2001 Japanese GP *Round 17* (ITV Commentary - James & Martin)

So it was to be the final race of the 2001 Season.

A dominant one for Michael Schumacher & Ferrari, Schumacher's victory was his ninth of the season, tying his own record from 1995 and 2000 and Nigel Mansell from 1992. As a consequence of the race, Schumacher finished the year with a season-record 123 championship points scored in the World Drivers' Championship, breaking Alain Prost's all-time record for most career points scored.

Many things would be the lasts for drivers and teams.

Last races EVER for Jean Alesi, Tomas Enge & Mika Hakkinen.

While it would also be the last race for Bennetton who would be rebranded as Renault for 2002 and after this race, the Prost team would be shut down forever, thus turning into quite the sad end from the Ligier days.

Drivers Standings AFTER the race:-

1 | (DEU) Michael Schumacher | 123
2 | (GBR) David Coulthard | 65
3 | (BRA) Rubens Barrichello | 56
4 | (DEU) Ralf Schumacher | 49
5 | (FIN) Mika Hakkinen | 37
6 | (COL) Juan Pablo Montoya | 31
7 | (CAN) Jacques Villeneuve | 12
8 | (DEU) Nick Heidfeld | 12
9 | (ITA) Jarno Trulli | 12
10 | (FIN) Kimi Raikkonen | 9
11 | (ITA) Giancarlo Fisichella | 8
12 | (GBR) Eddie Irvine | 6
13 | (DEU) Heinz-Harald Frentzen | 6
14 | (FRA) Olivier Panis | 5
15 | (FRA) Jean Alesi | 5
16 | (ESP) Pedro de la Rosa | 3
17 | (GBR) Jenson Button | 2
18 | (NLD) Jos Verstappen | 1

Constructors AFTER racE:-

1 | Ferrari | 179
2 | McLaren-Mercedes | 102
3 | Williams-BMW | 80
4 | Sauber-Petronas | 21
5 | Jordan-Honda | 19
6 | BAR-Honda | 17
7 | Benetton-Renault | 10
8 | Jaguar-Cosworth | 9
9 | Prost-Acer | 4
10 | Arrows-Asiatech | 1