page_title: 2000 Japanese Grand Prix
section_title: Race
hierarchical_section_title: 2000 Japanese Grand Prix / Race
caption_attribution_description: English: Mika Hakkinen at the 2009 DTM Round at Norisring
context_page_description: The 2000 Japanese Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 8 October 2000 at the Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka, Japan. It was the 16th and penultimate round of the 2000 Formula One season, as well as, the 26th Japanese Grand Prix. The 53-lap race was won by Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher after starting from pole position. Mika Häkkinen finished second in a McLaren with teammate David Coulthard finishing third. Schumacher's win confirmed him as 2000 Drivers' Champion, as Häkkinen could not overtake Schumacher's points total with only one race remaining.
  Häkkinen started the race alongside Michael Schumacher on the front row of the grid. Michael Schumacher attempted to defend his lead off the line by moving into Häkkinen's path, but Häkkinen passed Michael Schumacher heading into the first corner, with Coulthard withstanding Williams driver Ralf Schumacher attempts to pass him to maintain third position. Michael Schumacher managed to close the gap to his title rival by lap 31 and passed Häkkinen during the second round of pit stops. This allowed him to maintain a 1.9-second gap between himself and Häkkinen towards the end of the race to secure his eighth victory of the season.
context_section_description: The race started at 14:30 local time. The conditions for the race were dry and overcast for the race. The air temperature was at 22 °C (72 °F) and the track temperature at 23 °C (73 °F). Approximately 151,000 people attended the race. During the final parade lap, Häkkinen's car developed an leak in the hydraulic system which caused smoke to depart but managed to take the start. Frentzen started the race using Jordan's spare monocoque. Häkkinen accelerated faster than Michael Schumacher off the line, withstanding the German's attempts to maintain his position to clinch the lead heading into the first corner. Behind the leading three in the run down into the first corner, Ralf Schumacher moved ahead of Barrichello and Coulthard withstood his attempts to pass for third position. Verstappen made the best start in the field, moving from 14th to tenth at the end of the first lap, while Fisichella made a poor start and lost eight places over the same distance; the result of his anti-stall system activating. At the completion of the first lap, Häkkinen led from Michael Schumacher, Coulthard, Ralf Schumacher, Irvine, Barrichello, Button, Herbert, Villeneuve, Verstappen, Frentzen, Trulli, de la Rosa, Wurz, Salo, Alesi, Heidfeld, Zonta, Diniz, Fisichella, Gené and Mazzacane.
  Häkkinen set the fastest lap of the race on lap two and began to maintain the gap between himself and Michael Schumacher while both drivers pulled away from the rest of the field. Villeneuve moved into eighth position when he passed Herbert on lap seven, while Trulli clinched 11th from teammate Frentzen. Verstappen became the first retirement of the race when he coasted across the circuit with gearbox problems on lap nine and drove to his garage. Diniz made his first pit stop on lap 13, starting the first round of pit stops. At the front of the field, Häkkinen increased the gap between himself and Michael Schumacher to two seconds, who in turn was a further ten seconds ahead of Coulthard in third. Ralf Schumacher was a further 8.8 seconds behind the second McLaren driver, but was drawing ahead of Irvine in fifth. Further back, Trulli made a pit stop from tenth on lap 15 and emerged in 18th position. Irvine became the first of the front runners to pit the following lap and emerged behind Frentzen.
  Wurz, Herbert, Salo and Heidfeld all made pit stops on lap 18, while Trulli lost time after going off the track. On the 19th lap, Ralf Schumacher, Villeneuve, Frentzen, Pedro de la Rosa and Fisichella made their first pit stops. Barrichello and Button made pit stops on the following lap, and rejoined ahead of Irvine. Alesi retired from the race with an engine failure and spun off onto the circuit on lap 21. Häkkinen made a pit stop on lap 22. Michael Schumacher took over the lead for one lap before his pit stop on lap 23 giving it to Coulthard. The Scot took his pit stop on lap 24 handing back the lead to teammate Häkkinen. On the same lap, Villeneuve passed Irvine into turn 16 for seventh position. All of the drivers had made pit stops by the end of lap 25. The race order was Häkkinen, Michael Schumacher, Coulthard, Barrichello, Ralf Schumacher, Button, Irvine, Herbert, Frentzen, Trulli, Diniz, Zonta, Salo, de la Rosa, Heidfeld, Fisichella, Gené, Wurz and Mazzacane. Häkkinen set a new fastest lap of the race on lap 26, a 1:39.189, as he built a gap between himself and Michael Schumacher to 2.9 seconds.
  Trulli became the first driver to make a second pit stop on lap 28. Light rain began to fall on lap 29 and track started to become slippery. The gap between Häkkinen and Michael Schumacher fell by one second after the McLaren driver encountered lapped traffic on lap 30. Ralf Schumacher lost sixth position to teammate Button after making a mistake on the same lap, while Frentzen pulled off the track at the entry of First Curve to retire from a hydraulic pump issue which caused his gearbox to fail. Michael Schumacher closed the gap to Häkkinen by 0.7 seconds by lap 31, although he made minor contact with Zonta two laps later. Further down the order, Heidfeld overtook Trul
caption: Mika Häkkinen (pictured in 2009) finished second and conceded the Drivers' Championship to Michael Schumacher.
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