Atlas F1 News Editor
Following his dominant performance at Imola two weeks earlier, it was hard to expect Michael Schumacher could be even more superior than his rivals. Yet the Spanish Grand Prix proved that wrong, with the Ferrari driver sweeping the field to increase his Championship lead even more. Pablo Elizalde reviews the entire weekend's events and results
Of course, anyone who neglected to do that in the last two races must have only seen a couple of the most boring and processional races in recent times, with Michael Schumacher showing once more that his motivation and hunger for victories is close to infinite. If anyone thought that the German four-time Champion could not get more dominant than at San Marino two weeks earlier, then Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix proved them wrong.
Not that it was of any consolation for his rivals, but at least at Imola, Schumacher lost the lead of the race during one of his pitstops. At Barcelona, the relentless World Champion led from start to finish every single one of the 65 laps, finishing more than 35 seconds ahead of Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya, who was the only real contender not to make a mistake during the race or be marred by some sort of serious problem, except for his incident during the second pitstop.
Schumacher's dominance in the last two races has been reminiscent of Nigel Mansell's best performances during the 1992 season with the almost unbeatable Williams FW14B, and although the Ferrari driver admitted he is expecting to be hit by bad luck at some point this year, the Championship looks like a foregone conclusion even with 12 races remaining.
After four wins and one third place, it's hard to imagine any scenario in which Williams will be able to catch Schumacher and his team this season, especially as it seems that the German is, as usual, immune to all the problems that hamper his rivals.
Whether Schumacher makes his own luck or not, there will have to be radical improvements at Williams - and not in terms of luck but of pace - if they are to, at least, make the Ferrari driver sweat his way to his fifth World Championship.
"Forget the Drivers' Championship. There's just no chance," said BMW boss Gerhard Berger, probably reflecting the thought of most of the paddock. "But you never know what happens. I think we have an outside chance in the Constructors' Championship. But not a real chance."
So far it seems that the only way Williams will be able to have a shot at the Constructors' Championship this year, is if Barrichello continues with the streak of bad luck that has been stopping him from getting the results he deserves in a season where he is looking faster than ever.
Another mechanical problem - the third in five races; and another retirement - the fourth in so many events - hit the Brazilian after another brilliant performance in qualifying, where he gave Schumacher a good run for his money for the second consecutive time, only to see the German beating him in the final moments of the session. If Barrichello keeps on driving like he has up to now, he is likely to finally get his reward, of course with Schumacher's permission.
For McLaren, the prospects of the season continued to look rather dim in Spain too, and in a circuit where they have been the dominant force in the past, they were again in the fight for the position of third best team with the Renaults.
Just like at Imola, the Barcelona race was an example of what can McLaren expect from a season where it will be a big surprise to see other than a Ferrari or a Williams on the top step of the podium. Just like in San Marino, David Coulthard was outshone by Kimi Raikkonen during most of the weekend, although it was again the Scot who was capable of bringing the car home in third while the Finn suffered from another mechanical failure.
Apart from Ferrari, and although on a different level of performance, the Renault team also shone at Barcelona as they continue making progress towards the right end of the field. Both Jenson Button and Jarno Trulli were capable of matching the pace of the McLaren drivers both in qualifying and in the race, and only their reliability problems stopped Button from scoring his first podium.
Both him and his German teammate were rewarded with their best results of the season, and in the case of Frentzen, it also gave Arrows their first point of the year, leaving both the Honda-powered Jordan and BAR teams red-faced, point-less, and at the bottom of the field after five races.
Qualifying
Just like two weeks earlier at the Imola circuit, only a handful of seconds separated Rubens Barrichello from his second pole position of the season at last Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix. The Brazilian seems to have come to terms with the F2002 better than with any other Ferrari since he joined the Maranello-based squad back in 2000, and that is showing in his qualifying pace.
