On this day 26 years ago, one of Formula 1‘s perennial hard-luck stories wrote one of its sunnier chapters, ironically, in the pouring Black Forest rain. With a little help from a track invader.
When F1 rocked up at Hockenheim for Round 11 of the 2000 World Championship, the Drivers’ title was finely balanced, with three drivers separated by just eight points.
Michael Schumacher was taken out on the first corner of the previous round in Austria, and with Mika Hakkinen leading home a McLaren 1-2, the Finn lay third, with teammate David Coulthard six points behind Schumacher.
The Scot’s season had been truly kickstarted by a barnstorming win two rounds previously at Magny-Cours, and Schumacher was, for the first time in many seasons, the hunted, not the hunter.
A somewhat odd one out was Schumacher’s teammate – Rubens Barrichello. It was the Brazilian’s first season at Ferrari, having replaced Eddie Irvine, who had run Hakkinen incredibly close in the championship in his final campaign with the Scuderia.
Barrichello, conversely, had not won a race yet, and was still waiting to break his duck in general, in what was his eighth season in F1. And after qualifying, the possibility of changing that unenviable statistic looked slim to nil.
An oil leak truncated his running, and after being forced to use a spare car of Schumacher’s, qualified 18th out of the 22 drivers. Coulthard took pole position, with Schumacher second, and Hakkinen fourth. Giancarlo Fisichella was the surprise of the afternoon with third in the Benetton.
The Italian’s place on the grid proved to be somewhat prophetic in all the wrong ways for Schumacher as, at lights out, carnage ensued.
Both Schumacher and Coulthard got away poorly, and Hakkinen benefitted by taking the lead going into Turn 1. Schumacher, adjusting to Hakkinen’s position, touched Fisichella. Both cars went off and were both out in the tyre wall.
It was a gift horse in the mouths of both McLarens, who now ran first and second once again. Barrichello made rapid progress, moving up to 10th by the end of Lap 1, his Ferrari being light on fuel, opting for a two-stop strategy.
Things, otherwise, were moderately mundane as the race went on. That was until Lap 25, just over half-distance.
Mercedes protestor changes the race
On the first of three long and fast sections, between the first corner and the Ostkurve, a man in a see-through raincoat vaulted himself over the armco and crossed the race track, and then walked against traffic on the grass verge.
The slogan on his rain apparel had a Mercedes logo emblazoned on it, with what turned out to be a negative message about the company. It transpired he was a disgruntled former employee of the company, and performed the dangerous action in protest.
Mercedes, at the time, held its main interest in F1 through its production of engines for McLaren, and if the protestor intended to ruin their race, he succeeded spectacularly, as his presence triggered the deployment of the Safety Car.
Chaos now took over, with cars frantically pitting with improvised strategies. McLaren boxed both their cars, but not before a radio miscommunication saw Coulthard stay out longer than hoped.
Four laps later, racing resumed for a brief time, but the Safety Car made a second appearance after Jean Alesi crashed his Prost at high-speed whilst jostling for position with Pedro Diniz. Hakkinen still led.
Rain now began to fall again, having done so before the start of the race. Ross Brawn informed Barrichello on the Ferrari pit wall that he could manage his car and his dry tyres on the dry sections of the circuit, and duly responded to the task.
Hakkinen, in turn, lost his advantage on the dry corners as he was now on wets, and Coulthard suffered another pit stop malfunction from McLaren, when, upon pitting for wets, was not received by mechanics when entering his pit.
This left Barrichello out in front, and as the rain continued to fall, he began to tiptoe around the circuit, carefully threading his car through the final laps with enough of a gap to cruise with some moderate comfort.
With the odds stacked firmly against him, Barrichello coasted across the line to take his first Grand Prix victory in the most bizarre, but ultimately brilliant circumstances. In doing so, he became the first Brazilian to win a Grand Prix since Ayrton Senna’s 1993 Australian GP victory.
An emotional Barrichello broke down over radio on the cool down lap, and shed tears once more on the podium, with his country’s flag draped around him.
Held aloft on the shoulders of second-placed Hakkinen and third-placed Coulthard, it was one of the most popular F1 race victories for some time, and finally underlined Barrichello’s talent.
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