The 2001 British Grand Prix (formally the LIV Foster's British Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 15 July 2001 at Silverstone in Northamptonshire, England. It was the eleventh race of the 2001 FIA Formula One World Championship. The 60-lap race was won by Mika Häkkinen, driving a McLaren-Mercedes. Drivers' Championship leader Michael Schumacher took pole position in his Ferrari, with Häkkinen alongside him on the front row; the Finn overtook Schumacher on lap 5 and led for the remainder of the race, except during the first round of pit stops. It was Häkkinen's first victory of the season, and his 19th overall. Schumacher finished over half a minute behind, with teammate Rubens Barrichello third. There were five retirements during the race: Jarno Trulli's Jordan and Olivier Panis's BAR were eliminated in separate first-corner collisions; David Coulthard's McLaren suffered a suspension failure; and Ralf Schumacher's Williams and Luciano Burti's Prost suffered engine failures. Tarso Marques failed to qualify his Minardi as a result of not setting a time within 107% of Michael Schumacher's pole time. Heinz-Harald Frentzen finished seventh in the other Jordan, in what would turn out to be his last race for the team before he was sacked four days before the next race in Germany. Coulthard's retirement meant that Michael Schumacher extended his lead in the Drivers' Championship to 37 points with six races remaining. Background Going into the race, Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher led the Drivers' Championship with 78 points, ahead of his main rival David Coulthard (47 points) and Ralf Schumacher (30). Rubens Barrichello was a close fourth with 30 points and his Williams teammate Juan Pablo Montoya was fifth on twelve points. In the Constructors' Championship, Ferrari was leading with 108 points, fifty-two ahead of their rival McLaren in second. Williams were third on 43 points, whilst Sauber (16) and Jordan (15) were in a close battle for fourth place. Ferrari had so far won the most of the races of the season with six, compared to McLaren and Williams with two each. Championship drivers Barrichello and Montoya had secured second-place finishes whilst Nick Heidfeld, Jacques Villeneuve, Eddie Irvine and Mika Häkkinen had all taken third-place finishes. After the previous year's British Grand Prix had been afflicted with heavy rain, causing the closure of Silverstone's car parks which forced spectators to walk long distances to attend the event, the organisers of