"Sometimes you think you are on the limit and your teammate shows you you're not and you have to push a bit harder," said Schumacher after scoring the 46th pole of his career. "So I did." It was as simple as that for the German, whose quickest time meant starting from the top spot in Spain for the third consecutive time and for the fifth in total, for a race from which he has never retired in eleven years.
After struggling in practice to find the right set-up for their BMW-powered FW24s, neither Ralf Schumacher nor Juan Pablo Montoya could do much to stop an all-Ferrari front row, but after their poor showing in the free practice sessions, no one in the team was expecting better.
"We are not happy even though we knew this track would not suit our car," Berger said after practice. "I do believe anyway that our grid position will be better than what we have achieved today even though this time we won't be fighting for the pole position at all."
Especially brilliant was the performance of Kimi Raikkonen, who was less than a tenth of a second off Montoya's time after getting his McLaren to handle better and better throughout the sessions. The Finn outqualified teammate David Coulthard for the second time in a row, the Scot having to settle for seventh place after also losing out to compatriot Button, as the tight battle to be the top Brit continued.
With cloudy skies and a track temperature of around 20 degrees Celsius, it was no surprise that the first car didn't hit the track until nearly a quarter of a session was gone. The first man out was Jarno Trulli in his Renault, the Italian failing to post a competitive time and was quickly beaten by Enrique Bernoldi in the surprisingly quick Arrows, which benefitted from their first test in more than a month at Silverstone.
Raikkonen's first attempt more than 20 minutes into the session saw him running off the track at high speed, and though he was able to get the car back on track, his first run was lost. Teammate Coulthard moved to the top of the times after completing his first run moments later, but the Scot was quickly demoted by Ralf Schumacher, with a time of 1:17.355.
The Finn was relegated to fifth a few minutes later when Coulthard completed his second run to move up to fourth. Barrichello returned to the track with 20 minutes remaining, and despite setting the quickest time in the first split, the Brazilian's lap was not good enough to improve on his previous best.
Neither Schumacher Senior nor his younger brother could improve their times in their second attempts, while Montoya continued to struggle down in eighth with the second of the Williamses. The Colombian, however, was forced to use the spare car after his race machine suffered a misfire after his initial run.
With some 12 minutes left in the session, Coulthard made some radical changes to the set-up of his car and went out again, only to see his flying lap spoiled by a red flag caused by Alex Yoong at the start of the straight, when he lost his front wing by running too high on the kerb. Both the Malaysian and teammate Mark Webber suffered several problems with the wings of their Minardis, a problem which will eventually force the Anglo-Italian team to withdraw from the race.
The session was resumed after a few minutes, and both Ferraris were quick to leave their garage. Barrichello was first to complete what would be his final flying lap, stopping the clock on 1:16.690, nearly three tenths faster than his previous best. The Brazilian's joy, however, was short-lived, as teammate Schumacher crossed the finish line to set an all-time quickest, 1:16.364, well out of reach of everyone else.
The German was certainly relishing it, especially since he came on top again. "I enjoyed this session and the fight with Rubens. It was a challenge, especially as he was quicker on the first two runs," he said.
In the dying seconds of the session, only Button improved his time enough to gain positions, relegating Coulthard to seventh spot. Heidfeld and Trulli followed the Scot, with Heinz-Harald Frentzen completing the top ten in the much improved Arrows A21.
After a somewhat promising performance from Eddie Irvine, the Jaguar team saw the Ulsterman's time removed a few hours after the session had ended, when the race stewards found an irregularity in the fuel of his R3. As a consequence, he was sent to the back of the grid.
"To be honest it doesn't make much difference given where we were on the grid," said Irvine, who had posted the 15th quickest time. "But at least this way I might get to overtake some cars tomorrow."
The Race
Following a warm-up that was far from uneventful and that saw Mark Webber losing his rear wing, Paul Stoddart and his Minardi team decided to withdraw from the race, a sensible decision after several wing failures throughout the weekend.
There were also problems for Michael Schumacher, who - for the first time since he is driving the F2002 - suffered a mechanical problem that forced him to take the spare car for the race. As things turned out, that would not prove to be much of a handicap for him.
