Atlas F1 News Editor
After all the expectations surrounding the new Ferrari F2002, Michael Schumacher and his team demonstrated that their decision to debut the new car at the Brazilian Grand Prix was right, with the German taking a moral victory, beating the tough opposition from the Williams drivers. As usual, the story was much more complex than that. Atlas F1's Pablo Elizalde reviews all the events of the third round of the 2002 season
The F2002 had been fast in testing at Barcelona the week before the Brazilian race, and earlier both at Fiorano and Mugello, and after the relative dominance of the revised F2001 in the first two races, perhaps many were expecting the new machine to sweep the field right from the start.
Yet as the Brazilian Grand Prix weekend progressed, it was clear that the combination of the BMW-powered Williams and their Michelin rubber was the one to beat. In a track that, as seen last year, suited the Williams chassis perfectly, and with the French tyres being aided by the hot weather conditions, it was hardly a surprise to see Schumacher unable to beat Montoya to pole position on Saturday. And perhaps the same was expected from the race.
But keeping in mind that it was only the F2002's first race, and that its tyres were not the class of the field, and that Ferrari faced the not-so-easy task of having to work with two different chassis during the weekend, Schumacher's 55th Formula One victory was, more than anything, a moral one, and certainly gave Ferrari a boost ahead of the start of the European season at their home in two weeks time.
It is worth noting that the F2001 and Rubens Barrichello, on a two-stop strategy, were very quick while the Brazilian was in the race, and it would have been interesting to see where he would have finished had his home jinx not continued for the eighth consecutive time. It was ironic that after Ferrari had decided to delay the debut of the F2002 due to reliability fears, it was usually the rock-solid F2001 that suffered problems.
Of course, showing once again that he is the antithesis of his teammate in many respects, Juan Pablo Montoya did try to pass Schumacher in the only opportunity that he had in the race, and again the move ended up badly for the hot-blooded Colombian.
Contrary to Malaysia only two weeks earlier, the Williams driver did not consider his clash with Schumacher a racing incident, and labelled the World Champion as "unfair," after the German decided to defend his lead with the allowed "one move" rule.
As always when such incidents occur, some will back Montoya while others will side with Schumacher, but clearly the continuous accidents between the two top contenders this year are not benefitting the show, and as seen so far, are not doing Montoya's chances to claim his first World Championship any good either. Montoya and Schumacher are very likely to have to fight against each other in most of the races this year, and if things go on like this between them, Ralf will certainly be a very happy man.
Only three races into the season and it's already starting to look as though only Ferrari and Williams will be real contenders for race wins this season. In terms of race pace at Interlagos, McLaren seemed to have made no improvements and despite David Coulthard's first finish of the year, the Woking-based squad did not look to be very far ahead of the ever-improving Renault team.
In the "third-class" league, Toyota was once more impressive at a circuit they had never been before, the Japanese squad again embarrassing some of the teams that were not expecting to follow the rear wing of the white and red cars in their debut season.
The situation must be especially hard to digest for Jordan and BAR, both powered by Toyota's rival Honda, who seem unable to find the way to return to the top of the sport and are struggling to match both the power and reliability of the best engine suppliers in the current field. As things stand, Honda and their teams have apparently lost their way.
Qualifying
The satisfaction of nearly all the Michelin runners with the performance of the tyres brought to Interlagos by the French manufacturer was a reflection of their dominance in Saturday's qualifying, when seven of the top ten - and nine of the top thirteen - positions were filled by Michelin-shod cars.
"Michelin have done an amazing job," said Eddie Irvine after qualifying. "They're just incredible." Jordan's Giancarlo Fisichella added that, "the Michelin runners clearly have an advantage over us here."
With Michelin's edge over their rivals, it was no surprise to see Juan Pablo Montoya becoming the third driver to set pole position in as many races this season, the Colombian also benefitting from the power of the BMW engine and the good traction provided by his Williams FW24.
Montoya's 1:13.114 lap was not only more than half a second quicker than last year's pole position time, but also good enough to keep both Michael and Ralf Schumacher behind him after the hour-long session came to and end. It was his fourth career pole position, and certainly the best start to try to redeem himself after last year's frustrating exit to his impressive race.
