In a season of almost total domination from Michael Schumacher, it is almost inevitable to wonder what things would look like without the German seven-time champion on track. Sunday's inaugural Chinese Grand Prix was as close as it gets to that scenario.
After 12 wins in 15 races, and with the title already in his pocket, Schumacher, metaphorically speaking, took the weekend off in China. It was one of those rare occasions where the Ferrari driver looks human for most of the weekend, which allowed his rivals to have a chance at seeing what life would be without him.
The Shanghai race was a career low for the German driver, who had never finished a race below 11th position. At the state-of-the-art circuit, Schumacher went home after finishing in 12th place, marking the first time he has finished a race without scoring points since the 1999 season.
With Schumacher out of contention right from the start of the race after a mistake in qualifying, it was his rivals' turn to star during the weekend, commercially the most important in the history of the sport, as pointed out by Mercedes-Benz motorsport boss Norbert Haug.
After having spent over $325 million to build the outstanding circuit, the Chinese got a deserved reward in the form of an excellent show, with Formula One continuing with its momentum following the exciting Belgian and Italian Grands Prix. It's hardly a coincidence that none of those three races have seen Michael Schumacher at the top of the podium.
Victory in China was again for a Ferrari, with Rubens Barrichello putting on a superb performance to score his second consecutive win, but for a big part of the event, like in Italy two weeks earlier, the Italian squad were challenged strongly by their rivals, with both Jenson Button and Kimi Raikkonen looking like potential winners until the chequered flag was waved.
Following his first win of the season in Italy, Barrichello arrived in China with his confidence on a high, and it was boosted even more when Schumacher spun in qualifying, leaving the Brazilian as Ferrari's main hope for victory. Despite having Button and Raikkonen right behind him for the whole event, Barrichello drove a flawless race and emerged victorious to give Ferrari their 14th win in 16 races.
The sight of the Brazilian driver spraying champagne over Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo on the podium spoke volumes of Barrichello's confidence after two consecutive and deserved victories following a season in the shadow of his Championship-winning teammate.
Barrichello's performance denied victory to both Button and Raikkonen, who came close to winning but had to be content with filling the remaining places of the podium. In Button's case, the result was more satisfying despite once more failing to score his maiden win.
The BAR-Honda driver drove strongly all throughout the race and come close to the top spot thanks to his two-stop strategy, but in the end, Barrichello's pace was just too quick for him. With a better start he claimed he could have made it, but as things turned out he was happy to walk away with eight points, which helped BAR stretch their lead over Renault in the standings with just two races remaining.
For Raikkonen the race proved somewhat disappointing in the end, as he looked faster than Barrichello for a significant part of the event. But McLaren decided to take a risk during his second pitstop, sending the Finn out with less fuel onboard in the hope of jumping ahead of Barrichello, and the gamble failed badly, not only because Raikkonen was unable to catch the Ferrari driver, but also because it handed Button second place.
"We have always made it clear that we exist to win and that was what we wanted to do today," said McLaren chief Ron Dennis after the race. "As a result we took the decision to change Kimi's strategy to see if we could get him ahead of Rubens. On this occasion it didn't work out and in effect we handed second place to Jenson."
For the Renault team, the Chinese Grand Prix was another tough weekend which saw them losing out to BAR once again, their deficit increasing to nine points after Fernando Alonso came home in fourth place. It was the first time that Renault have scored a point since the Hungarian Grand Prix, and although Alonso felt five points was more than he could have expected given his car's handling, the result was disappointing and the French squad again had only one car in contention.
Jacques Villeneuve made his long-awaited return to Formula One, but without enough time to test and with the Shanghai circuit not suiting the Renault, the Canadian's comeback was rather lackluster after he went on to finish in 11th place. Japan, where Renault expect to be fighting at the top, should show the former World Champion's real form after a year out of the sport.
Villeneuve's return was not the only remarkable one in China, as Ralf Schumacher finally got back to racing action after three months recovering from his injuries. It seemed like the break did him good, as the German looked like the stronger Williams driver for most of the weekend, outpacing Juan Pablo Montoya in qualifying and during the race.
In the end, however, it was the Colombian who salvaged Williams' honours with his fifth place while Ralf retired after David Coulthard sent him spinning with an over-optimistic move. The incident in fact put both men out of contention, but Raikkonen's result allowed McLaren to close in on Williams in their fight for fourth place in the Constructors' Championship.
