Michael Schumacher won his fifth world champion title and third in a row for Ferrari by winning the 2002 French GP, beating Kimi Raikkonen who was leading for the first time in his F1 career.
On the eve of French GP, which was the 11th of the 17 races in 2002, Schumacher won seven from the first ten races, only stopped by Ralf Schumacher in Malaysia, Coulthard in Monaco and Barrichello in Germany (European GP).
Montoya won his fifth consecutive pole position in BMW Williams FW24 and in the race we were watching the thrilling Ferrari, Williams and McLaren battle.
Raikkonen led for the first time in his F1 career and was on his way to his first win, but the Finn slipped on the oil left by Toyota driver Allan McNich and opened the path for Schumacher to win for the eight time in the first 11 races and to secure his fifth title, equalling legendary Juan Manuel Fangio.
Raikkonen finished second (+1.104 s) in front of his teammate Coulthard (+31.975 s), who for the fifth time in a row set the fastest lap in the French GP, 0.266 faster than Michael Schumacher. Montoya and Ralf finished fourth and fifth for Williams and the last point was won by Button in Renault.
No one has ever secured the championship title at such an early stage of the championship while Michael has additionally strengthened his place in record books since he finished all races in 2002 on the podium, feature than nobody else has ever done in the Formula 1 history.
STARTING GRID
| 1 | 6 | J.P.Montoya | Williams/BMW | 1:11.985 | – | – |
| 2 | 1 | M.Schumacher | Ferrari | 1:12.008 | 0.023 | 0.032 |
| 3 | 2 | R.Barrichello | Ferrari | 1:12.197 | 0.212 | 0.295 |
| 4 | 4 | Kimi Räikkönen | McLaren/Mercedes | 1:12.244 | 0.259 | 0.360 |
| 5 | 5 | Ralf Schumacher | Williams/BMW | 1:12.424 | 0.439 | 0.610 |
| 6 | 3 | David Coulthard | McLaren/Mercedes | 1:12.498 | 0.513 | 0.713 |
| 7 | 15 | Jenson Button | Renault | 1:12.761 | 0.776 | 1.078 |
| 8 | 14 | Jarno Trulli | Renault | 1:13.030 | 1.045 | 1.452 |
| 9 | 16 | Eddie Irvine | Jaguar/Cosworth | 1:13.188 | 1.203 | 1.671 |
| 10 | 7 | Nick Heidfeld | Sauber/Petronas | 1:13.370 | 1.385 | 1.924 |
| 11 | 12 | Olivier Panis | BAR/Honda | 1:13.457 | 1.472 | 2.045 |
| 12 | 8 | Felipe Massa | Sauber/Petronas | 1:13.501 | 1.516 | 2.106 |
| 13 | 11 | J.Villeneuve | BAR/Honda | 1:13.506 | 1.521 | 2.113 |
| 14 | 10 | Takuma Sato | Jordan/Honda | 1:13.542 | 1.557 | 2.163 |
| 15 | 17 | Pedro de la Rosa | Jaguar/Cosworth | 1:13.656 | 1.671 | 2.321 |
| 16 | 24 | Mika Salo | Toyota | 1:13.837 | 1.852 | 2.573 |
| 17 | 25 | Allan McNish | Toyota | 1:13.949 | 1.964 | 2.728 |
| 18 | 23 | Mark Webber | Minardi/Asiatech | 1:14.800 | 2.815 | 3.911 |
| 19 | 22 | Alex Yoong | Minardi/Asiatech | 1:16.798 | 4.813 | 6.686 |
|
Didn’t qualify | ||||||
| 20 | 20 | H-H.Frentzen | Arrows/Cosworth | 1:18.497 | 6.512 | 9.046 |
| 21 | 21 | Enrique Bernoldi | Arrows/Cosworth | 1:19.843 | 7.858 | 10.916 |
| 22 | 9 | G.Fisichella | Jordan/Honda | – | – | – |
RESULTS
| 1 | 1 | M.Schumacher | Ferrari | 72 | 1:32:09.837 | |
| 2 | 4 | Kimi Räikkönen | McLaren/Mercedes | 72 | 1:32:10.941 | 1.104 |
| 3 | 3 | David Coulthard | McLaren/Mercedes | 72 | 1:32:41.812 | 31.975 |
| 4 | 6 | J.P.Montoya | Williams/BMW | 72 | 1:32:50.512 | 40.675 |
| 5 | 5 | Ralf Schumacher | Williams/BMW | 72 | 1:32:51.609 | 41.772 |
| 6 | 15 | Jenson Button | Renault | 71 | 1:32:21.991 | 1 lap |
| 7 | 7 | Nick Heidfeld | Sauber/Petronas | 71 | 1:33:07.050 | 1 lap |
| 8 | 23 | Mark Webber | Minardi/Asiatech | 71 | 1:33:29.831 | 1 lap |
| 9 | 17 | Pedro de la Rosa | Jaguar/Cosworth | 70 | 1:32:27.870 | 2 laps |