Ferrari's Schumacher, in the first real test for the new and much awaited F2002, had to settle for second place, less than two tenths of a second behind Montoya. The German, who was pleased with his team's decision to debut to new car in Brazil, could only complete three of his four attempts, running out of time before being able to make a final run.
In a very hot start to the session, Raikkonen was the first of the top runners to hit the track, and to hit trouble too, suffering a hydraulic failure when he was just about to begin his first flying lap with 20 minutes of the session gone. The Finn was forced to cruise back to the pits and jump into the spare McLaren later on.
Coulthard followed his teammate, but the Scot was capable of finishing his first run with no problems, moving to the top of the timesheets with a 1:14.062 lap. The Scot's time was quickly bettered by local hero Rubens Barrichello with the F2001.
The Brazilian, continuing with the usual bad luck that seems to affect him year in year out at his home Grand Prix, started qualifying knowing that his best time would be disallowed - a penalty for leaving the pitlane when the red lights were still on in the second practice. The same penalty was applied to Jordan's Takuma Sato, after a similar error on Friday.
Ralf and Montoya came out for their first run with 25 minutes gone, the Colombian setting the fastest time and then demoted by the German, who was the first driver to go under last year's pole time, with a time of 1:13.328. Michael Schumacher jumped onto the track moments later, and after a weak first split, the World Champion recovered in the last two to place himself right behind his brother.
With some 20 minutes remaining in the session, Michael Schumacher left the pits to complete his second run, and once again the Ferrari driver gained in the two final splits, but just not enough to move to the top of the timesheets, setting a time only 0.041 seconds slower than his brother and less than two hundredths behind Montoya, who had improved his time but not his position in his second attempt.
Montoya, however, would return to the track a few minutes later, blasting to the top of the times with a lap of 1:13.114. Schumacher Senior tried to respond to the Colombian's charge with seven minutes in the session left, but his attempt was not good enough for pole. Nevertheless, the German avoided an all-Williams front row, relegating Ralf to third spot, and warned that there was still a lot more in the F2002.
"We have not got the maximum potential out of it yet," Michael said after a qualifying session in which he never topped the times, something certainly unusual in the last couple of years. "I don't think the gap between my times and the Williams is a fair reflection of the performance difference between the cars. Maybe in three or four races' time, we will be able to judge the car's true level, excluding the tyre factor."
With Montoya and Schumacher lining up alongside each other once again this year, the scene was set for an exciting first corner shootout: "Whoever maybe wins tomorrow can lead the Championship," said Montoya after the session. "It's going to be quite interesting."
The Race
A fierce crash by Arrows driver Enrique Bernoldi during the final part of Sunday's warm-up lead to what could have been a dramatic incident which fortunately just ended up being one of the most bizarre accidents seen lately. While Bernoldi's Arrows was stopped on track and the medical car had already gone out to assist him, Nick Heidfeld in the Sauber arrived at full speed into the Senna esses.
No one was injured, and at 2pm, the start of the race took place with a full field. Benefitting from a new launch control system, Michael Schumacher finally made a better start than his Williams rivals and nearly got alongside Montoya, who nevertheless was capable of keeping the Ferrari behind at the first corner... until he ran wide and allowed Schumacher to dive down the inside and into the lead at the exit of the esses.
A decided Montoya got right behind the rear wing of the Ferrari along the straight, and when approaching turn four, the Colombian swerved left to try to go down the inside. But Schumacher moved to defend his position and Montoya's Williams touched the rear left wing of the Ferrari, the FW24 losing its front wing and Montoya all his chances of winning.
Several drivers ran over the debris of Montoya's front wing, and both Jordan's Giancarlo Fisichella and Toyota's Allan McNish were forced to pit for repairs, the Scot having punctured both his front tyres. A wing-less Montoya cruised back to the pits to replace his front wing, the Colombian infuriated by Schumacher's behaviour.
Schumacher, for his part, pleaded innocent: "I don't know what happened and I don't know what makes him unhappy. To me, I moved over to the left to avoid him taking the inside, I left the outside open for him and that's it."
After the incident, Schumacher was left alone in the lead, with Ralf following in second, Trulli in third, Button in fourth, and a charging Barrichello already up to fifth after passing both McLaren drivers. The Brazilian continued his charged to the front in the following laps, his Ferrari very light on fuel.