Qualifying
The final qualifying session for the Chinese Grand Prix almost guaranteed there would be excitement come race day after some unexpected results. A Ferrari on pole was not much of a surprise, but the other one was at the back of the grid and, being Michael Schumacher the driver, that did surprise everybody.
The session was again incredibly close, with a couple of tenths making a big difference in grid position. That, added to the challenging Shanghai circuit, made for a remarkable qualifying in which Rubens Barrichello emerged on top for the second consecutive race.
The Grid
1. Rubens Barrichello
Fresh from his first win of the season at the Italian Grand Prix, Barrichello arrived in China determined to continue with his momentum. The Ferrari driver was enjoying driving at the Chinese circuit and it reflected on his times. Just like at Monza two weeks earlier, Barrichello earned pole position by being the strongest driver in the middle sector. It was not by much, but the Brazilian took his third pole position of the season to place himself in the best possible spot to win the race.
2. Kimi Raikkonen
Raikkonen felt good at the Shanghai circuit right from the start of the weekend, and that reflected on his times, both in practice and in qualifying. The McLaren driver was close to the top of the times in all timed sessions and come qualifying he was among the favourites to fight for pole. In the end, he had to settle for second, but was enough to put him in a perfect position to fight for victory. Despite making a small error at the end of his flying lap, the Finn claimed it was not enough to deny him pole.
3. Jenson Button
Despite feeling he could have extracted much more from the BAR, Button was happy with his qualifying position after suffering some problems with the handling. The Briton felt comfortable with the 006 when doing long runs, but over one lap and with new tyres he struggled to find the right balance. Finishing less than three tenths of a second behind Barrichello was a highly creditable effort considering Button was carrying enough fuel to go for a two-stop strategy while most of his rivals were on a three-stopper.
4. Felipe Massa
The Sauber team were the surprise of qualifying with their performance. The Swiss-squad's package seemed to adapt perfectly to the twisty Chinese track, and aided by the new Bridgestone rubber Massa put on an impressive showing. Unlike his teammate Fisichella, the young Brazilian did not suffer from tyre graining in qualifying, which made a real difference for him. A fast and error-free lap saw him achieve his best ever qualifying position.
5. Ralf Schumacher
If anyone had any doubts about Ralf's performance following his accident, they were soon dissipated as the German returned in better form than he was before. In the words of team chief Frank Williams, the German was "fitter than I have seen him for quite some time, mentally ahead of the game." Schumacher was the quickest Williams driver right from the start despite having problems to find the right set-up for his car. Even so, he managed to surprise himself, not only by setting a strong fifth quickest time, but also outqualifying teammate Montoya by nearly half a second.
6. Fernando Alonso
The Renaults were not as competitive as they would have hoped in China, and despite being the quickest of the French team's drivers all weekend, Alonso never felt too comfortable pushing the R24 to the limit. Although the car was better in qualifying than it had been in practice, the Spaniard failed to use all the car's potential and finished far from the pole position time.
7. Giancarlo Fisichella
The Italian completed Sauber's strongest qualifying day of the year, benefitting from the latest Bridgestone tyres. Like teammate Massa, however, Fisichella suffered from graining on his tyres all weekend and on his flying lap he complained his car was understeering badly very early as a consequence of the problem with the rubber. Despite that, Fisichella's lap was good enough for a good place on the grid that raised Sauber's hopes ahead of the race.
8. Olivier Panis
Toyota looked better than they expected at the Shanghai circuit, and despite problems on Saturday morning, Panis managed to put on a good performance. The long straight seemed to favour the powerful Toyota engine, and the handling of the car had Panis happy. The Frenchman had to work hard after Saturday practice to rectify some problems with grip and balance, but qualifying saw him completing a clean, strong lap that put him in a good position to fight for points on Sunday.
9. David Coulthard
Apart from Friday's practice, Coulthard never seemed to be able to extract as much as Raikkonen from the McLaren-Mercedes package, and as a consequence he was outpaced by the Finn most of the time. In pre-qualifying, he had problems with the balance of his car and struggled with oversteer. He was unable to solve the problems completely for the final session and lost a lot of time in the middle sector, finishing nearly a second behind Raikkonen. All in all, not an impressive performance from the Scot.
