Michael Schumacher won his third race in a row after recovering from a pitstop fire and reducing his gap to Raikkonen to only two points.
After his victory in Imola, the day after his mother died, he also won in Spain in the first appearance for the new F2003GA and the new car proved to be a brilliantly fast around A1 Ring where the German won the pole position despite a major mistake in the first sector.
Raikkonen started the second with only three hundreds of a second behind and FIA allowed McLaren to change the cracked valve on the Mercedes V10 engine without the usual punishment for breaching the Parc Ferme rules that were introduced that year.
Williams had a problem with their car because they knew that Montoya would have to retire before the race even started and during the first pitstops Schumacher’s car burst into few flames because some fuel had flashed onto the hot engine cover, but the mechanics quickly switched off the fire and the German continued.
Still, because of this incident he lost about 12 seconds. That turned out to be irrelevant because it all turned to Michael’s advantage – Raikkonen had a engine problem that slowed him down to allow Schumacher to catch and pass him while leading Montoya dropped out after BMW engine failure.
After second pitstops Barrichello caught Raikkonen, but failed to overtake him after a good defensive drive from the leading man of the championship.
Thanks to this, Raikkonen kept his narrow championship lead, but with only two points ahead of Schumacher. But McLaren lost the lead from the Ferrari who overtook them for one point.
STARTING GRID
1 | 1 | M.Schumacher | Ferrari | 1:09.150 | – | – |
2 | 6 | Kimi Räikkönen | McLaren/Mercedes | 1:09.189 | 0.039 | 0.056 |
3 | 3 | J.P.Montoya | Williams/BMW | 1:09.391 | 0.241 | 0.349 |
4 | 9 | Nick Heidfeld | Sauber/Petronas | 1:09.725 | 0.575 | 0.832 |
5 | 2 | R.Barrichello | Ferrari | 1:09.784 | 0.634 | 0.917 |
6 | 7 | Jarno Trulli | Renault | 1:09.890 | 0.740 | 1.070 |
7 | 17 | Jenson Button | BAR/Honda | 1:09.935 | 0.785 | 1.135 |
8 | 15 | Antônio Pizzonia | Jaguar/Cosworth | 1:10.045 | 0.895 | 1.294 |
9 | 11 | G.Fisichella | Jordan/Ford | 1:10.105 | 0.955 | 1.381 |
10 | 4 | Ralf Schumacher | Williams/BMW | 1:10.279 | 1.129 | 1.633 |
11 | 20 | Olivier Panis | Toyota | 1:10.402 | 1.252 | 1.811 |
12 | 16 | J.Villeneuve | BAR/Honda | 1:10.618 | 1.468 | 2.123 |
13 | 21 | C.da Matta | Toyota | 1:10.834 | 1.684 | 2.435 |
14 | 5 | David Coulthard | McLaren/Mercedes | 1:10.893 | 1.743 | 2.521 |
15 | 10 | H-H.Frentzen | Sauber/Petronas | 1:11.307 | 2.157 | 3.119 |
16 | 12 | Ralph Firman | Jordan/Ford | 1:11.505 | 2.355 | 3.406 |
17 | 14 | Mark Webber | Jaguar/Cosworth | 1:11.662 | 2.512 | 3.633 |
18 | 18 | Justin Wilson | Minardi/Cosworth | 1:14.508 | 5.358 | 7.748 |
19 | 8 | Fernando Alonso | Renault | 1:20.113 | 10.963 | 15.854 |
20 | 19 | Jos Verstappen | Minardi/Cosworth | – | – | – |
RACE RESULTS
1 | 1 | M.Schumacher | Ferrari | 69 | 1:24’04.888 | |
2 | 6 | Kimi Räikkönen | McLaren/Mercedes | 69 | 1:24’08.250 | 3.362 |