To the delight of the local crowd, and in less than two laps, the Brazilian had already moved ahead of Trulli and Button and had already set his sight on Ralf, who was unable to match his brother's pace, lapping up to one second slower than the Ferrari. By lap five, the elder Schumacher led by nearly five seconds.
Only one lap later, Barrichello dived down the inside of Ralf at the end of the straight, taking second place away from the German. It took Barrichello eight laps to catch the race leader, who was on a one-stop strategy. Schumacher allowed his teammate to take the lead, again to the delight of the roaring crowd that filled the grandstands.
Coming out of the Bico da Pato corner, the Ferrari driver suddenly slowed down, eventually retiring from his home Grand Prix for the eighth consecutive time. "It was hydraulic pressure, no gears, no drive, no nothing," said a downbeat Barrichello. "I was just driving flat out, that's all I could do."
So Schumacher and his F2002 were again in the lead, but his gap to Ralf had increased to nearly nine seconds by lap 25 of the race. In a very distant third - nearly half a minute behind the leaders - Trulli was still running strong and not giving Coulthard any chance of passing him, not even when the Scot tried to go down the inside at the end of the straight, with both cars nearly making contact.
Button and Raikkonen were also fighting for fifth place a few meters back. Montoya, charging from the back of the field, got into the top ten by passing Irvine on lap 28.
On lap 38, Raikkonen finally managed to move ahead of Button after diving down the inside at the end of the straight, moving up to fifth and closing in on teammate Coulthard, who could not pass Trulli. Mika Salo, running in a strong eighth place with the impressive Toyota, was the first of the one-stoppers to make his pitstop on lap 38, quickly followed by Michael Schumacher.
The Ferrari stood still for 12.6 seconds before rejoining the race in second place behind Ralf. Meanwhile, Montoya, who was already up to seventh, pitted three laps later, and was followed by Trulli, finally allowing Coulthard to run by himself. After only two laps in clear air, the Scot pitted and rejoined in front of the Italian.
Leader Ralf made his scheduled stop on lap 44, returning to the track some three seconds behind his brother, and setting the scene for a showdown in the final 20 laps. Coulthard followed the two Germans in third - more than 40 seconds behind - while Raikkonen had moved up to fourth after making his stop and rejoining ahead of both the Renaults. Montoya was seventh.
The gap between Ralf and Michael decreased as the Williams driver began to push harder after having fixed a balance problem in the pitstop, and with ten laps to go only a second separated the two cars.
Trulli's retirement elevated Montoya up to sixth place, but the Colombian would soon gain another position after Raikkonen spun off the race with a wheel hub failure with only three laps remaining, continuing with McLaren's streak of less than perfect reliability this season. Raikkonen's retirement allowed Salo to move into sixth place, repeating for Toyota the result achieved in Australia.
The final laps went by, and the move that most of the fans were expecting from Ralf, just didn't arrive, the Williams driver not even close to disturbing his brother despite running within one second of the Ferrari for several laps. When Michael crossed the finish line - but not under the chequered flag, after football hero Pele apparently decided that the race winner was Takuma Sato - the gap to Ralf was a mere half a second, showing that the decision to delay the debut of the new F2002 was the right one.
"The car was perfect," claimed a delighted Schumacher "We didn't suffer any problems, but it was a very tight race with Ralf, though I was confident I could win and winning in the new car makes us optimistic for other races."
Coulthard was finally capable of scoring his first points of the season with a rather disappointing third place which should have made McLaren start to watch their backs for the challenge from Renault rather than thinking of fighting Ferrari and Williams.
Most teams, and especially those who have struggled in the first races, usually look forward to the start of the European season in order to find their way and see their fortunes changing. However, at the San Marino Grand Prix in two weeks time, the prospect of a win from a car other than a Ferrari or a Williams, looks highly unlikely.
Lap 2: Michael Schumacher sets a fastest lap and the gap goes out to 2.3 seconds while the gap between Ralf Schumacher and Trulli is now a second, Barrichello passes Coulthard for fifth at the first corner, suggesting that the Ferrari is running with a light fuel load.
Lap 4: The gap between the leaders is 4.3 seconds and Barrichello is still closing in, overtaking Trulli to take third place.
Lap 5: The order has now settled down at the front although Barrichello is closing on Ralf Schumacher. In the midfield Irvine is overtaken by Salo for 10th place and then loses another position to de la Rosa as well.