| 10 | 22 | Alex Yoong | Minardi/Asiatech | 68 | 1:32:23.782 | 4 laps |
| 11 | 25 | Allan McNish | Toyota | 65 | 1:25:36.853 | Engine |
| (7) | 16 | Eddie Irvine | Jaguar/Cosworth | 52 | 1:07:39.670 | Wing |
| (7) | 14 | Jarno Trulli | Renault | 49 | 1:03:39.511 | Engine |
| (10) | 8 | Felipe Massa | Sauber/Petronas | 48 | 1:03:05.775 | Transmission |
| (12) | 24 | Mika Salo | Toyota | 48 | 1:03:24.998 | Engine |
| (10) | 11 | J.Villeneuve | BAR/Honda | 35 | 45:47.744 | Engine |
| (17) | 12 | Olivier Panis | BAR/Honda | 29 | 40:12.644 | Vibrations |
| (14) | 10 | Takuma Sato | Jordan/Honda | 23 | 30:08.428 | Spun off |
| 2 | R.Barrichello | Ferrari | 0 | 0. | Didn’t start | |
Fastest lap: David Coulthard – 1:15.045 (lap 62)
DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP AFTER 11/17 RACES
| 1 | Michael Schumacher | 96 | 10 | 4 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 10 | 6 | 10 | 10 |
| 2 | Juan Pablo Montoya | 34 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 4 | – | – | – | 4 | 3 |
| 3 | Rubens Barrichello | 32 | – | – | – | 6 | – | 6 | – | 4 | 10 | 6 | – |
| 4 | Ralf Schumacher | 32 | – | 10 | 6 | 4 | – | 3 | 4 | – | 3 | – | 2 |
| 5 | David Coulthard | 30 | – | – | 4 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 10 | 6 | – | – | 4 |
| 6 | Kimi Räikkönen | 17 | 4 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 3 | 4 | – | 6 |
| 7 | Jenson Button | 11 | – | 3 | 3 | 2 | – | – | – | – | 2 | – | 1 |
| 8 | Nick Heidfeld | 6 | – | 2 | – | – | 3 | – | – | – | – | 1 | – |
| 9 | Giancarlo Fisichella | 6 | – | – | – | – | – | 2 | 2 | 2 | – | – | – |
| 10 | Jarno Trulli | 4 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 3 | 1 | – | – | – |
| 11 | Felipe Massa | 4 | – | 1 | – | – | 2 | – | – | – | 1 | – | – |
| 12 | Jacques Villeneuve | 3 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 3 | – |
| 13 | Eddie Irvine | 3 | 3 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 14 | Olivier Panis | 2 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 2 | – |
| 15 | Mark Webber | 2 | 2 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 16 | Mika Salo | 2 | 1 | – | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 17 | Heinz-Harald Frentzen | 2 | – | – | – | – | 1 | – | 1 | – | – | – | – |
| 18 | Allan McNish | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 19 | Alex Yoong | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 20 | Pedro de la Rosa | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 21 | Takuma Sato | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 22 | Enrique Bernoldi | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| – | Anthony Davidson | 0 |
CONSTRUCTORS’ CHAMPIONSHIP
| 1 | Ferrari | 128 | 10 | 4 | 10 | 16 | 10 | 16 | 6 | 14 | 16 | 16 | 10 |
| 2 | Williams/BMW | 66 | 6 | 16 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 4 | – | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| 3 | McLaren/Mercedes | 47 | 4 | – | 4 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 10 | 9 | 4 | – | 10 |
| 4 | Renault | 15 | – | 3 | 3 | 2 | – | – | 3 | 1 | 2 | – | 1 |
| 5 | Sauber/Petronas | 10 | – | 3 | – | – | 5 | – | – | – | 1 | 1 | – |
| 6 | Jordan/Honda | 6 | – | – | – | – | – | 2 | 2 | 2 | – | – | – |
| 7 | BAR/Honda | 5 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 5 | – |
| 8 | Jaguar/Cosworth | 3 | 3 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 9 | Minardi/Asiatech | 2 | 2 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 10 | Toyota | 2 | 1 | – | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 11 | Arrows/Cosworth | 2 | – | – | – | – | 1 | – | 1 | – | – | – | – |
