Atlas F1 News Editor
The San Marino Grand Prix was one of the dullest races in recent years, but it offered a historic opportunity for the Ferrari fans who got to see their team grab a dominant 1-2 finish at their home race for the first time in 20 years. Pablo Elizalde reviews the entire weekend's events and results
Having started the year with the 'old' F2001 car, Ferrari began their title defence expecting a difficult year, especially considering the pace and the much improved reliability of the Williams team. And though there's still a long way to go, the Grove-based squad don't look that strong all of a sudden.
In the debut of the 2002 in Brazil, Schumacher scored a moral victory, on a track and with the conditions that were supposed to benefit his rivals in the BMW-powered cars. Coming to Imola, and especially after their dominant performance in last year's race, Williams were again the favourites, and yet again, they failed to match the performance of Schumacher and Ferrari.
To add insult to injury, Sunday's race had little in common with the Brazilian Grand Prix, where Ralf Schumacher, although unable to pass him, was capable of chasing his brother within a two-second distance during the final part of the event. Not so in Imola.
In front of thousands of passionate tifosi, Schumacher and his red car crushed the opposition, setting the pace in both Friday and Saturday practice, beating his teammate Rubens Barrichello to pole position, and leading the race from start to finish, crossing the chequered flag nearly 20 seconds ahead of Ralf in the first of the Williamses.
"We were obviously well beaten and we've got to understand why and put it right," said Williams technical director Patrick Head after the race. "Certainly Ralf said his car was good, well-balanced throughout the race, good brakes. And I think the strategy was pretty much what all the other front runners did, so ultimately it comes down to the fact that we just weren't quick enough."
The Ferrari was the class of the field at Imola, were the home heroes struggled last season. Add to that the World Champions' trademark reliability and Schumacher's flawless driving, and what you get is a dominant performance that, as seen on Sunday, is hard to match.
The weather, of course, benefitted the Ferrari duo, with the low temperatures being a handicap for all the Michelin-shod teams, who at least could be grateful that the weather was fair during the race. Judging by a wet Friday practice, had the rain hit Imola during the 62-lap event, the Michelin runners could have struggled badly to finish in the top six.
Williams, who are clearly the only ones who can give Ferrari a run for their money in this year's Championship, cannot afford to have more races like Sunday's if they want to stop their rivals from taking another easy title. Schumacher and Ferrari have been quick in the dry and in the wet, whether it was cold or hot, and if Williams are to challenge the relentless German, they will have to do the same.
Like Williams, the McLaren team also looked as though they made a step backwards at Imola, edging even further from their rivals after their worst start of a season since 1996. Five retirements and nine points after the first four races of the year are a good enough reason for the Woking camp to start worrying about their prospects for the 2002 season, and even more so after losing out to Renault, who, like Jenson Button, "are coming strong."
After witnessing what the French squad were capable of doing last year - starting the season with fighting to avoid the last row of the grid and finishing with battling for points - McLaren could be proven wrong in dismissing Renault's challenge so soon.
Once more, the good news for McLaren was Kimi Raikkonen's pace when compared to David Coulthard on a track where the Scot had been especially good in the past. But apart from that, a sixth place finish one lap down was no reason to celebrate, and at least the battle for third place looks set to be a real challenge for both teams.
As for the race itself, it doesn't get any duller, with most of the already few passes taking place in the pits. The only real action, as is often the case, took place in the middle of the field, with the battle between Felipe Massa and Jarno Trulli being one of the few highlights of the event. But the Brazilian's successful efforts to pass the Italian were not rewarded and Sauber had little to celebrate in their 150th Grand Prix.
Qualifying
Having retired from the lead in all three Grands Prix with the updated F2001 chassis, Barrichello finally got the chance to drive the F2002 at Imola and, in a car he is less familiar with, led Saturday's qualifying for 59 minutes before Schumacher decided he had had enough and in a perfectly timed final run he seized a last-gasp pole position to secure an all-Ferrari front row to the delight of the Italian fans.
Ferrari had dominated both Friday and Saturday practice sessions, benefitting from a track that was never completely dry after a heavy rain on Friday. The weather was never hot enough for the Michelin runners, but fortunately for them, the hour-long qualifying session was dry. In the wet on Friday, David Coulthard and the McLaren had been the fastest of the Michelin-shod cars, but nearly two seconds off Schumacher's pace.