Ferrari were hit by trouble again at the start of the formation lap, although it was the unfortunate Barrichello who was once more the victim, his car refusing to move due to a gear selection problem. Barrichello, who has only finished one race so far, tried to remain positive.
"I don't think it's bad luck... it's something that could happen to me or to Michael. It happened to me," said the Brazilian. "Apart from the problem at the start, this has been a very positive weekend because the car has worked well ever since the start of Friday."
Judging by his pace during the weekend, it wasn't too hard to predict that Schumacher would take off unless someone had passed him at the start, and so he did. The Ferrari driver quickly showed that he was in a class of his own, lapping up to 1.5 seconds quicker than Ralf in the opening stages of the race.
Finn Raikkonen, sharing some of Barrichello's bad luck this season, was also hit by problems, his McLaren's rear wing getting loose in the middle of the straight, luckily not causing any problems for Button, who was following the Finn closely. Despite the unusual failure in Raikkonen's car, McLaren decided not to call Coulthard in after a quick analysis of the situation.
"Within less than a minute we were able to interrogate our database and confirm that the wing assembly on David's car was effectively new which, supported by our extensive test mileage, convinced us that there was no risk to David," explained Ron Dennis.
Unaffected by any problems, Schumacher continued flying at the front of the field, his advantage increasing up to more than nine seconds by lap ten. There wasn't much action further down the field neither, and although Coulthard was running very close to fourth-placed Button, the Scot didn't have enough speed to try any move.
The leader came into the pits on lap 26, stood still for 9.4 seconds, and returned to the track in first position, immediately setting a couple of fastest laps that saw his gap growing ever more. To make things easier for the German, Ralf spoiled his race by going off the track at the Campsa corner, causing damage to his front wing.
The Williams driver was forced to pit, and after staying stationary for nearly 30 seconds, he resumed the race in 13th place and out of contention. Meanwhile, his brother was almost 24 seconds clear of Montoya, and more than 35 ahead of third-placed Button, who was followed closely by Coulthard and Trulli.
Button, obviously suffering an ill-handling car, had reduced his pace significantly before Coulthard completed one of the few on-track passes of the race on lap 34, outbraking the Renault driver at the end of the straight to take third place. Trulli would soon get right behind his teammate's rear wing, and only two laps later the Briton allowed him to pass as he continued to struggle with a hydraulics problem in his R202.
Fifth-placed Button and sixth-placed Heidfeld were the first men to make their second schedules stops, and in perhaps one of the most tense moments of the race, both ran parallel to each other down the pitlane after Renault's 'lollipop' man had allowed his driver to get moving when the Sauber was going by. Fortunately, nothing happened, as Button gave way to Heidfeld right at the exit of the pitlane.
But the most dramatic moment of the weekend was to take place when Montoya came into the pits for his second scheduled stop, and Carl Gaden lifted the lollipop before the refuelling mechanic was done. Gaden tried to stop Montoya, who was already moving, but as the chief mechanic said later, "you don't stop a racing car with your foot." For a few seconds, the Briton's foot was strapped underneath the front tyre of the car, but fortunately no one was seriously injured and Montoya returned to the track still ahead of Coulthard, who pitted on lap 46.
Schumacher was next to pit for the second time, returning to the race more than 40 seconds ahead of Montoya. With the tanks of his Ferrari filled up with fuel and only one lap after pitting, Schumacher set an astonishing fastest lap of the race, not only more than 1.5 seconds quicker than anybody else managed throughout the race, but also a whole second faster then his own second quickest lap.
Schumacher eased off during the final laps of the race, allowing Montoya to cross the line "only" 35 seconds adrift, and meanwhile enjoying the battle between Massa and Frentzen. "I had this group of people in front of me at the end and I was watching them," he said. "It was sort of interesting to watch the battle for sixth position."
