Michael Schumacher won on his first appearance in new Ferrari F2002 in the Brazilian GP on this day in 2002 after another clash with Juan Pablo Montoya in the first lap.
Ferrari started the 2002 F1 season with the updated F2001 car, with Schumacher winning from pole in Australia and finishing third in Malaysia behind two Williams drivers while in the third race in Brazil only Schumacher had the new F2002.
The value of the new car was already evident in the qualifying when Schumacher finished second in the very hot conditions, which then suited Michelin, 0.127 seconds behind Montoya in the BMW Williams FW24 which was his 75th front row start in Formula 1.
Rubens Barrichello, always very fast on Interlagos, qualified in only eighth place with eight tenths behind Montoya.
Michael Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya had a controversial fight at the start – the German has overtaken the Colombian in the Senna S sequence of corners, but Montoya tried to strike back at the end of the next straight while Schumacher closed the door very late and clipped his opponent’s front wing.
In a previous race in Malaysia, Michael lost his front wing and Montoya was penalized while no drivers were punished after the incident in Brazil.
Schumacher easily won in front of his brother Ralf, who was only half a second behind him but without any chance of overtaking his older brother who had superior top speed while third-placed Coulthard in McLaren was almost a minute behind.
It was 100th podium for Schumacher in 163 Formula 1 race starts.
Rubens Barrichello got the new F2002 at the next race in Imola and the car was defeated only in Monaco by Coulthard in McLaren MP4-17.
Michael Schumacher finished all 17 races in the podium in 2002 becoming the only driver in Formula One history to finish all podium races on the podium.
STARTING GRID
| 1 | 6 | J.P.Montoya | Williams/BMW | 1:13.114 | – |
| 2 | 1 | M.Schumacher | Ferrari | 1:13.241 | 0.127 |
| 3 | 5 | Ralf Schumacher | Williams/BMW | 1:13.328 | 0.214 |
| 4 | 3 | David Coulthard | McLaren/Mercedes | 1:13.565 | 0.451 |
| 5 | 4 | Kimi Räikkönen | McLaren/Mercedes | 1:13.595 | 0.481 |
| 6 | 14 | Jarno Trulli | Renault | 1:13.611 | 0.497 |
| 7 | 15 | Jenson Button | Renault | 1:13.665 | 0.551 |
| 8 | 2 | R.Barrichello | Ferrari | 1:13.935 | 0.821 |
| 9 | 7 | Nick Heidfeld | Sauber/Petronas | 1:14.233 | 1.119 |
| 10 | 24 | Mika Salo | Toyota | 1:14.443 | 1.329 |
| 11 | 17 | Pedro de la Rosa | Jaguar/Cosworth | 1:14.464 | 1.350 |
| 12 | 8 | Felipe Massa | Sauber/Petronas | 1:14.533 | 1.419 |
| 13 | 16 | Eddie Irvine | Jaguar/Cosworth | 1:14.537 | 1.423 |
| 14 | 9 | G.Fisichella | Jordan/Honda | 1:14.748 | 1.634 |
| 15 | 11 | J.Villeneuve | BAR/Honda | 1:14.760 | 1.646 |
| 16 | 25 | Allan McNish | Toyota | 1:14.990 | 1.876 |
| 17 | 12 | Olivier Panis | BAR/Honda | 1:14.996 | 1.882 |
| 18 | 20 | H-H.Frentzen | Arrows/Cosworth | 1:15.112 | 1.998 |
| 19 | 10 | Takuma Sato | Jordan/Honda | 1:15.296 | 2.182 |
| 20 | 23 | Mark Webber | Minardi/Asiatech | 1:15.340 | 2.226 |
| 21 | 21 | Enrique Bernoldi | Arrows/Cosworth | 1:15.355 | 2.241 |