With the threat of rain looming, the action at qualifying began very early. When the first cars came out the track temperature was around 22 degrees Celsius, and despite steadily increasing throughout the session, the Michelin-shod Williams were never capable of matching the pace of the two Ferraris in only the second qualifying for the F2002.
Barrichello's bid for his second pole of the year began with 15 minutes of the session gone, the Brazilian leaping to the top of the timesheets with a promising 1:22.242 that teammate Schumacher could not match in his first attempt a few minutes later. Held up by some traffic, the German was some three tenths of a second slower, still not completely satisfied with the handling of his F2002.
While Kimi Raikkonen completed his first run to place himself in fourth position, McLaren teammate David Coulthard could not jump onto the track until after nearly 22 minutes of qualifying had passed, since the Scot's mechanics were forced to change the Mercedes engine. When Coulthard finally set a time, it was only good enough for eighth, more than a second behind the pole time.
Further back, Coulthard and Raikkonen also completed their second runs, with the Finn staying in fifth place despite improving his time. The Scot, meanwhile, moved up to sixth, barely fending off the challenge of Heidfeld and both the Renaults of Jarno Trulli and Jenson Button.
With 15 minutes left in the session, the track temperature had risen to 27 degrees, and the Ferrari of Barrichello was still out of reach. The Brazilian was already starting to look as the hot favourite to clinch pole, after Schumacher's third run was again not good enough to beat his teammate, jumping up to second place some six hundredths of a second behind Barrichello, who only completed three runs and saved one set of tyres.
Things remained unchanged after both Ralf and Montoya went for the third attempts, both able to improve their times slightly, but staying in third and fourth. The German driver was the first of the big hitters to jump onto the track again for his final run with three minutes remaining, but after making a mistake on turn five, the younger Schumacher had to be content with third place.
"I failed to improve my time in the last run due to a mistake," he said. "Last year I started third here and I had my first victory in F1, so why couldn't it be the same this year? A good strategy can take you everywhere," added an optimistic Ralf.
"My mate gave me a hard time today," said a smiling Schumacher. "But that's fun, that's what we like. It was so close between us. Because we had done little running in the dry, it was a difficult session, not helped by gusting wind. Bridgestone has made a good step forward again and we seem to be well sorted for tomorrow."
Despite the last-minute disappointment, Barrichello was satisfied with his work, and like his teammate, he relished the battle for the top spot: "Having been on provisional pole for most of the session, of course I would have liked to have kept it. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed the challenge and the fight was fun."
Raikkonen and Coulthard completed the top six, with Heidfeld ending as 'the best of the rest', keeping both Renaults at bay. Jacques Villeneuve rounded up the top ten with the BAR-Honda, the Canadian enjoying his best result of the season so far. Meanwhile, at the wrong end of the grid, Minardi's Alex Yoong failed to set a time within the 107 percent and left teammate Mark Webber to defend the Italian team's colours in their 275th Grand Prix.
The Race
At the start, pole man Schumacher again made a good getaway, but not as brilliant as his brother Ralf's, who immediately jumped ahead of Barrichello. Despite his slow start, the Brazilian was capable of keeping Montoya at bay and kept third place ahead of the Colombian, with Kimi Raikkonen and David Coulthard filling the top six positions at the end of the straight.
Scot Allan McNish could not even complete a single lap, his Toyota - which at Imola failed to shine after the strong performances in the first three races - losing all drive.
It didn't take long before Schumacher began to edge away from his rivals, the Ferrari driver lapping up to one second quicker than his brother. Five laps into the race, the older Schumacher was already four seconds ahead of Ralf, with Barrichello following closely and Montoya already nearly ten seconds off the leader, the Colombian struggling with a severe understeer.
Japanese Takuma Sato was the second retirement of the race after only six laps, thus continuing with the Jordan team's awful start of the season. Teammate Giancarlo Fisichella would also be forced into retirement with mechanical problems after only 20 laps.
There were no changes whatsoever in the order until Nick Heidfeld became the first man to make a pitstop on lap 16, allowing both Jarno Trulli and Jenson Button to move up to seventh and eighth respectively. However, as it turned out, the Sauber driver had not been called in, and had to return to the pits three laps later.
