2001 Belgian Grand Prix 2001 Belgian Grand Prix The 2001 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 2 September 2001 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. The race was the 14th race of the 2001 Formula One season, and the penultimate European round of the season. The race is notable for the accident of Brazilian Luciano Burti who crashed into a tyre barrier at the "Blanchimont" corner following a collision with Eddie Irvine and for Michael Schumacher overtaking Alain Prost's previous record of 51 Grand Prix victories. Juan Pablo Montoya took pole position for the race, the second of his Formula
Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps leads to Blanchimont. Here, the new short Grand Prix track of 1979 joins the old layout. Eighteen Formula One World Championship Grands Prix were run on the Spa-Francorchamps circuit's original configuration, which was boycotted by F1 in 1969, before the revised circuit banished it to the history books in 1979. The lap record of the old triangle-shaped track is 3 minutes and 13.4 seconds, held by the French driver Henri Pescarolo, driving a Matra at the 1973 Spa 1000 km World Sportscar Championship race at an average speed of , but the fastest ever recorded time of the old Spa