| 22 | 22 | Alex Yoong | Minardi/Asiatech | 1:16.728 | 3.614 |
RACE RESULTS
| 1 | 1 | M.Schumacher | Ferrari | 71 | 1:31:43.663 | |
| 2 | 5 | Ralf Schumacher | Williams/BMW | 71 | 1:31:44.251 | 0.588 |
| 3 | 3 | David Coulthard | McLaren/Mercedes | 71 | 1:32:42.773 | 59.110 |
| 4 | 15 | Jenson Button | Renault | 71 | 1:32:50.546 | 1:06.883 |
| 5 | 6 | J.P.Montoya | Williams/BMW | 71 | 1:32:51.226 | 1:07.563 |
| 6 | 24 | Mika Salo | Toyota | 70 | 1:32:37.074 | 1 lap |
| 7 | 16 | Eddie Irvine | Jaguar/Cosworth | 70 | 1:32:41.812 | 1 lap |
| 8 | 17 | Pedro de la Rosa | Jaguar/Cosworth | 70 | 1:32:59.707 | 1 lap |
| 9 | 10 | Takuma Sato | Jordan/Honda | 69 | 1:31:52.151 | 2 laps |
| 10 | 11 | J.Villeneuve | BAR/Honda | 68 | 1:30:23.915 | Engine |
| 11 | 23 | Mark Webber | Minardi/Asiatech | 68 | 1:32:37.634 | 3 laps |
| 12 | 4 | Kimi Räikkönen | McLaren/Mercedes | 67 | 1:27:39.929 | Wheel |
| 13 | 22 | Alex Yoong | Minardi/Asiatech | 67 | 1:32:14.026 | 4 laps |
| (12) | 7 | Nick Heidfeld | Sauber/Petronas | 61 | 1:21:28.914 | Brakes |
| (5) | 14 | Jarno Trulli | Renault | 60 | 1:18:44.669 | Engine |
| (14) | 8 | Felipe Massa | Sauber/Petronas | 41 | 55:18.570 | Collision |
| (16) | 25 | Allan McNish | Toyota | 40 | 54:31.481 | Spun off |
| (12) | 12 | Olivier Panis | BAR/Honda | 25 | 33:27.282 | Gearbox |
| (17) | 20 | H-H.Frentzen | Arrows/Cosworth | 25 | 33:59.132 | Suspension |
| (20) | 21 | Enrique Bernoldi | Arrows/Cosworth | 19 | 35:40.964 | Suspension |
| (1) | 2 | R.Barrichello | Ferrari | 16 | 20:42.686 | Hydraulics |
| (21) | 9 | G.Fisichella | Jordan/Honda | 6 | 9:04.523 | Engine |
DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP AFTER 3/17 RACES
| 1 | Michael Schumacher | 24 | 10 | 4 | 10 |
| 2 | Ralf Schumacher | 16 | – | 10 | 6 |
| 3 | Juan Pablo Montoya | 14 | 6 | 6 | 2 |
| 4 | Jenson Button | 6 | – | 3 | 3 |
| 5 | Kimi Räikkönen | 4 | 4 | – | – |
| 6 | David Coulthard | 4 | – | – | 4 |
| 7 | Eddie Irvine | 3 | 3 | – | – |
| 8 | Mark Webber | 2 | 2 | – | – |
| 9 | Nick Heidfeld | 2 | – | 2 | – |
| 10 | Mika Salo | 2 | 1 | – | 1 |
| 11 | Felipe Massa | 1 | – | 1 | – |
| 12 | Alex Yoong | 0 | – | – | – |
| 13 | Allan McNish | 0 | – | – | – |
| 14 | Pedro de la Rosa | 0 | – | – | – |
| 15 | Jacques Villeneuve | 0 | – | – | – |
| 16 | Takuma Sato | 0 | – | – | – |
| 17 | Heinz-Harald Frentzen | 0 | – | – | – |
| 18 | Giancarlo Fisichella | 0 | – | – | – |
| – | Jarno Trulli | 0 | – | – | – |
| – | Enrique Bernoldi | 0 | – | – | – |
| – | Rubens Barrichello | 0 | – | – | – |
| – | Anthony Davidson | 0 | |||
| – | Olivier Panis | 0 | – | – | – |
CONSTRUCTORS’ CHAMPIONSHIP
| 1 | Williams/BMW | 30 | 6 | 16 | 8 |
| 2 | Ferrari | 24 | 10 | 4 | 10 |
| 3 | McLaren/Mercedes | 8 | 4 | – | 4 |
| 4 | Renault | 6 | – | 3 | 3 |
| 5 | Jaguar/Cosworth | 3 | 3 | – | – |
| 6 | Sauber/Petronas | 3 | – | 3 | – |
| 7 | Minardi/Asiatech | 2 | 2 | – | – |
| 8 | Toyota | 2 | 1 | – | 1 |
| 9 | BAR/Honda | 0 | – | – | – |
| 10 | Jordan/Honda | 0 | – | – | – |
| 11 | Arrows/Cosworth | 0 | – | – | – |
PHOTO GALLERY (Photo: Ferrari)