3 | 2 | R.Barrichello | Ferrari | 69 | 1:24’08.839 | 3.951 |
4 | 17 | Jenson Button | BAR/Honda | 69 | 1:24’47.131 | 42.243 |
5 | 5 | David Coulthard | McLaren/Mercedes | 69 | 1:25’04.628 | 59.740 |
6 | 4 | Ralf Schumacher | Williams/BMW | 68 | 1:24’12.754 | 1 Lap |
7 | 14 | Mark Webber | Jaguar/Cosworth | 68 | 1:24’19.742 | 1 Lap |
8 | 7 | Jarno Trulli | Renault | 68 | 1:24’39.039 | 1 Lap |
9 | 15 | Antônio Pizzonia | Jaguar/Cosworth | 68 | 1:24’44.746 | 1 Lap |
10 | 21 | C.da Matta | Toyota | 68 | 1:24’51.065 | 1 Lap |
11 | 12 | Ralph Firman | Jordan/Ford | 68 | 1:24’55.148 | 1 Lap |
12 | 16 | J.Villeneuve | BAR/Honda | 68 | 1:24’55.846 | 1 Lap |
13 | 18 | Justin Wilson | Minardi/Cosworth | 67 | 1:24’44.538 | 2 Laps |
(10) | 11 | G.Fisichella | Jordan/Ford | 60 | 1:15’24.379 | Fuel system |
(14) | 9 | Nick Heidfeld | Sauber/Petronas | 46 | 59’05.348 | Engine |
(8) | 8 | Fernando Alonso | Renault | 44 | 55’22.926 | Engine |
(7) | 3 | J.P.Montoya | Williams/BMW | 32 | 40’44.351 | Water leak |
(17) | 20 | Olivier Panis | Toyota | 6 | 9’18.631 | Suspension |
19 | Jos Verstappen | Minardi/Cosworth | 0 | – | Retirement | |
10 | H-H.Frentzen | Sauber/Petronas | 0 | – | Not started |
Fastest lap: Michael Schumacher – 1:08.337 (lap 41)
DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP
1 | Kimi Räikkönen | 40 | 6 | 10 | 8 | 8 | – | 8 |
2 | Michael Schumacher | 38 | 5 | 3 | – | 10 | 10 | 10 |
3 | Rubens Barrichello | 26 | 8 | – | 6 | 6 | 6 | |
4 | Fernando Alonso | 25 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 8 | – |
5 | David Coulthard | 23 | 10 | – | 5 | 4 | – | 4 |
6 | Ralf Schumacher | 20 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 3 |
7 | Juan Pablo Montoya | 15 | 8 | – | – | 2 | 5 | – |
8 | Giancarlo Fisichella | 10 | – | – | 10 | – | – | – |
9 | Jarno Trulli | 10 | 4 | 4 | 1 | – | – | 1 |
10 | Jenson Button | 8 | – | 2 | – | 1 | – | 5 |
11 | Heinz-Harald Frentzen | 7 | 3 | – | 4 | – | – | – |
12 | Mark Webber | 4 | – | – | 2 | 2 | ||
13 | Jacques Villeneuve | 3 | – | – | 3 | – | – | – |
14 | Cristiano da Matta | 3 | – | – | – | 3 | – | |
15 | Nick Heidfeld | 1 | 1 | – | – | – | – | |
16 | Ralph Firman | 1 | – | – | – | 1 | – | |
17 | Antônio Pizzonia | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
18 | Olivier Panis | 0 | – | – | – | |||
19 | Jos Verstappen | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
20 | Justin Wilson | 0 | – | – |
CONSTRUCTORS’ CHAMPIONSHIP
1 | Ferrari | 64 | 5 | 11 | – | 16 | 16 | 16 |
2 | McLaren/Mercedes | 63 | 16 | 10 | 13 | 12 | – | 12 |
3 | Renault | 35 | 6 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 8 | 1 |
4 | Williams/BMW | 35 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 3 |
5 | Jordan/Ford | 11 | – | – | 10 | – | 1 | – |
6 | BAR/Honda | 11 | – | 2 | 3 | 1 | – | 5 |
7 | Sauber/Petronas | 8 | 3 | 1 | 4 | – | – | – |
8 | Jaguar/Cosworth | 4 | – | – | – | – | 2 | 2 |
9 | Toyota | 3 | – | – | – | – | 3 | – |
10 | Minardi/Cosworth | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – |