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After the steady climb of the Stewart team, the
renamed Jaguar could hardly have had a worse year 2000. New team manager and
ex-CART racer Bobby Rahal promises to shape up the team, but drivers Eddie
Irvine and Luciano Burti still have a long climb ahead of them.
The languishing team of four-time World Champion Alain Prost is expected
to do better this year with 2000-spec Ferrari engines, but the first race of the
season had them finishing ninth in Australia.
Oldest driver in the lineup (how quickly things change!) Jean Alesi and
Giancarlo Mazzacane hope to pilot the blue missiles to at least several points
this year. The other Ferrari-engined
team (rebadged Petronas), swiss Sauber, has started off spectacularly, with both
drivers ending up in the points. Nick
Heidfeld has redeemed himself after a pointless season with Prost.
20-year old Finn Kimi Raikkonen, who only has 24 races of any kind (!) to
his credit, drove to a seventh-place finish in Melbourne, and was promoted to
sixth after Panis was penalized 25 seconds for passing under a yellow flag.
Seems that age and inexperience are no longer obstacles to a promising F1
career.
Meanwhile, former top-grid contender Benetton
is in for another rough season, despite having a new Renault engine and
potential top guns Jenson Button and Giancarlo Fisichella.
Arrows and Minardi round up the rest of the grid, and we just hope they
can score at least one or two points during the season.
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motioncars.com
2001 Driver Championship Predictions
1. M.
Schumacher
2. Hakkinen
3. Coulthard
4. Barrichello
5. R. Schumacher
6. Frentzen
7. Villenueve
8. Trulli
9. Montoya
10. Panis
11. Heidfeld
12. Irvine
13. Raikonnen
14. Verstappen
15. Fisichella
16. Button
17. Alesi
18. Burti
19. Mazzacane
20. Bernoldi
21. Marques
22. Alonso
motioncars.com
2001 Constructors Championship Predictions
1. Ferrari (B)
2. McLaren Mercedes (B)
3. BMW.Williams (M)
4. Jordan Honda (B)
5. British American Racing Honda (B)
6. Sauber Petronas (B)
7. Jaguar Cosworth (M)
8. Arrows Asiatech (B)
9. Prost Acer (M)
10. Benetton Renault (M)
11. Minardi (B)
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