"I thought that the team had called me in on the radio for my first stop, but it turned out that they hadn't. So when I arrived at the pits nothing was ready, and I had to come in again three laps later," explained Heidfeld, who was too quick down the pitlane and had to come in yet again after receiving a drive-through penalty that put an end to any hope of a good result.
Trulli was next to pit, on lap 22, and the Renault driver was quickly followed by his teammate Button, who was able to emerge ahead of the Italian, thanks to a quicker pit service.
The McLaren driver, clearly the fastest of the men from Woking during the race, was the first of the top six runners to come into the pits, on lap 30. The Schumachers followed suit on the very next lap, both standing still for some seven seconds before rejoining behind Barrichello, whose lead of the race lasted only one lap, as he was the next to pit.
Thanks to a great "in" lap, the Brazilian was capable of returning to the track ahead of Ralf, effectively putting an end to the German's chances of an unlikely victory, and materialising the tifosi's dream of the first Ferrari one-two finish at Imola since 1982.
Coulthard, who was running in an anonymous fifth place, pitted on lap 34, coming back out in seventh position after losing out to a charging Button.
As if the race wasn't dull enough before the pitstops, with the two Ferraris in front it turned into a high speed parade, with Schumacher more than 16 second ahead of his teammate by lap 35, and Ralf not even able to follow the pace of Barrichello, quickly losing ground to the Brazilian.
Sauber's Felipe Massa, running in ninth, and the Renault drivers were the first ones to make their second scheduled stops, with Button dropping back to seventh behind Coulthard, and Trulli losing two places to go down to tenth spot, the Italian running slower due to a problem with his gearbox.
"The car was handling pretty well, but we just didn't have the speed to be at the front," admitted Raikkonen. "The team told me to retire after the exhaust broke, and they detected hot gasses on the suspension. We will continue to work on improving the package and hopefully we will see results soon."
On lap 46 of the 62-lap race, leader Schumacher and third placed Ralf pitted for the second time, rejoining the race behind Barrichello and Montoya respectively. The Brazilian pitted a lap later, and despite a problem with his rear left tyre, he rejoined ahead of Ralf, and continued with Ferrari's domination.
The battle for fifth place between Coulthard and Button was solved in the pits, with the Scot coming in on lap 49, and back out behind the younger Briton as the battle for third place in the Constructors' Championship heats up between the two teams. As if things were not bad enough for the McLaren driver, he had to suffer the shame of being lapped by Schumacher minutes later.
The final laps went by just like the rest of the race, with Schumacher and Barrichello cruising home to give Ferrari their first one-two of the season.
"There are many reasons we can be proud and happy. We gave back something to our tifosi in our first home Grand Prix of the year," Schumacher, who became the driver with most races for Ferrari, said after the race. "It is a special Grand Prix here today as concerns the history of Ferrari and therefore I'm more than proud it has gone that way."
"He had understeer when he came to the line but he and his engineer judged... that when the tyres cleaned up it would improve," said Head. "It didn't. And you can imagine that driving a car that understeers is not Juan Pablo's cup of tea because all you can do is just sit there and wait before the front bites and you can get on the throttle."
Before the start of the season, it looked highly unlikely that Schumacher and Ferrari could repeat last year's domination. Despite Williams's pace, Schumacher has won three out of four races, and had he not clashed with Montoya in Malaysia, the German could have made it four out of four.
The Williams drivers are destined to give Schumacher a good run for his money, of that there's little doubt. But no team aspiring to win the Championship can afford their rivals to be as dominant as Schumacher and Ferrari proved to be in Imola. The odds are that Schumacher will be at the top of his game again at the Spanish Grand Prix, and Williams will have do the same if they are to stand a chance of stopping the German.
Lap 2: As Michael Schumacher pulls away from his brother the order at the front is already stable although further back there are two overtaking manoeuvres as Heinz-Harald Frentzen passes Takuma Sato for 13th place. There is a second overtaking manoeuvre with Giancarlo Fisichella passing Eddie Irvine to take 17th.
Lap 5: Sato slows and pits with a gearbox problem. After two minutes he rejoins but stops on the run down to Tamburello.
Lap 6: After five consecutive fastest laps Michael Schumacher is five seconds clear of the field with the order behind him unchanged. Enrique Bernoldi overtakes Mika Salo for 14th place.
Lap 17: Massa pits and drops from ninth to 13th. Heidfeld overtakes both Fisichella and Salo as he tried to keep up his pace, knowing he will need to stop again.
