Four rookies
Four drivers made their Formula 1 debut at the 2001 Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne. Picture above; from left to right: Kimi Raikkonen at Sauber, Juan Pablo Montoya at Williams-BMW, Fernando Alonso with Minardi and Enrique Bernoldi at Arrows.
The 1999 CART champion and 2000 Indianapolis 500 winner, Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya, joined the Williams team to partner Ralf Schumacher.
At the Arrows team, Formula 3000 front-runner and Red Bull protégé Brazilian Enrique Bernoldi replaced Pedro de la Rosa, who joined the Prost team as test and reserve driver.
Highly rated F3000 race winner, Spaniard Fernando Alonso, was promoted from a test driver at Minardi to a race seat and Finn Kimi Raïkkönen, the 2000 Formula Renault 2.0 UK champion, made the jump directly into Formula One with Sauber.
Many observers criticised Peter Sauber’s choice to sign the young Finn, because he had only competed in 23 car races prior to his debut, and had no F1 experience. Kimi quickly silenced his critics by qualifying his Sauber-Petronas in 13th position, drove a solid race, and finished in sixth position, scoring the first point of his F1 career (picture below).
The race was won by Michael Schumacher (Ferrari), who narrowly edged David Coulthard in his McLaren-Mercedes. Ferrari team-mate Rubens Barrichello finished in third, more than 38 seconds behind the winner.
