Giancarlo Fisichella finished a tough season with another disappointing result, retiring from the Japanese Grand Prix in what was his final race for the Jordan team before switching to Sauber in 2004. In his final column of the year, Fisichella reviews his Suzuka race and recounts the best moments of the 2003 season. All through his visor...

At the beginning of this year I said Michael Schumacher was still the best driver and predicted that he would win the Championship. Well, I was right on both counts! What a fantastic and historic moment we all witnessed at Suzuka. The atmosphere - particularly on race day - was buzzing with excitement and anticipation about the outcome of the race. Several drivers and teams, including my Jordan squad, were battling for the end of season rankings, so there was much interest and rivalry between all of us all the way down the field.

I really wanted to end my two years as a Jordan driver with a final points finish at Suzuka to lift the team from ninth place in the Constructors' Championship, but it was not to be. Disappointingly, my final race for Jordan ended prematurely on lap 34 when the engine cut out. My teammate Ralph (Firman) had suffered fuel pick-up difficulties throughout the race and had also encountered problems with the fuel rig during his pitstop. Owing to a refuelling error, my EJ13 ran out of fuel before my second scheduled pitstop. It was not the way I had wished to finish the Japanese Grand Prix.

It was particularly disappointing because at the time I had the problem I was lying in 14th and the car was running quite strongly. The balance was reasonable - better than it had been all weekend. In fact, until the fuel problem occurred, I was having quite a good race. For sure I felt there could be an opportunity of finishing in the points again, but no, it was not to be my parting gift to a great team of guys. But hey, that's life and we have to move on and go forward.

This is a good moment for me to thank everyone in the team for the good work and effort during a difficult season. During the past two years, working with these guys, I collected some good memories and, even when it has been a bit tough - like this season - the atmosphere has always been fantastic. The win in Brazil was very special for me as I hope it was special for everyone in the team and I wish each and everyone all the best and I hope that we both have better seasons next year!

Looking back at the Japanese Grand Prix, I thought the alterations made to Suzuka was all good stuff but our biggest problem was a lack of downforce at a circuit where downforce is vital. Consequently, we were always looking to find a balance that would give me a little more grip.

Admittedly I made a mistake in the last sector during first qualifying, braking too heavily, which ultimately cost me a few tenths. Still, I was hopeful of setting a better time the following day. Although I had 30 laps of relatively trouble-free running during the free practice sessions, warm-up and qualifying, we still could not find enough speed and we were still three seconds off the pace, so the best I could manage was 16th on the grid.

All we could do was to hope that the rain which came down during the second half of qualifying would return on race day. Those are the type of conditions that help us maximise the effectiveness of our Bridgestone tyres and my style of driving.

Once again we had decided upon a race strategy that would benefit from a wet race and it certainly looked as though it was going to rain on race day, but unfortunately for us it did not happen. But that's life as I said before, and not even my new helmet design could bring us any better fortune that weekend. Nevertheless, Jordan should be pleased with the reliability of Ralph's car as he finished the race in 14th.

This is a good time to summarise the 2003 season, and in a nutshell I would say it was another pretty frustrating and disappointing one except for Brazil!

For sure the Brazilian Grand Prix was a difficult race with so many incidents and such difficult conditions - so to win my first Grand Prix in Brazil was fantastic. I am now looking forward to my next Grand Prix victory when I can hold the winner's trophy from the top step of the podium.

The US Grand Prix was another weekend I remember fondly. We had a difficult weekend and it was a challenging and eventful race, so I was pleased to finish seventh from 17th on the grid and win two more Championship points for Jordan.

Another race to remember for me was my home race, the Italian Grand Prix. Although the weekend started badly with the T-car faster than my race car, the team sorted the problems out for me on the Saturday. I was therefore confident of finishing in the points as I had qualified 13th. Unfortunately an electrical fault in my gearbox forced me to pit during the warm-up lap.

When the team had fixed the problem I had to join the field in last position. So to finish a tough weekend in 10th place was quite a good result considering the huge strain on engine, brakes and tyres at Monza. Although we were outside the points, the car ran strongly throughout the race giving us all the satisfaction that we had found reliability with my EJ13.

Now I am having a rest, enjoying time with my family before visiting my new team Sauber at the end of this month. I am really looking forward to this new challenge in my career and working with Peter Sauber's team. I cannot wait to begin working with them on their preparations for 2004. Hopefully I can win some podium places for Sauber next season!

We also have some exciting and challenging new circuits to visit next season in Bahrain and China as well as a welcome return to Spa - one of my favourite tracks. It is also good to know that Formula One is in such demand around the world with so many fantastic new race venues queuing up to host a Grand Prix like Russia, India and Turkey. Logistically it will probably prove quite a challenge to our teams but as we all know, nothing stays the same for long in F1 and we are always seeking to push the boundaries in one way or another.

For sure I cannot wait to try out these new tracks and experience the different cultures and play my part in putting on some good, hard racing to inspire the local spectators in becoming passionate followers of motor racing - Grand Prix style!

My best wishes to all Atlas F1 readers for an early season's greetings and Happy New Year!

Ciao a tutti!

Giancarlo Fisichella's column is written exclusively for Atlas F1 by Fisichella himself, with the assistance of friend and freelance journalist Georgie Shaw.
Fisichella's official website can be found at http://www.giancarlofisichella.it.