In past years, many would have interpreted that comment as another part of his psychological battle against his rivals. Judging by his pace during the race, this time, however, it was clear that there were no hidden intentions.
Montoya regained the runner-up position in the Championship standings following his very distant second place, but considering the performance of the Ferrari it was all he could have hoped for. "I am very pleased with my second place, mostly because we struggled the whole weekend here," he said. "Even if we are a bit behind Ferrari this was the best we could do today."
The upcoming Austrian Grand Prix is the only race on the Formula One calendar that is yet to have Michael Schumacher's name on the winners list, and after the Spanish race it seems as only a reliability problems can stop the German from taking another win. Ferrari will have plenty of time to work on their reliability, seeing that the speed of the F2002 is likely to keep them ahead for a long time.
Michael Schumacher goes to the grid in the spare car but otherwise there are no problems until the field sets off on the final parade lap. Rubens Barrichello is left behind because of a gearbox problem. The Ferrari team cannot start the car and it is pushed into the pitlane. The car never starts the race. Also missing are the two Minardis which have been withdrawn because of Mark Webber's rear wing failure in the warm-up session.
Lap 2: Schumacher extends his lap to 2.2 seconds while the order is unchanged.
Lap 3: As Schumacher continues to pull away from the field there is drama for local hero Pedro de la Rosa, who spins out of the race. Mika Salo pits and rejoins.
Lap 4: At the start of the lap Kimi Raikkonen's rear wing broke off. The Finn manages to avoid an accident but drops back. He pits and retires. This moves Button to fourth place, Coulthard to fifth and Trulli to sixth.
Lap 5: Michael Schumacher's lead is out to four seconds. At the back of the field Giancarlo Fisichella retires with a technical problem.
Lap 23: Schumacher's dominant run has resulted in a lead of over 20 seconds when the first pit stops begin. The first frontrunner to stop is Trulli who drops from sixth to 11th. Also stopping is 12th placed Jacques Villeneuve and 13th placed Allan McNish.
Lap 24: Ralf Schumacher and Button stop and fall out of the top six. Ralf rejoins in seventh place and Button in eighth. Also stopping are Olivier Panis, Enrique Bernoldi and Salo.
Lap 25: Second placed Montoya comes into the pits and drops back to seventh.
Lap 26: Schumacher pits but is able to rejoin while still ahead of the field. Coulthard has yet to stop and is second while fourth-placed Massa stops and falls back to eighth. At the same time Heinz-Harald Frentzen pits in his Arrows. He re-emerges ahead of Panis. Also stopping is Eddie Irvine in 10th place.
Lap 29: Coulthard pits and drops back from second to fourth. At the same time Ralf Schumacher goes off and damages the front wing of the car and has to pit for repairs. He drops from third position to 13th.
Lap 30: The order settles down with Michael Schumacher 23 seconds clear of Montoya. There is a smaller gap back to Button but he is under pressure from Coulthard. Behind them there is Trulli with Heidfeld seventh, Massa eighth, Panis ninth and Frentzen 10th. Then comes Enrique Bernoldi under pressure from Villeneuve. Behind them are McNish, Ralf Schumacher, Irvine and Salo.
Lap 34: Coulthard overtakes Button at the first corner.
Lap 36: Button is clearly in trouble and lets Trulli ahead
Lap 37: Villeneuve overtakes Bernoldi for 10th place.
Lap 38: Bernoldi pits and rejoins.
Lap 41: Irvine disappears with a technical problem.
Lap 42: The second pit stops begin with Button and Heidfeld the first to come in.
Lap 43: Trulli and Panis also pit but the Frenchman retires as he accelerates out of the pitlane.
Lap 44: Massa, Frentzen and McNish all pit.
Lap 45: Montoya pits. The lollipop man signals the car to go before the refuelling is done. He realises the problem and tries to stop Montoya but his foot is run over by the Colombian. Montoya stops and the mechanics release the signaller's foot from beneath the front left tyre. Montoya then departs. He is still in second place. Villeneuve and Salo both pit as well but without drama.