Lap 6: Barrichello passes Ralf Schumacher to make it a Ferrari 1-2.
Lap 7: Barrichello begins to close on the leader. In the midfield 12th placed Irvine falls behind Jacques Villeneuve. At the back of the field Fisichella retires with an engine failure.
Lap 8: Barrichello creeps closer to Schumacher while Irvine drops to 14th behind Heinz-Harald Frentzen's Arrows.
Lap 12: In the midfield Villeneuve overtakes de la Rosa to move to 11th. At the back of the field Bernoldi pitted with a broken rear track rod. This is replaced and he rejoins several laps behind.
Lap 13: At the first corner Coulthard passes Button to take fifth place. Further back Frentzen overtakes de la Rosa for 12th.
Lap 14: Barrichello takes the lead at the end of the back straight.
Lap 15: Barrichello sets the fastest lap of the race to build up a lead of 2.1 seconds. In the midfield Irvine loses 14th place to Sato.
Lap 16: Barrichello sets another fastest lap and builds his lead to 2.8 seconds. Mika Salo overtakes Massa to move to ninth place.
Lap 17: Barrichello retires with a hydraulic problem, leaving Michael Schumacher with an eight second lead over Ralf. Trulli is third with Coulthard fourth, Button fifth and Raikkonen sixth.
Lap 20: Villeneuve and Massa have been having a big fight for ninth place. Villeneuve gets ahead.
Lap 21: Massa gets ahead of Villeneuve again.
Lap 22: Massa makes a mistake and drops behind Villeneuve and Frentzen. Sato overtakes de la Rosa for 12th.
Lap 23: At the tail of the field Yoong pits.
Lap 24: Michael Schumacher's lead over Ralf is up to 8.4 seconds. The first scheduled pit stops begin with Villeneuve dropping from ninth to 14th. At the back of the field McNish and Bernoldi both pit.
Lap 25: Massa pits and falls from 10th to 15th. Frentzen slows and pits with a broken rear track rod. Both Arrows are retired.
Lap 26: Olivier Panis stops with a mechanical problem.
Lap 28: The gap at the front is stable while there is a half minute gap back to Trulli and Coulthard. Behind them Button and Raikkonen are fighting a similar duel and behind them there is a third battle between Heidfeld and Salo. Montoya is able to overtake Irvine to move to 10th place.
Lap 30: It is becoming clear that Michael Schumacher and Bridgestone have surprised everyone by going for a one-stop strategy when it was expected that they would have to stop twice. Montoya continues to make up places, passing de la Rosa for ninth place.
Lap 33: Ralf Schumacher's Michelins are holding up well and he is able to close the gap on his brother to just over five seconds. Further back Webber pits for fuel and tyres (a littler earlier than expected for a one-stop strategy).
Lap 34: Michael Schumacher responds to his brother's challenge by setting the fastest lap of the race, indicating that he has been nursing his tyres and letting Ralf close in.
Lap 35: At the tail of the field McNish catches and overtakes Yoong.
Lap 38: Two more fastest laps take Michael's gap to 8.4 seconds. Further back Raikkonen finally manages to get ahead of Button. Salo is the first of the one-stoppers to pit. He drops from eighth to 12th.
Lap 39: Michael Schumacher pits and Ralf moves into the lead. The gap between the two brothers is 22 seconds.
Lap 41: Nick Heidfeld pits and drops from eighth to 10th.
Lap 42: Montoya and de la Rosa both pit. McNish spins into retirement. On the same lap Massa and Webber clash and the Brazilian spins off. Webber has to pit.
Lap 43: The pit stops continue with Trulli dropping from third to sixth.
Lap 44: Ralf Schumacher pits and falls behind his brother again. The gap is three seconds. Button pits and falls from fifth to sixth.
Lap 45: Coulthard pits from third place and is able to rejoin ahead of Trulli.
Lap 46: Raikkonen pits and he emerges ahead of both Renaults but just behind third placed Coulthard. Also pitting is two-stop racer Villeneuve who drops from ninth to 13th. At the tail of the field Yoong has his second stop.
Lap 56: The order has been set for several laps but Ralf Schumacher is gradually catching his brother, having found his car better after an adjustment to the front wing during his pit stop. Heidfeld pits with a brake problem but rejoins in 12th place.
