2003 Brazilian Grand Prix

  2003 Brazilian Grand Prix

Race details
Race 3 of 16 in the 2003 Formula One season
Date	6 April 2003
Official name	XXXII Grande Prêmio Marlboro do Brasil
Location	Autódromo José Carlos Pace São Paulo, Brazil
Course	Permanent Racing Facility
Course length	4.309 km (2.667 mi)
Distance	54 laps, 232.686 km (144.558 mi)
Scheduled Distance	71 laps, 305.939 km (189.357 mi)
Weather	Rainy 20 °C (68 °F)[1]
Pole position
Driver	Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari
Time	1:13.807
Fastest lap
Driver	Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari
Time	1:22.032 on lap 46
Podium
First	Giancarlo Fisichella	Jordan-Ford
Second	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes
Third	Fernando Alonso[note 1]	Renault
Lap leaders

The 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 6 April 2003 at Autódromo José Carlos Pace (Interlagos). This was the 700th World Championship event.

The Grand Prix was a controversial race decided by a court case, and when the final result was announced, it emerged that none of the drivers were standing on the correct steps of the podium, as the 1st and 2nd place drivers were in each other's position, while 3rd place Fernando Alonso was receiving medical attention at the time of the ceremony. The race was eventually won by Giancarlo Fisichella from Jordan, demoting McLaren driver Kimi Räikkönen, the initial winner, to second place. The race, which was Jordan's final victory, was on the team's 200th Grand Prix.^[2]

Race summary

Due to a 2003 regulation change aimed at cutting costs, teams were only allowed to bring one wet-weather tyre compound to the race. All the teams on Bridgestone tyres had only brought an intermediate tyre, and this was deemed unsuitable for the torrential conditions. The start was delayed by ten minutes and race was started under the safety car and due to several accidents caused by the wet weather, the safety car deployed several times throughout the race.

Originally scheduled for 71 laps, the race saw several storm fronts make their way across the circuit, leaving the track with very little grip. Even when the rest of the track was relatively dry, the third corner remained extremely wet. Numerous drivers spun off the track at this point, including defending world champion Michael Schumacher, who nearly collided with the stalled Jaguar of Antônio Pizzonia (who himself made slight contact with the stalled Williams of Juan Pablo Montoya) and a nearby crane. On lap 26, the reigning World Champion spun off while taking the 'S' Senna turn. It was Schumacher's first race retirement since the 2001 German Grand Prix. There were also several accidents, as drivers fought the weather as well as each other. Mark Webber (Jaguar) was the only driver to spin out at this corner and recover to continue racing—Webber's later crash contributed to the race being stopped early.

Several teams adopted a pit strategy whereby they filled their cars with fuel early in the race, attempting to save enough fuel under the safety car to avoid having to stop again. This was successful for Giancarlo Fisichella, whose Jordan went from last in the field after an early pit stop to an eventual first place after the race was prematurely stopped. Fisichella admitted after the race he would have been unlikely to complete the race on that fuel load had the race continued to its full distance. "Honestly, it was on the limit", he later said after being asked about his strategy. Fisichella nearly had an accident when team-mate Ralph Firman suffered a suspension failure while running immediately behind him; Firman's car missed Fisichella and crashed into Olivier Panis.^[3]

Rubens Barrichello secured pole position, but lost the lead following the start. He put in a consistent performance to re-pass Coulthard during the race. He then set several fastest laps and lead the race by twenty seconds. On lap 47, Barrichello's Ferrari slowed and stopped, due to a fuel system fault. After Barrichello's car stopped, he watched the remainder of the race from a marshal's post. It was the first Ferrari double retirement since the 1998 Belgian Grand Prix and Barrichello's ninth retirement from a Brazilian Grand Prix in a row.

After race leader David Coulthard was called for a pit-stop, his team-mate Kimi Räikkönen led the race on the 53rd lap, but a mistake allowed Giancarlo Fisichella to assume the lead on lap 54. Near the end of his 54th lap, Mark Webber crashed while exiting the final corner, bringing out the safety car. Fernando Alonso failed to slow for the waved yellow flags, and hit one of Webber's tyres at full speed on the 55th lap; his Renault crashed into a tyre wall protecting a guardrail, the impact damaging the barrier and sending car tyres across the circuit, effectively blocking the track and making continuation of the race, even behind the safety car, impossible. The race was subsequently red flagged, ending the race immediately for safety concerns.

At the lap of the red flag being shown, there was confusion over whether the result should be taken from the order on lap 53 or lap 54. Ordinarily, this would be relatively academic, but with Fisichella taking the lead on lap 54, the decision was critical, and needed to be decided in order for the podium ceremony to take place. The circumstances of the race conclusion meant he would not necessarily win the race according to FIA rules. The circumstances also meant the post-race ceremonies were marked by considerable confusion on the part of the race stewards, organisers, the teams and drivers. Fisichella believed that he had won; he and his team boss, Eddie Jordan were shown initially celebrating victory before being informed that Räikkönen and McLaren were being awarded the win. Amidst all this, Fisichella's car caught fire in the pit lane, adding to the confusion. Under Formula One regulations in place at the time, article 154 stated that, if 75% of the race distance had been completed—in this case 54 completed laps, 76% of race distance—it was "deemed to have finished when the leading car crossed the line at the end of the lap two laps prior to that lap during which the signal to stop was given". The stewards, believing that Fisichella was on his 55th lap and had completed the 54 laps required for a full result, awarded the victory to the race leader at the end of the 53rd lap, namely Räikkönen. Fisichella was awarded second place and Alonso third. Coulthard, who had been leading shortly before the race was stopped, dropped to fourth place after pitting, just ahead of Frentzen, the only driver not to pit.

