On lap 12, heavy rain forced the entire field to make pit stops to switch from dry compound to wet-weather tyres.

Despite not scoring points, Williams remained third, while Benetton passed Jordan for fourth place with eleven races of the season left.

The 2000 European Grand Prix was the sixth of seventeen races in the 2000 Formula One World Championship and the ninth event in the series' history.

It was held at the 13-turn 4.556 mi (7.332 km) Nürburgring in the German town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate on 21 May 2000,[1][5] having been moved to May from September due to the inclusion of the United States Grand Prix to the calendar.

The McLaren, Sauber, Benetton, Jordan, Arrows, British American Racing (BAR) and Williams teams tested at the Circuito de Jerez between 9 and 11 May.

Luca Badoer spent three days at the Fiorano Circuit practising pit stops and testing the F1-2000's aerodynamic and mechanical setups.

Minardi installed a revised front wing specification to their M02s following wind tunnel testing, and the team continued to use a cast titanium gearbox in Gastón Mazzacane's car.

Michael Schumacher set the fastest time of 1:21.092, followed by BAR's Jacques Villeneuve, the Jordan duo of Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Jarno Trulli, Barrichello, Coulthard, Zonta, Häkkinen and Pedro Diniz for Sauber in positions two through ten.

[17] Häkkinen's tyres locked at the Dunlop Curve corner during his final lap of the session, leaving him beached in the turn's gravel trap.

An engine fault curtailed Ralf Schumacher's running and Giancarlo Fisichella damaged his Benetton car's left-hand side against a trackside tyre barrier.

Fisichella improved to sixth, with Villeneuve, Ralf Schumacher, De La Rosa and Trulli completing the top ten.

[28] Every driver exited the pit lane with two minutes of qualifying remaining in order to maximise the benefit of driving on a dry circuit.

[29][30] Michael Schumacher, who had the pole position until Coulthard's time and ran wide at the Ford Kurve, joined him on the front row.

[26][31] This formation continued on the second row, with Häkkinen third after not feeling confident in his car's setup and Barrichello fourth after driver errors on his first two timed laps.

[26] Trulli, nursing a perforated eardrum,[27] improved in the final minutes to go sixth,[26] while Fisichella in seventh was delayed by Ralf Schumacher at the Coca-Cola Kurve.

[31][32] After his race car's electronic management system shut down the gearbox, Jean Alesi in 18th switched to the spare Prost setup for teammate Heidfeld.

[23] Zonta qualified 19th because his car's setup slowed him and another driver prevented him from setting his final timed lap because the session ended less than a second before he crossed the start/finish line.

The top ten included Frentzen, Barrichello, Verstappen, Coulthard, De La Rosa, Villeneuve, Irvine, and Trulli.

Frentzen retired on lap three with smoke billowing from the rear of his car due to a piston sealing a gap between the engine's combustion chamber and crankcase failing.

[21] Cresting a hill to the Veedol chicane on lap 11,[2] Michael Schumacher slipstreamed Häkkinen,[44] and put him wide, making a pass to the left for the lead.

Häkkinen's pit crew struggled to fit the right-rear wheel on his car, keeping him stationary for an additional ten seconds.

[43] Because he spent longer on the wet track on the dry compound tyres than his teammate, Barrichello emerged in ninth and Michael Schumacher regained the lead.

On the 19th lap, Fisichella drove right to pass De La Rosa going downhill to the Dunlop-Kurve hairpin for fourth and repelled the latter's manoeuvre to retake the position.

The loss of downforce beached Irvine in the gravel trap, as Verstappen spun and crashed against the right-side tyre barrier exiting the Ford Kurve.

[2] On lap 46, Villeneuve was told to enter the pit lane to retire from fifth because his team detected an engine fault linked to a valve issue via telemetry.

He remained there until enough water penetrated the hole in his front wing, causing a sudden electrical fault that shut down the engine on lap 65.

[33][47] Unhindered in the final 19 laps, Michael Schumacher negotiated his way past slower traffic while aquaplaning on worn tyres,[29][2] finishing first for his fourth victory of the season and 39th of his career in a time of 1 hour, 42 minutes, and 0.307 seconds at an average speed of 179.540 km/h (111.561 mph).

[21] Michael Schumacher stated that none of the leaders made pit stops on lap 12 because they did not want to install wet-weather tyres and discover they were slower than the slick dry compounds, "We knew [the heavy rain] would come, but nobody had any idea whether it would start then or later.

"[49] Barrichello was disappointed to finished fourth because he felt he could have been on the podium, "Three-stops was definitely the way to make up lost time, but it was very difficult to overtake other cars in the spray.

"[52] Irvine argued the three-car collision at the Castrol-S chicane on lap 30 lost him an opportunity to score points and Verstappen echoed similar feelings.