Kimi Raikkonen won his first pole position in European GP at Nurburgring while Ralf Schumacher won his first race of the season on this day in 2003.
After having missed the pole position in Brazil for 0.059 seconds (started fourth), and in Austria for 0.039 seconds (second behind Michael Schumacher), Kimi Raikkonen secured his first pole position at the Nurburgring and first for McLaren in 2003.
This time, Raikkonen was the one who beat his rivals for few hundreds of a second – Michael Schumacher was 0.032 s slower and Ralf Schumacher was 0.096 seconds behind the Finn.
At the start of the race, Ralf passed Michael and slotted behind Raikkonen, who slightly built his lead ahead of the Schumacher brothers. At the end of the lap 15 Kimi was 8.7 seconds ahead of Ralf, and in the lap 16 the Finn enters the pits, just like Michael Schumacher.
Ralf enters the pits five laps later, at the end of the lap 21 and returns 4.4 seconds behind Raikkonen. The gap between the leading duo stabilized, but Raikkonen retired in lap 26 due to a Mercedes engine failure.
After that, Ralf easily kept his lead while Montoya overtook Michael on the outside of the turn eight. Michael was stuck in the sand with his rear wheels, but as the engine was still running, marshals pushed him back on the track.
Ralf celebrated in front of Montoya, the first 1-2 victory for Williams in 2003, and third was Barrichello in Ferrari ahead of Alonso in Renault, who also finished fourth in the last race in Canada.
Michael Schumacher finished fifth and increased his lead in front of Raikkonen to seven points while Ralf was third, 15 points behind his brother.
After two missed poles in a row in Monaco and Canada, Ralf finally came from third place at Nurburgring and will celebrate again in France, one week after Nurburgring.
It was the fifth victory for Ralf Schumacher in Formula 1 – first was in 2001 at Imola as he added two more wing in the same year in Canada and Germany and in 2002 in Malaysia.
STARTING GRID
| 1 | 6 | Kimi Räikkönen | McLaren/Mercedes | 1:31.523 | – |
| 2 | 1 | M.Schumacher | Ferrari | 1:31.555 | 0.032 |
| 3 | 4 | Ralf Schumacher | Williams/BMW | 1:31.619 | 0.096 |
| 4 | 3 | J.P.Montoya | Williams/BMW | 1:31.765 | 0.242 |
| 5 | 2 | R.Barrichello | Ferrari | 1:31.780 | 0.257 |
| 6 | 7 | Jarno Trulli | Renault | 1:31.976 | 0.453 |
| 7 | 20 | Olivier Panis | Toyota | 1:32.350 | 0.827 |
| 8 | 8 | Fernando Alonso | Renault | 1:32.424 | 0.901 |
| 9 | 5 | David Coulthard | McLaren/Mercedes | 1:32.742 | 1.219 |
| 10 | 21 | C.da Matta | Toyota | 1:32.949 | 1.426 |
| 11 | 14 | Mark Webber | Jaguar/Cosworth | 1:33.066 | 1.543 |
| 12 | 17 | Jenson Button | BAR/Honda | 1:33.395 | 1.872 |
| 13 | 11 | G.Fisichella | Jordan/Ford | 1:33.553 | 2.030 |
| 14 | 12 | Ralph Firman | Jordan/Ford | 1:33.827 | 2.304 |
| 15 | 10 | H-H.Frentzen | Sauber/Petronas | 1:34.000 | 2.477 |
| 16 | 15 | Antônio Pizzonia | Jaguar/Cosworth | 1:34.159 | 2.636 |
| 17 | 16 | J.Villeneuve | BAR/Honda | 1:34.596 | 3.073 |
| 18 | 19 | Jos Verstappen | Minardi/Cosworth | 1:36.318 | 4.795 |
| 19 | 18 | Justin Wilson | Minardi/Cosworth | 1:36.485 | 4.962 |
| 20 | 9 | Nick Heidfeld | Sauber/Petronas | – | – |
RACE RESULTS
| 1 | 4 | Ralf Schumacher | Williams/BMW | 60 | 1:34:43.622 | |
| 2 | 3 | J.P.Montoya | Williams/BMW | 60 | 1:35:00.443 | 16.821 |
| 3 | 2 | R.Barrichello | Ferrari | 60 | 1:35:23.295 | 39.673 |
| 4 | 8 | Fernando Alonso | Renault | 60 | 1:35:49.353 | 1:05.731 |