Post-race

Several days after the race, the official scoring evidence showed that Fisichella had just started his 56th lap before the red flag signal was given; this meant that the race results should not have been determined as of the end of the 53rd lap, but the end of the 54th lap, at which point Fisichella was leading.

Oral arguments and timing evidence were presented to an FIA court in Paris, which, on April 11, awarded victory to Fisichella. It was his first Formula One win and the last for the Ford engine and Jordan team. McLaren declined to file a protest. Since Alonso had been unable to take his place on the podium due to injury, it thus emerged that the Brazilian podium ceremony had proceeded without any step occupied by the correct driver.

An unofficial ceremony was held during the next race weekend at Imola, where Räikkönen and Ron Dennis handed over the winning driver's and constructor's trophies to Fisichella and Eddie Jordan.

Had Räikkönen been able to retain the win, he would have finished level on points with Michael Schumacher in the final standings, however Schumacher would have taken the overall title based on the countback of races won throughout the season.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1 Time	Q2 Time	Gap
1	2	Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari	1:23.249	1:13.807
2	5	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	1:24.655	1:13.818	+0.011
3	14	Mark Webber	Jaguar-Cosworth	1:23.111	1:13.851	+0.044
4	6	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:24.607	1:13.866	+0.059
5	7	Jarno Trulli	Renault	1:26.557	1:13.953	+0.146
6	4	Ralf Schumacher	Williams-BMW	1:26.709	1:14.124	+0.317
7	1	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	1:25.585	1:14.130	+0.323
8	11	Giancarlo Fisichella	Jordan-Ford	1:26.726	1:14.191	+0.384
9	3	Juan Pablo Montoya	Williams-BMW	1:27.961	1:14.223	+0.416
10	8	Fernando Alonso	Renault	1:26.203	1:14.384	+0.577
11	17	Jenson Button	BAR-Honda	no time	1:14.504	+0.697
12	9	Nick Heidfeld	Sauber-Petronas	1:27.111	1:14.631	+0.824
13	16	Jacques Villeneuve	BAR-Honda	1:25.672	1:14.668	+0.861
14	10	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Sauber-Petronas	1:26.375	1:14.839	+1.032
15	20	Olivier Panis	Toyota	1:25.614	1:14.839	+1.032
16	12	Ralph Firman	Jordan-Ford	1:28.083	1:15.240	+1.433
17	15	Antônio Pizzonia	Jaguar-Cosworth	1:25.764	1:15.317	+1.510
18	21	Cristiano da Matta	Toyota	1:26.554	1:15.641	+1.834
19	19	Jos Verstappen	Minardi-Cosworth	1:26.886	1:16.542	+2.735
20	18	Justin Wilson	Minardi-Cosworth	1:28.317	1:16.586	+2.779

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	11	Giancarlo Fisichella	Jordan-Ford	54	1:31:18.2	8	10
2	6	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes	54	+0.945	4	8
3	8	Fernando Alonso	Renault	54	+6.348/Collision	10	6
4	5	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	54	+8.096	2	5
5	10	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Sauber-Petronas	54	+8.642	14	4
6	16	Jacques Villeneuve	BAR-Honda	54	+16.054	13	3
7	4	Ralf Schumacher	Williams-BMW	54	+38.526	6	2
8	7	Jarno Trulli	Renault	54	+45.927	5	1
9	14	Mark Webber	Jaguar-Cosworth	53	Accident	3
10	21	Cristiano da Matta	Toyota	53	+1 Lap	18
Ret	2	Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari	47	Fuel system	1
Ret	17	Jenson Button	BAR-Honda	33	Accident	11
Ret	19	Jos Verstappen	Minardi-Cosworth	31	Spin	19
Ret	1	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	27	Accident/Spun off	7
Ret	3	Juan Pablo Montoya	Williams-BMW	25	Accident/Spun off	9
Ret	15	Antônio Pizzonia	Jaguar-Cosworth	25	Accident/Spun off	17
Ret	20	Olivier Panis	Toyota	18	Collision	15
Ret	12	Ralph Firman	Jordan-Ford	18	Suspension/Collision	16
Ret	18	Justin Wilson	Minardi-Cosworth	16	Spin	20
Ret	9	Nick Heidfeld	Sauber-Petronas	8	Engine	12
Source:[4]

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Kimi Räikkönen 24 2 David Coulthard 15 3 Fernando Alonso 14 4 Giancarlo Fisichella 10 5 Jarno Trulli 9

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 McLaren-Mercedes 39 2 Renault 23 3 Ferrari 16 4 Williams-BMW 16 5 Jordan-Ford 10

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

Notes

References

Coordinates: 23°42′13″S 46°41′59″W / 23.70361°S 46.69972°W / -23.70361; -46.69972