Lap 19: Heidfeld pits again. He accelerates out of the pits too quickly and so is given a drive-through penalty from the FIA stewards.
Lap 20: Fisichella retires with a mechanical problem.
Lap 22: The Renault team brings in Jarno Trulli and he drops from seventh to 11th. A lap later Jenson Button follows him in but is quicker and so gets head of his team mate. At the back of the field Bernoldi stops for his first scheduled pit stop.
Lap 23: Mika Salo comes in for his first pit stop.
Lap 24: Heidfeld comes into the pits for his drive-through penalty.
Lap 26: Panis, running in eighth place stops. He rejoins 11th. Salo retires with a technical problem. Frentzen also disappears with a technical problem.
Lap 27: Villeneuve follows Panis in and drops from seventh to 10th.
Lap 29: Eddie Irvine, running 13th in his Jaguar, pits and drops to 15th.
Lap 30: The first of the frontrunners - fifth-placed Raikkonen - comes into the pits. He falls behind David Coulthard. At the back of he field Pedro de la Rosa pits, rejoins and immediately stops at the pit exit with a technical problem.
Lap 31: The two Schumacher Brothers (who are 17 seconds apart) both pit. Barrichello takes the lead.
Lap 32: Barrichello pits but is able to rejoin ahead of Ralf Schumacher. The grandstands erupt as the tifosi enjoys a Ferrari 1-2. Montoya also pits but stays fourth.
Lap 37: Massa, running ninth, comes in for his second stop and falls behind the two BARs.
Lap 39: Heidfeld has his fourth pits stop but is still running in 13th.
Lap 40: Trulli stops for the second time and drops from eighth to 10th.
Lap 41: Button stops and falls from sixth to seventh.
Lap 42: Webber has his second stop.
Lap 43: Bernoldi has his second stop and falls from 12th to 13th.
Lap 44: Raikkonen comes into the pits and retires from fifth place. Also out is Panis who pulls off with a technical problem.
Lap 45: Irvine pits, rejoins but pulls off at the pit exit (as de la Rosa had done earlier).
Lap 47: Barrichello stops and rejoins second behind Michael Schumacher.
Lap 48: Montoya stops for a second time. He rejoins fourth. Seventh-placed Villeneuve also stops but holds on to his position.
Lap 49: Fifth-placed Coulthard pits again and falls behind Button.
Lap 53: Bernoldi pulls off and retires with a technical problem.
Lap 54: Underlining Ferrari's domination, Michael Schumacher laps Coulthard's McLaren.
Lap 58: Massa, charging hard, overtakes Trulli to take eighth place at the first Rivazza corner.
Lap 62: Ferrari comes home 1-2 to the delight of the partisan crowd.
Only four races into 2002 and the season is already starting to look very similar to last year's Championship, when Michael Schumacher and his Ferrari team swept the opposition, clinching the German's fourth title with four races to spare. Following Sunday's San Marino Grand Prix, there seems to be little prospect of change at the top in the 2002 season.
Michael Schumacher was right when he hailed a champagne soaked Rory Byrne after his 56th career win. The chief designer's consistently good job since he joined Ferrari in 1997 is no small achievement judging by the Italian's team form in the past seasons, and the F2002 is certainly another successful result of his brilliant mind.
Following a strong showing in the first three races of the year, certainly the disappointment of Sunday's Grand Prix was a struggling Juan Pablo Montoya, who was unable to match the pace of his teammate Ralf, and eventually went on to finish nearly 45 seconds behind the winner. Just like his team, if the Colombian wants to be a true challenger this year, he can't afford more races like this.
Despite having no points to show for after the first three races of the 2002 season, Rubens Barrichello's performance at the Italian squad this year has been, as claimed by the Brazilian himself, the best up to date, driving closer to teammate Michael Schumacher than ever before.
Ralf Schumacher was the first top runner to come out of the pits with seven minutes gone, the German followed by teammate Juan Pablo Montoya, who complained about the excessive understeer of his BMW-powered FW24 during much of the session. Ralf's first attempt was a 1:22.651 lap, already nearly half a second quicker than last year's pole position time. Montoya's effort was only good enough for a brief second place, quickly stolen by Sauber's Nick Heidfeld.