Lap 46: Coulthard pits.
Lap 47: The leader pits and rejoins in the lead by more than 40 seconds. Behind him is Montoya with Coulthard, Trulli, Heidfeld, Button and Massa completing the top six. Frentzen is the last man unlapped in eighth place.
Lap 57: Trulli's Renault begins to slow and he is overtaken for fourth place by Heidfeld.
Lap 58: Villeneuve passes the struggling Button for eighth.
Lap 61: Trulli falls behind Massa and Frentzen. Button drops behind McNish.
Lap 62: Villeneuve passes Trulli and on the same lap Button pulls off and retires.
Lap 63: Trulli pits and retires.
Lap 65: Michael Schumacher completes a completely dominant victory - his 57th win. Montoya is second with Coulthard third, Heidfeld fourth, Massa fifth and Frentzen sixth, scoring the first point of the year for Arrows. After the chequered flag both Ralf Schumacher and Mika Salo stop with technical problems but this does not affect their finishing positions.
There seems to be only one way to enjoy the 2002 season so far, and that's by learning to appreciate the work of a genius behind the wheel of the fastest car of the current Formula One field, witnessing dominance in its most evident form.
"He seems to have everything on his side," said Williams technical director Patrick Head after the race. "Even in terms of breaking down in the warm-up this morning, Lady Luck is obviously shining on him. They say to some extent you make your own luck, but with Ferrari all the bad luck seems to go with Rubens Barrichello."
With Ferrari's current form, it's hard for any other team to look good this year. Williams, who began the season as nearly equal favourites to win the Championship, are already seen as an outsider after they have already struggled to match Ferrari in circuits that were considered to favour the Grove-based outfit.
The lack of action at the top was contrasted with some brief flashes of good racing in the mid-field, mainly thanks to the Sauber drivers and Heinz-Harald Frentzen in the Arrows, who battled hard with a brilliant Felipe Massa and his quick Ferrari-powered C21.
On Saturday, Barrichello stayed on top of the timesheets for some 58 minutes with a blistering effort at the wheel of the Bridgestone-shod Ferrari. But again his teammate Michael Schumacher was there to spoil his party with a scintillating final run only two minutes before the end of the hour-long session, thus claiming his third pole position of the year.
The Austrian was right with his predictions, but it is unlikely that he was expecting the Williams pair to be a whole second off Schumacher's pace at the end of the session. As it turned out, Ralf and Montoya could consider themselves happy with third and fourth places, as their struggle allowed both the McLarens and the Renaults to be too close for comfort.
Barrichello showed his intentions with the first lap within the 1:16s in only his first attempt. His teammate Schumacher jumped onto the track when half the session had already past, and the German was unable to match the pace of the Brazilian after making a slight mistake during his flying lap. Schumacher had to settle for second, while Raikkonen, who finally completed his first attempt, placed himself in fourth.
"Just like the last [race], I wish I could have been on pole," said Barrichello after losing out to his teammate again. "But it's been a fair fight, it's wonderful just to push each other. Michael's having a harder time this year and I'm enjoying that. I think he is enjoying it too."