Lap 60: Ralf is within a second of Michael Schumacher, while back in seventh place Montoya sets the fastest lap of the race. Further back Villeneuve overtakes de la Rosa for 10th place. Alex Yoong spins into retirement.
Lap 61: Trulli retires with an engine failure. Heidfeld retires because of a loose brake disc.
Lap 63: As the Schumacher brothers dice for the lead, Webber pits for a third time.
Lap 68: Raikkonen goes off with a rear wheel problem. This elevates Salo to sixth place.
Lap 70: Villeneuve stops with a mechanical problem.
Lap 71: The two Schumacher brothers cross the line nose to tail and both back off although there is no chequered flag. Coulthard is third with Button fourth just ahead of Montoya.
Both Ralf Schumacher and Ron Dennis claimed after the Brazilian Grand Prix that they were not that impressed by the pace of the new Ferrari F2002, yet undoubtedly, Michael Schumacher's second win of the season in three races must have been a moral blow for both the German's rival teams.
Perhaps because they dominated with the "old" F2001 in Australia and would have fought for the win in Malaysia had Schumacher not clashed with Juan Pablo Montoya at the start, the expectations of what the Italian squad claimed was to be the "best Ferrari ever," were very high.
Ralf Schumacher's smart but careful drive to second place was a typical example of how to survive and score in modern F1 - the Williams driver preferring to net six points instead of taking a risk that could have ended with both him and his brother out of the race. "I didn't want to do a stupid try because it's very early in the season and I didn't want to risk my six points which I was pretty sure to get in this race," said Ralf afterwards. "I was marginally quicker, but that's not enough to overtake in Formula One."
It's true that McLaren's chances of a better result were not aided by both Coulthard and Kimi Raikkonen being stuck behind Jarno Trulli and Jenson Button in the first half of the race. But at the end of the event, Coulthard was only seven seconds ahead of Button, and if Renault can continue to make progress at the same rate, McLaren could face a real challenge in fending off the French squad in the Constructors' Championship. It's still early day, but it would certainly be nice to see Renault joining the fray.
Rivals Bridgestone rushed to build a new tyre - with new compound and construction - to cope with the heat of the South American country, and although the new rubber seemed to perform better with temperatures of around 45 degrees Celsius, Michelin still held the upper hand.
Despite completing one less attempt, Schumacher outqualified his brother Ralf, who was not completely comfortable with his Williams's set-up. The top six was completed by McLaren drivers David Coulthard and Kimi Raikkonen, and by the Renault of Jarno Trulli.
Coulthard returned to the track after half the session had gone, the McLaren driver improving his time to jump up to fourth. Meanwhile, Raikkonen completed only one lap with the spare MP4-17 before switching back to his race car, after its problem had been fixed by his mechanics. The young Finn's first flying attempt was good enough to put him in eighth place behind the two impressive Renaults, who were split by Barrichello.
Montoya did not need to complete his final run, and only Raikkonen made a significant improvement in the final seconds of the session, moving up to fifth place ahead of Trulli, Button and a disappointed Barrichello. Sauber's Nick Heidfeld and Mika Salo in the Toyota rounded up the top ten.
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Montoya Williams BMW (M) 1:13.114 212.167 km/h
2. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:13.241 + 0.127
3. R.Schumacher Williams BMW (M) 1:13.328 + 0.214
4. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes (M) 1:13.565 + 0.451
5. Raikkonen McLaren Mercedes (M) 1:13.595 + 0.481
6. Trulli Renault (M) 1:13.611 + 0.497
7. Button Renault (M) 1:13.665 + 0.551
8. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:13.935 + 0.821
9. Heidfeld Sauber Petronas (B) 1:14.233 + 1.119
10. Salo Toyota (M) 1:14.443 + 1.329
11. de la Rosa Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:14.464 + 1.350
12. Massa Sauber Petronas (B) 1:14.533 + 1.419
13. Irvine Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:14.537 + 1.423
14. Fisichella Jordan Honda (B) 1:14.748 + 1.634
15. Villeneuve BAR Honda (B) 1:14.760 + 1.646
16. McNish Toyota (M) 1:14.990 + 1.876
17. Panis BAR Honda (B) 1:14.996 + 1.882
18. Frentzen Arrows Cosworth (B) 1:15.112 + 1.998
19. Sato Jordan Honda (B) 1:15.296 + 2.175
20. Webber Minardi Asiatech (M) 1:15.340 + 2.226
21. Bernoldi Arrows Cosworth (B) 1:15.355 + 2.241
22. Yoong Minardi Asiatech (M) 1:16.728 + 3.614
Heidfeld turned to avoid the burning Arrows but went across the grass and smashed into the opened door of the parked medical car, fortunately only damaging the Mercedes car and his own Sauber. "I didn't see any yellow flags," Heidfeld said. "I suddenly had a car in front of me and nowhere to go. There is quite a lot of damage on my car but I think it will be okay for the race."