Both Williams drivers came back out quickly, first Montoya and then Ralf moving to the top of the times, both lapping within the 1:21 bracket for the first time. Barrichello rose to the challenge some ten minutes later, completing a blistering 1:21.155 lap that not even his teammate Schumacher could match in his second run, the German having to settle for third place.
Facing the prospect of being outqualified by his teammate for the second time this year, Michael jumped onto the track ahead of Barrichello, and in a sensational late effort, the German stopped the clock watch at 1:21.091, stealing from the Brazilian what looked set to be a dream result in front of the tifosi.
Pos Driver Team Time
1. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:21.091 218.998 km/h
2. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:21.155 + 0.064
3. R.Schumacher Williams BMW (M) 1:21.473 + 0.382
4. Montoya Williams BMW (M) 1:21.605 + 0.514
5. Raikkonen McLaren Mercedes (M) 1:22.104 + 1.013
6. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes (M) 1:22.490 + 1.399
7. Heidfeld Sauber Petronas (B) 1:22.767 + 1.676
8. Trulli Renault (M) 1:22.833 + 1.742
9. Button Renault (M) 1:22.857 + 1.766
10. Villeneuve BAR Honda (B) 1:23.116 + 2.025
11. Massa Sauber Petronas (B) 1:23.681 + 2.590
12. Panis BAR Honda (B) 1:23.821 + 2.730
13. Frentzen Arrows Cosworth (B) 1:23.862 + 2.771
14. Sato Jordan Honda (B) 1:24.050 + 2.959
15. Fisichella Jordan Honda (B) 1:24.253 + 3.162
16. Salo Toyota (M) 1:24.328 + 3.237
17. McNish Toyota (M) 1:24.331 + 3.240
18. Irvine Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:24.579 + 3.488
19. Webber Minardi Asiatech (M) 1:24.790 + 3.699
20. Bernoldi Arrows Cosworth (B) 1:24.808 + 3.717
21. de la Rosa Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:24.852 + 3.761
22. Yoong Minardi Asiatech (M) 1:27.241 + 6.150 *
* Outside 107%
Come race day, the circuit stayed dry, but after a cloudy warm-up led by Barrichello, a thin rain began to fall with some 20 minutes left before the start of the race, and although when the red lights went off the sun was starting to shine slightly, the track temperature - some 20 degrees Celsius - were far from ideal for the Michelin runners and their scrubber tyres.
While Arrows's Enrique Bernoldi completed one of the few passes of the race to move to 14th place ahead of Mika Salo in the second Toyota, at the top of the field Schumacher continued with the high speed procession, setting five quickest laps in a row to enhance his lead to more than ten second by lap 15.
Schumacher's Sunday drive continued unaltered, and the German's gap to his brother kept on growing. By lap 25, the older Schumacher was more than thirteen seconds ahead of the Williams, with Barrichello now closer to Ralf but unable to pass him. In a very distant fourth, Montoya continued to run in no man's land, with Raikkonen too far behind to be a factor.
The disastrous reliability record of McLaren in 2002 hampered Raikkonen's progress again, the Finn was forced to retire on lap 46 with an exhaust problem, failing to see the chequered flag for the third time in four races trough no fault of his own.
Ralf was a rather disappointing third, with a more disappointing fourth place for Montoya, whose poor performance was excused after the race by Williams technical director Patrick Head.