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:16.364 222.985 km/h 9
2. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:16.690 + 0.326 9
3. R.Schumacher Williams BMW (M) 1:17.277 + 0.913 9
4. Montoya Williams BMW (M) 1:17.425 + 1.061 10
5. Raikkonen McLaren Mercedes (M) 1:17.519 + 1.155 11
6. Button Renault (M) 1:17.638 + 1.274 7
7. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes (M) 1:17.662 + 1.298 11
8. Heidfeld Sauber Petronas (B) 1:17.851 + 1.487 12
9. Trulli Renault (M) 1:17.929 + 1.565 9
10. Frentzen Arrows Cosworth (B) 1:18.121 + 1.757 12
11. Massa Sauber Petronas (B) 1:18.139 + 1.775 11
12. Fisichella Jordan Honda (B) 1:18.291 + 1.927 12
13. Panis BAR Honda (B) 1:18.472 + 2.108 12
14. Bernoldi Arrows Cosworth (B) 1:18.515 + 2.151 12
15. Villeneuve BAR Honda (B) 1:18.847 + 2.483 12
16. de la Rosa Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:18.885 + 2.521 12
17. Salo Toyota (M) 1:18.897 + 2.533 12
18. Sato Jordan Honda (B) 1:19.002 + 2.638 12
19. McNish Toyota (M) 1:19.025 + 2.661 11
20. Webber Minardi Asiatech (M) 1:19.802 + 3.438 9
21. Yoong Minardi Asiatech (M) 1:21.415 + 5.051 7
22. Irvine Jaguar Cosworth (M) No Time 10 *
* Moved to the back of the grid due to fuel irregularity
"This has been a tough decision and I really feel for Mark and Alex," said Stoddart. "This has not been a good weekend for the team. It would have been irresponsible to continue until we had been able to take everything back to the factory and investigate the problem."
His luckier teammate had no problems whatsoever when the lights went off, and after a good start he was able to keep his brother Ralf at bay, with Montoya following in third, Raikkonen in fourth and Britons Button and Coulthard completing the top six after an uneventful start.
By lap 20, nearly 18 seconds second separated the two Schumachers, with Montoya some three seconds behind and Button close to half a minute adrift of the leader. Button's teammate Jarno Trulli, up to that point running in sixth behind Coulthard, was the first top runner to make his first scheduled pitstop on lap 22. The Italian was followed by Ralf and Button on the following lap, and Montoya quickly afterwards.
Far from relaxing, between laps 30 and 40, Schumacher Sr. extended his lead from 23.4 to 35 seconds over Montoya, who was followed in the distance by Coulthard. On lap 40, the younger of the Schumachers pitted to replace the front wing of his Williams yet again, dropping even further down the order, to the point of being lapped by his brother shortly after that.
Further behind the German, Button, who was by then lapping very slowly, had to yield to Felipe Massa in the second Sauber and the Arrows of Heinz-Harald Frentzen, who was right behind the Brazilian rookie. It was all bad news for the Renault team in the final laps of the race, as Trulli also began to lose positions due to a problem with his engine, eventually retiring with two laps to go.
Coulthard's consistent drive was rewarded with his second podium of the season, with Heidfeld, Massa and Frentzen completing the point-scoring positions. It was an emotional return to the points for the Arrows team, and it meant that only Jordan and BAR have no points to show for, so far in 2002.
CLASSIFIED
Pos Driver Team Time
1. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1h 30:29.981
2. Montoya Williams BMW (M) + 0:35.630
3. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes (M) + 0:42.623
4. Heidfeld Sauber Petronas (B) + 1:06.697
5. Massa Sauber Petronas (B) + 1:18.973
6. Frentzen Arrows Cosworth (B) + 1:20.430
7. Villeneuve BAR Honda (B) + 1 Lap
8. McNish Toyota (M) + 1 Lap
9. Salo Toyota (M) + 1 Lap
10. Trulli Renault (M) + 2 Laps
11. R.Schumacher Williams BMW (M) + 2 Laps
12. Button Renault (M) + 5 Laps
Fastest Lap: M.Schumacher, 1:20.355, lap 49
NOT CLASSIFIED / RETIREMENTS
Panis BAR Honda (B) 44
Irvine Jaguar Cosworth (M) 42
Bernoldi Arrows Cosworth (B) 41
Sato Jordan Honda (B) 11
Fisichella Jordan Honda (B) 6
Raikkonen McLaren Mercedes (M) 5
de la Rosa Jaguar Cosworth (M) 3
Barrichello Ferrari (B) -