"I thought he was a fair guy to race with but he's definitely not," he said after the race. "Last week I took his front wing, even though I gave him room, and I got penalised. This week he shuts the door in front of me in the same way maybe as Rubens' move on Ralf in the race before. I was even closer and here we go. Who pays? I pay again and it just keeps going."
Further back, Coulthard managed to move ahead of Button at the end of the straight, and set his sights on Trulli, who was still holding on to fourth place in the R202. But the quickest man on track continued to be Barrichello, who was setting two consecutive fastest laps and building up a lead of nearly three seconds by lap 16, before his Interlagos jinx hit him again.
The Michelin tyres on Ralf's Williams began to show their edge over the Bridgestone rubber of his brother around lap 30, and the younger Schumacher was able to close the gap to his brother to some five seconds as the first and only round of pitstops loomed for the two Germans. But Schumacher Senior responded to his brother's challenge with a string of consecutive fastest laps that allowed him to stretch his lead again to nearly nine seconds.
The ever unfortunate Trulli, who looked set to score his first points with Renault, suffered an engine problem on lap 61, retiring for the third straight race since he joined the French squad. "I'm gutted," said the Italian. "What can I say? A positive race; a negative result."
The glass was also half full for Ralf, who despite being beaten by the Ferrari, was happy to see that his brother could not walk on water with the new car: "We were expecting a really big step forward and it has been a step forward but not as big as we were expecting. We were able to qualify beside them, with a better start maybe we were able to win the race or a bit better first stint, so I'm full of hope that we can go to Imola and again have a very tight and close race with them."
CLASSIFIED
Pos Driver Team Time
1. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1h 31:43.663
2. R.Schumacher Williams BMW (M) + 0.588
3. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes (M) + 59.109
4. Button Renault (M) + 1:06.883
5. Montoya Williams BMW (M) + 1:07.500
6. Salo Toyota (M) 1 Lap
7. Irvine Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1 Lap
8. de la Rosa Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1 Lap
9. Sato Jordan Honda (B) 2 Laps
10. Villeneuve BAR Honda (B) 3 Laps
11. Webber Minardi Asiatech (M) 3 Laps
12. Raikkonen McLaren Mercedes (M) 4 Laps
13. Yoong Minardi Asiatech (M) 4 Laps
Fastest Lap: J.Montoya, 1:16.079, lap 60
NOT CLASSIFIED / RETIREMENTS
Heidfeld Sauber Petronas (B) 62
Trulli Renault (M) 61
Massa Sauber Petronas (B) 42
McNish Toyota (M) 41
Panis BAR Honda (B) 26
Frentzen Arrows Cosworth (B) 26
Bernoldi Arrows Cosworth (B) 20
Barrichello Ferrari (B) 17
Fisichella Jordan Honda (B) 7
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDING, ROUND 3:
Drivers: Constructors:
1. M.Schumacher 24 1. Williams-BMW 30
2. R.Schumacher 16 2. Ferrari 24
3. Montoya 14 3. McLaren-Mercedes 8
4. Button 6 4. Renault 6
5. Raikkonen 4 = Jaguar-Cosworth 3
= Coulthard 4 = Sauber-Petronas 3
7. Irvine 3 7. Minardi-Asiatech 2
8. Webber 2 = Toyota 2
= Heidfeld 2
= Salo 2
11. Massa 1
Pos Driver Team Lap Time
1. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 60 1:16.079
2. R.Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 55 1:16.224 + 0.145
3. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 38 1:16.235 + 0.156
4. Button Renault (M) 70 1:16.396 + 0.317
5. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 16 1:16.511 + 0.432
6. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 54 1:16.529 + 0.450
7. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (B) 71 1:16.670 + 0.591
8. Trulli Renault (M) 45 1:17.063 + 0.984
9. Villeneuve BAR-Honda (B) 26 1:17.131 + 1.052
10. Sato Jordan-Honda (B) 51 1:17.320 + 1.241
11. Salo Toyota (M) 37 1:17.398 + 1.319
12. Fisichella Jordan-Honda (B) 3 1:17.511 + 1.432