| 5 | 1 | M.Schumacher | Ferrari | 60 | 1:35:49.784 | 1:06.162 |
| 6 | 14 | Mark Webber | Jaguar/Cosworth | 59 | 1:34:54.232 | 1 Lap |
| 7 | 17 | Jenson Button | BAR/Honda | 59 | 1:35:09.235 | 1 Lap |
| 8 | 9 | Nick Heidfeld | Sauber/Petronas | 59 | 1:35:31.084 | 1 Lap |
| 9 | 10 | H-H.Frentzen | Sauber/Petronas | 59 | 1:35:50.134 | 1 Lap |
| 10 | 15 | Antônio Pizzonia | Jaguar/Cosworth | 59 | 1:35:50.844 | 1 Lap |
| 11 | 12 | Ralph Firman | Jordan/Ford | 58 | 1:35:03.384 | 2 Laps |
| 12 | 11 | G.Fisichella | Jordan/Ford | 58 | 1:35:27.655 | 2 Laps |
| 13 | 18 | Justin Wilson | Minardi/Cosworth | 58 | 1:35:52.926 | 2 Laps |
| 14 | 19 | Jos Verstappen | Minardi/Cosworth | 57 | 1:35:08.512 | 3 Laps |
| 15 | 5 | David Coulthard | McLaren/Mercedes | 56 | 1:29:24.488 | Spun off |
| (12) | 21 | C.da Matta | Toyota | 53 | 1:26:09.847 | Engine |
| (15) | 16 | J.Villeneuve | BAR/Honda | 51 | 1:23:47.858 | Gearbox |
| (5) | 7 | Jarno Trulli | Renault | 37 | 58:47.403 | Fuel pump |
| (13) | 20 | Olivier Panis | Toyota | 37 | 59:54.199 | Brakes |
| (1) | 6 | Kimi Räikkönen | McLaren/Mercedes | 25 | 39:28.590 | Engine |
Fastest lap: Kimi Raikkonen – 1:32.621 (lap 14)
DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP AFTER 9/16 RACES
| 1 | Michael Schumacher | 58 | 5 | 3 | – | 10 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 10 | 4 |
| 2 | Kimi Räikkönen | 51 | 6 | 10 | 8 | 8 | – | 8 | 8 | 3 | – |
| 3 | Ralf Schumacher | 43 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 10 |
| 4 | Juan Pablo Montoya | 39 | 8 | – | – | 2 | 5 | – | 10 | 6 | 8 |
| 5 | Fernando Alonso | 39 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 8 | – | 4 | 5 | 5 |
| 6 | Rubens Barrichello | 37 | 8 | – | 6 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 6 | |
| 7 | David Coulthard | 25 | 10 | – | 5 | 4 | – | 4 | 2 | – | – |
| 8 | Jarno Trulli | 13 | 4 | 4 | 1 | – | – | 1 | 3 | – | – |
| 9 | Giancarlo Fisichella | 10 | – | – | 10 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 10 | Jenson Button | 10 | – | 2 | – | 1 | – | 5 | – | – | 2 |
| 11 | Mark Webber | 9 | – | – | 2 | 2 | – | 2 | 3 | ||
| 12 | Heinz-Harald Frentzen | 7 | 3 | – | 4 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 13 | Cristiano da Matta | 3 | – | – | – | 3 | – | – | – | – | |
| 14 | Jacques Villeneuve | 3 | – | – | 3 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 15 | Nick Heidfeld | 2 | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | |
| 16 | Olivier Panis | 1 | – | – | – | – | 1 | – | |||
| 17 | Ralph Firman | 1 | – | – | – | 1 | – | – | – | – | |
| 18 | Antônio Pizzonia | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 19 | Jos Verstappen | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 20 | Justin Wilson | 0 | – | – | – | – | – |
CONSTRUCTORS’ CHAMPIONSHIP
| 1 | Ferrari | 95 | 5 | 11 | – | 16 | 16 | 16 | 7 | 14 | 10 |
| 2 | Williams/BMW | 82 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 3 | 15 | 14 | 18 |
| 3 | McLaren/Mercedes | 76 | 16 | 10 | 13 | 12 | – | 12 | 10 | 3 | – |
| 4 | Renault | 52 | 6 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 8 | 1 | 7 | 5 | 5 |
| 5 | BAR/Honda | 13 | – | 2 | 3 | 1 | – | 5 | – | – | 2 |
| 6 | Jordan/Ford | 11 | – | – | 10 | – | 1 | – | – | – | – |
| 7 | Sauber/Petronas | 9 | 3 | 1 | 4 | – | – | – | – | – | 1 |
| 8 | Jaguar/Cosworth | 9 | – | – | – | – | 2 | 2 | – | 2 | 3 |
| 9 | Toyota | 4 | – | – | – | – | 3 | – | – | 1 | – |
| 10 | Minardi/Cosworth | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