CLASSIFIED
Pos Driver Team Time
1. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1h 29:10.789
2. Barrichello Ferrari (B) + 17.907
3. R.Schumacher Williams BMW (M) + 19.755
4. Montoya Williams BMW (M) + 44.725
5. Button Renault (M) + 1:23.395
6. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes (M) + 1 lap
7. Villeneuve BAR Honda (M) + 1 lap
8. Massa Sauber Petronas (B) + 1 lap
9. Trulli Renault (M) + 1 lap
10. Heidfeld Sauber Petronas (B) + 1 lap
11. Webber Minardi Asiatech (M) + 2 laps
Fastest Lap: R.Barrichello, 1:24.170, lap 38
NOT CLASSIFIED / RETIREMENTS
Bernoldi Arrows Cosworth (B) 50
Irvine Jaguar Cosworth (M) 45
Raikkonen McLaren Mercedes (M) 44
Panis BAR Honda (B) 44
de la Rosa Jaguar Cosworth (M) 30
Salo Toyota (M) 26
Frentzen Arrows Cosworth (B) 25
Fisichella Jordan Honda (B) 19
Sato Jordan Honda (B) 5
McNish Toyota (M) 0
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDING, ROUND 4:
Drivers: Constructors:
1. M.Schumacher 34 1. Ferrari 40
2. R.Schumacher 20 2. Williams-BMW 37
3. Montoya 17 3. McLaren-Mercedes 9
4. Button 8 4. Renault 8
5. Barrichello 6 5. Jaguar-Cosworth 3
6. Coulthard 5 = Sauber-Petronas 3
7. Raikkonen 4 7. Minardi-Asiatech 2
8. Irvine 3 = Toyota 2
9. Webber 2
= Heidfeld 2
= Salo 2
12. Massa 1
Pos Driver Team Lap Time
1. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 38 1:24.170
2. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 45 1:24.281 + 0.111
3. R.Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 62 1:24.718 + 0.548
4. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 31 1:25.040 + 0.870
5. Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas (B) 61 1:25.301 + 1.131
6. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 38 1:25.483 + 1.313
7. Button Renault (M) 43 1:25.761 + 1.591
8. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 48 1:25.896 + 1.726
9. Villeneuve BAR-Honda (B) 46 1:25.959 + 1.789
10. Panis BAR-Honda (B) 25 1:26.189 + 2.019
11. Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) 34 1:26.279 + 2.109
12. Trulli Renault (M) 30 1:26.354 + 2.184
13. Frentzen Arrows-Cosworth (B) 25 1:26.537 + 2.367
14. Bernoldi Arrows-Cosworth (B) 20 1:26.783 + 2.613
15. de la Rosa Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 30 1:27.104 + 2.934
16. Irvine Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 29 1:27.461 + 3.291
17. Webber Minardi-Asiatech (M) 24 1:27.914 + 3.744
18. Salo Toyota (M) 17 1:28.460 + 4.290
19. Fisichella Jordan-Honda (B) 12 1:28.741 + 4.571
20. Sato Jordan-Honda (B) 4 1:30.158 + 5.988
Pos Driver Team Time Lap
1. Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas (B) 14.187 24
2. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 23.105 49
3. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 23.475 32
4. Villeneuve BAR-Honda (B) 23.566 48
5. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 23.725 48
6. R.Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 23.886 31
7. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 23.888 34
8. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 23.926 32
9. R.Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 24.004 46
10. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 24.232 46
11. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 24.309 31
12. Button Renault (M) 24.627 23
13. Trulli Renault (M) 25.027 22
14. Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas (B) 25.216 19
15. Irvine Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 25.501 29
16. Panis BAR-Honda (B) 25.602 26
17. Villeneuve BAR-Honda (B) 25.743 27
18. Button Renault (M) 26.050 41
19. Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas (B) 26.061 39
20. Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) 26.094 17
21. Bernoldi Arrows-Cosworth (B) 26.483 43
22. Webber Minardi-Asiatech (M) 26.564 25
23. Webber Minardi-Asiatech (M) 26.862 42
24. Trulli Renault (M) 26.945 40
25. Irvine Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 27.012 45
26. Bernoldi Arrows-Cosworth (B) 27.485 22
27. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 27.555 30
28. Salo Toyota (M) 27.942 23
29. Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) 28.305 37
30. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 30.247 47
31. De la Rosa Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 32.222 30
32. Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas (B) 34.805 16
33. Sato Jordan-Honda (B) 2:05.019 5
The San Marino Grand Prix, Lap by Lap
Lap 1: At the start of the race Michael Schumacher gets away well but Rubens Barrichello is slower off the line and so Ralf Schumacher is able to go ahead on the inside as they head down towards Tamburello. Juan Pablo Montoya follows ahead of Kimi Raikkonen who is ahead of McLaren team mate David Coulthard. Then come the two Renaults, the two Saubers and the two BARs. Allan McNish is the only casualty on the first lap, his Toyota losing drive as it headed off the grid.
Lap 16: Michael Schumacher's lead is up to 11 seconds with the order unchanged. In the midfield Nick Heidfeld pits to try to break the deadlock with the Renaults. The Sauber strategy goes wrong when the refuelling machines fails to deliver and Heidfeld is sent on his way with a near-empty tank.
Lap 25: Mark Webber pits in 15th place.
Lap 34: Coulthard has a later pit stops that the other frontrunners and he drops from fifth to seventh.
Lap 46: The two Schumacher Brothers stop and Barrichello is in the led again.
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