13. Frentzen Arrows-Cosworth (B) 14 1:17.568 + 1.489
14. Irvine Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 60 1:17.569 + 1.490
15. de la Rosa Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 70 1:17.575 + 1.496
16. Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas (B) 59 1:17.782 + 1.703
17. McNish Toyota (M) 26 1:17.868 + 1.789
18. Webber Minardi-Asiatech (M) 62 1:18.386 + 2.307
19. Panis BAR-Honda (B) 23 1:18.705 + 2.626
20. Bernoldi Arrows-Cosworth (B) 14 1:18.814 + 2.735
21. Yoong Minardi-Asiatech (M) 54 1:18.837 + 2.758
22. Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) 11 1:19.188 + 3.109
Pos Driver Team Time Lap
1. Webber Minardi-Asiatech (M) 33.866 63
2. Irvine Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 36.731 44
3. Button Renault (M) 36.982 44
4. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 37.004 46
5. R.Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 37.183 44
6. Villeneuve BAR-Honda (B) 37.303 46
7. Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas (B) 37.459 56
8. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 37.495 42
9. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (B) 37.619 45
10. Yoong Minardi-Asiatech (M) 37.735 45
11. Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas (B) 37.803 41
12. McNish Toyota (M) 38.082 24
13. Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) 38.465 25
14. Trulli Renault (M) 38.540 43
15. de la Rosa Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 39.054 42
16. Yoong Minardi-Asiatech (M) 39.135 23
17. Sato Jordan-Honda (B) 39.446 27
18. Webber Minardi-Asiatech (M) 39.768 33
19. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 39.875 39
20. Sato Jordan-Honda (B) 41.482 48
21. Villeneuve BAR-Honda (B) 43.694 24
22. Salo Toyota (M) 44.237 38
23. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 49.018 1
24. Fisichella Jordan-Honda (B) 59.077 1
25. McNish Toyota (M) 1:05.231 1
26. Webber Minardi-Asiatech (M) 1:07.977 42
27. Bernoldi Arrows-Cosworth (B) 9:33.508 12
The Brazilian Grand Prix, Lap by Lap
Lap 1: At the start Michael Schumacher makes a slightly better start than Juan Pablo Montoya and the two men go into the first corner with Montoya on the inside. Montoya goes ahead but drifts slightly wide and Michael challenges at the second corner. The two men go side-by-side through the turn but Schumacher has the inside line in turn three and so goes ahead as the two men head down the back straight. Montoya is quicker but the front wing of the Williams clips the rear wheel of the Ferrari and is ripped off. Montoya manages to stay on the road but begins to drop back. Ralf Schumacher is third ahead of the two fast-starting Renaults with Jarno Trulli ahead of Jenson Button. Then comes David Coulthard while Rubens Barrichello gets ahead of Kimi Raikkonen in the course of the first lap. In eighth place is Nick Heidfeld in the Sauber ahead of his teammate Felipe Massa and they are chased by the two Jaguars, Eddie Irvine having got ahead of Pedro de la Rosa. In the midfield Allan McNish and Giancarlo Fisichella both run over the debris left from Montoya's Williams, so they pit for repairs together with Juan Pablo. At the end of the first lap Michael Schumacher is 1.5 seconds ahead of his brother.
Lap 3: Michael Schumacher sets another fastest laps and increases the gap to 3.5 seconds. Further back Barrichello overtakes Button to move to third place. In the midfield Mika Salo overtakes de la Rosa to take 11th place.
Lap 10: Barrichello has closed the gap to Schumacher to just 1.9 seconds and is looking likely to take the lead. Further back there is status quo except for 16th place which is taken by Takuma Sato, who passes Olivier Panis.
Lap 18: Alex Yoong spins and this allows Montoya to make up one place, the Williams driver moving to 17th place.
Lap 27: Sato stops and drops from 12th to 14th.
Lap 36: Michael Schumacher sets another fastest lap and increases the lead to 7.6 seconds.
Lap 48: Sato has his second stop and falls from 10th to 13th.
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