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDING, ROUND 5:
Drivers: Constructors:
1. M.Schumacher 44 1. Ferrari 50
2. Montoya 23 2. Williams-BMW 43
3. R.Schumacher 20 3. McLaren-Mercedes 13
4. Coulthard 9 4. Sauber-Petronas 8
5. Button 8 = Renault 8
6. Barrichello 6 6. Jaguar-Cosworth 3
7. Heidfeld 5 7. Minardi-Asiatech 2
8. Raikkonen 4 = Toyota 2
9. Irvine 3 9. Arrows 1
= Massa 3
11. Webber 2
= Salo 2
13. Frentzen 1
Pos Driver Team Lap Time
1. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 49 1:20.355
2. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 47 1:21.740 + 1.385
3. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (B) 45 1:21.931 + 1.576
4. Trulli Renault (M) 25 1:22.155 + 1.800
5. Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) 28 1:22.186 + 1.831
6. Frentzen Arrows-Cosworth (B) 43 1:22.320 + 1.965
7. Salo Toyota (M) 47 1:22.524 + 2.169
8. Button Renault (M) 26 1:22.607 + 2.252
9. R.Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 27 1:22.697 + 2.342
10. Villeneuve BAR-Honda (B) 47 1:22.827 + 2.472
11. Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas (B) 29 1:22.860 + 2.505
12. Panis BAR-Honda (B) 26 1:22.872 + 2.517
13. McNish Toyota (M) 46 1:23.160 + 2.805
14. Bernoldi Arrows-Cosworth (B) 26 1:23.507 + 3.152
15. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 3 1:23.524 + 3.169
16. Irvine Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 28 1:24.187 + 3.832
17. Sato Jordan-Honda (B) 10 1:24.198 + 3.843
18. Fisichella Jordan-Honda (B) 3 1:24.493 + 4.138
19. de la Rosa Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 2 1:25.944 + 5.589
Pos Driver Team Time Lap
1. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (B) 29.584 46
2. Button Renault (M) 30.252 24
3. R.Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 30.461 24
4. Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas (B) 30.496 27
5. Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas (B) 30.613 42
6. Irvine Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 30.759 26
7. Trulli Renault (M) 30.828 23
8. Trulli Renault (M) 30.853 43
9. Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) 30.894 44
10. Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) 31.016 26
11. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (B) 31.074 29
12. Panis BAR-Honda (B) 31.119 24
13. Villeneuve BAR-Honda (B) 31.229 45
14. Salo Toyota (M) 31.302 24
15. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 31.357 47
16. Button Renault (M) 31.405 42
17. Salo Toyota (M) 31.718 45
18. Frentzen Arrows-Cosworth (B) 31.756 26
19. Villeneuve BAR-Honda (B) 31.926 23
20. Bernoldi Arrows-Cosworth (B) 32.060 24
21. Frentzen Arrows-Cosworth (B) 32.155 44
22. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 32.434 26
23. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 32.519 25
24. McNish Toyota (M) 32.936 44
25. McNish Toyota (M) 32.957 23
26. R.Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 33.460 40
27. Salo Toyota (M) 33.495 3
28. Panis BAR-Honda (B) 33.738 43
29. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 37.001 45
30. R.Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 50.504 29
31. Bernoldi Arrows-Cosworth (B) 1:11.372 38
The Spanish Grand Prix, Lap by Lap
Lap 1: At the start of the race Michael Schumacher goes into the lead from his brother Ralf. Juan-Pablo Montoya is third ahead of Kimi Raikkonen who drives around the outside of Jenson Button at the first corner. Behind then David Coulthard is sixth with Jarno Trulli seventh and the two Saubers, Nick Heidfeld ahead of Felipe Massa. At the end of the first lap Michael has a lead of 1.5 seconds.
Lap 11: Schumacher's lead is out to over 10 seconds. At the back of the field Takuma Sato goes off in the second Jordan and retires.
Lap 27: Third-placed Heidfeld pits and drops back to seventh.
Lap 40: Ralf Schumacher stops again and is given a new nose. Bernoldi rejoins but retires at the end of the following lap.
Lap 56: Button has held off both Massa and Frentzen for nine laps but eventually pulls over and lets them overtake.
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