a desire to better his lap. Webber held off Wilson at the start of the race and led every lap for his second victory of the year by eight-tenths of a second. Webber thus overtook Enge for second position in the drivers' championship. Two safety car periods for a first lap five-car accident at a hairpin and for separate crashes involving Darren Manning and Antônio Pizzonia slowed the race.
Mid-season
As the championship moved into the second half of the season, Wilson maintained an eleven-point lead over Webber in second and was another two points in front of the third-placed Enge. Pole position for the Nürburgring event was taken by Enge after a duel with Webber and Ricardo Sperafico. Wilson was down in seventh place after he ran wide at a chicane. Enge was unchallenged throughout a noncompetitive race and earned his second win of the season. The result moved Enge past Webber and into second position in the championship standings. He stood three points behind his teammate Wilson, who spun into a gravel trap and subsequently retired with a sheared peg on the front-left wheel. One week later at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours in France, Enge carried his form over from the Nürburgring round to qualify in pole position for the second race in a row on his second lap of the session with no slower traffic to impede him. Webber, Patrick Friesacher and Wilson were in positions two to four. Webber overtook Enge at the first corner to take the lead and Wilson passed Freisacher for third position. Webber pulled away from the rest of the field to claim victory and drew to within one championship point of Wilson, who finished second after Enge ran wide at a hairpin on the final lap.Enge took another pole position when he set the fastest lap. He began ahead his teammate Wilson and Sébastien Bourdais at the Silverstone round in the United Kingdom. A major airborne accident at Becketts corner involving David Saelens in qualifying caused a long stoppage to allow for him to be extricated from his car with FIA doctor Sid Watkins supervising. Saelens was transported to Northampton General Hospital and was withdrawn from the race with ninth vertebrae and wrist ligament damage. In the race, the Nordic cars of Enge and Wilson collided at Stowe turn on the fourth lap. Wilson ran wide onto the gravel and this elevated Bourdais to second position. A brief rain shower on lap nineteen caused Enge to go onto the gravel at Copse corner and Bourdais took the lead. He held off Wilson to take his first Formula 3000 victory as Enge's engine cut out on the final lap and gave his compatriot Antônio Pizzonia third.
Final rounds
Ricardo Sperafico beat Wilson by 0.071 seconds to win his first career pole position in the next round at the Hockenheimring. Sperafico had excess wheelspin off the line; he kept the lead by blocking Wilson, who lost second place to his teammate Enge. Wilson and Antônio Pizzonia subsequently took first and second before the latter passed the former on lap three. Pizzonia lead the rest of the race to win for the first time in the series. A second-place result for Wilson and a non-finish for Webber after a collision with the rear of Darren Manning's car increased his lead to ten points in the championship. The season resumed three weeks later at the Hungaroring in Hungary. Wilson emerged ahead of Webber in qualifying with pole position, and broke away from the start as Webber had less grip and fell behind Enge and Ricardo Mauricio. Enge delayed Webber until he made an error at the final turn and the latter passed him. This resulted in contact between Enge and Webber and the latter was imposed a ten-second stop-and-go penalty that dropped him to eleventh. With four laps remaining, Webber beached his car upon a kerb and promoted Bourdais to third. Wilson took his third career victory with a margin of 5.5 seconds over Mauricio. He extended his championship lead over Webber to 20 points and Nordic won the Teams' Championship with two races to go.Going into the Spa-Francorchamps round, Webber needed to win the final two races and for Wilson not to score any points to win the drivers' championship on countback with more race victories. Wilson required a sixth-place result in either race to secure the title regardless of where Webber finished. Petrobras locked out the first two positions in qualifying with Ricardo Sperafico on pole position and his teammate Antônio Pizzonia in second. Wilson and Webber could only manage third and fifth respectively. The race began in inclement weather conditions and the safety car was used for two laps to enable competitors to familiarise themselves with the wet track. An accident for Webber at Eau Rouge corner early on saw his car destroyed and him taken to a hospital in Verviers for a precautionary x-ray scan that discovered knee ligament damage and no fractured bones. Wilson finished second to clinch the drivers' title with one race remaining as Sperafico led every lap of the event to earn his first career win. Wilson was the first British driver in history to win the International Formula 3000 Championship.
At the season-ending Autodromo Nationale di Monza race, a deluge that caused localised flooding and strong winds blowing natural debris onto the circuit forced the postponement of qualifying. Qualifying was reformatted as a solitary 20-minute session on Saturday afternoon and the race began half an hour later than scheduled. Antônio Pizzonia qualified on pole position for the first time in his career and he was joined on the grid's front row by Wilson in second. The start was aborted twice and delayed for 23 minutes because several drivers stalled their cars on the grid. Giorgio Pantano emerged a Formula 3000 race winner for the first time in his career after he overcame being put onto the grass by Pizzonia at the start for which the manoeuvre entailed a ten-second stop-and-go penalty for the latter. Wilson went on to finish second and Ricardo Sperafico completed the podium placings in third.
Wilson finished on 71 points and Mark Webber and Tomáš Enge were tied for second position with 39 points each. He eclipsed the record of Juan Pablo Montoya from the 1998 season with the most points accumulated in an International Formula 3000 season, which he kept until Björn Wirdheim improved on it en route to winning the 2003 championship.
Results and standings
Points system
Points were awarded to the top six classified finishers in every race, using the following structure:| Position | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | Ref |
| Points | 10 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |