Ferrari came into 2000 having won the previous year's constructors' championship with the F399 — their first since 1983 — but the drivers' title had slipped out of Eddie Irvine's hands at the end. Maranello had not won a drivers' championship since Jody Scheckter in 1979.
The F1-2000 was presented on 7 February 2000, with Gianni Agnelli there. It kept the general shape of the F399 but was a substantial reworking underneath. Ross Brawn ran the technical side and Rory Byrne was design chief; Nikolas Tombazis handled aerodynamics and James Allison was chief designer, working in the new Maranello wind tunnel that Renzo Piano designed. Schumacher had Rubens Barrichello alongside him in place of Irvine.
The biggest change was the engine. The 049 V10 set its cylinder banks at 90 degrees instead of the F399's 80, which dropped the centre of gravity and lowered the back of the car, letting the airflow off the rear end more cleanly towards the wing. It was 60cm long and 102kg, 2,996.62cc, and gave 805hp at 17,300rpm in race trim — 820hp at 17,900 in qualifying. Behind it sat a seven-speed sequential electro-hydraulic gearbox, lighter than the F399's. The nose was raised to push more air under the floor, and the chimney exhausts carried over from the previous car.
Schumacher won the first three races: Australia, where he and Barrichello finished one-two, then Brazil and San Marino. McLaren-Mercedes was quicker over a single lap, and Mika Hakkinen took three poles early on, but the Ferrari was reliable and the team executed. Then three retirements in a row — France, Austria and Germany — let Hakkinen into a six-point lead with four rounds left. Schumacher won all four. Japan gave him the drivers' title; Malaysia sealed the constructors'. The car ended the year with 10 wins from 17 races, 10 poles and 5 fastest laps.