10. Juan Pablo Montoya
Unlike his teammate, Montoya didn't look too comfortable at the Shanghai circuit as he struggled to find the right set-up for his Williams. He was quite slow on Friday and despite setting some promising times in Saturday's first practice, the Colombian was never among the top runners in the rest of the timed sessions. He was less than four tenths slower than Ralf, but the difference in positions was significant given the close field.
11. Mark Webber
Despite not having the revised Jaguar chassis at his disposal like teammate Klien, Webber was once more the quickest man from the still Ford-owned squad during the whole weekend. The Australian, determined to boost his team in a very difficult time, was as consistent as usual and again put on a solid performance, extracting the best from his package. On his flying lap, he came close to losing his car, but a quick reaction allowed him to continue without losing too much time and Webber managed to outqualify Klien by over a second.
12. Jacques Villeneuve
Villeneuve did not have an easy task on his Formula One return. Having tested the Renault for just two days before travelling to China, the Canadian faced qualifying having spent too little time behind the wheel of the Michelin-shod car. With that in mind, his performance was reasonable, finishing four tenths of a second behind teammate Alonso, which given the closely-matched field meant a lot of positions. If not for an error at the final corner, Villeneuve could have been higher, but he was still upbeat for the race.
13. Ricardo Zonta
The Brazilian driver was expecting more from qualifying after shining in the practice sessions with a Toyota that proved to be more competitive than the Japanese squad had expected before the race. Zonta, however, said the grip levels had lowered in qualifying, and that, added to a mistake at the hairpin during his flying lap, saw the Toyota driver failing to shine. Time-wise Zonta was not far from more promising positions, but even small errors cost dear for the mid-field runners.
14. Nick Heidfeld
The Jordan seemed to suit the Shanghai circuit better than previous tracks, and Heidfeld looked more competitive right from the start. His highlight of the weekend was posting the sixth quickest time in the first practice session on Saturday, and although he was unable to repeat such a feat in qualifying, his effort allowed him to escape the final three rows of the grid, something he hadn't managed since the European Grand Prix. Heidfeld was aided by the Bridgestone tyres, which seemed to hold the upper hand on Saturday.
15. Christian Klien
Despite having the benefit of using the revised, lightweight Jaguar R05b chassis during the weekend, Klien never managed to look better than in previous races when compared to teammate Webber. The rookie was slower than the Australian in most of the times sessions and failed to extract the best out of the car in final qualifying, where he was over a whole second behind Webber.
16. Timo Glock
The German driver returned to Grand Prix action to replace Italian Giorgio Pantano, whose contract with Jordan was terminated after an unimpressive debut season. Glock, who had already stood in for Pantano at the Canadian Grand Prix, enjoyed a trouble-free weekend and put on a reasonable performance in qualifying, finishing slightly over half a second behind teammate Heidfeld. Glock had balance problems with his car in pre-qualifying, but they were solved for the final session, and with a clean and tidy lap he showed good speed given the circumnstances.
17. Michael Schumacher
Schumacher had somewhat of an atypical weekend, struggling to find the right set-up for his Ferrari on Friday, and even succumbing momentarily to a problem with his car. Although things looked much better on Saturday after he topped the times both in final practice and in pre-qualifying, a rare spin at the start of his flying lap put an end to all his hopes. Even Schumacher himself was doubtful he was to blame for the high-speed spin, which, if indeed was his fault, was the first real mistake the German has made since the one-lap qualifying system was introduced last season.
18. Takuma Sato
Completing just nine laps on the first day of work at a completely new circuit was far from the start Sato would have hoped for. Things were made even worse by the reason he covered just nine laps: his Honda engine let go as he was completing his installation lap during second practice. Although he recovered some ground on Saturday morning, the wasted Friday seemed too big a burden and the Japanese driver never looked as competitive as teammate Button. He was over half a second slower than the Briton in qualifying, although Sato's car was likely to be heavier.
19. Gianmaria Bruni
Watching the hand movement of a Minardi driver during a flying lap is enough to understand how poorly the car handles, and that was even more evident at the Shanghai circuit, where Bruni had a hard time finding a decent balance for his car. On his flying lap, he was also a victim of the challenging first corner, which saw him push too hard and spin. His teammate's engine change helped him escape the final place of the grid.
20. Zsolt Baumgartner
Having changed his engine as a precaution prior to qualifying, Baumgartner not only had to cope with driving the recalcitrant Minardi around the twisty circuit, but also with a heavy load of fuel onboard. It was not as easy task, and the Hungarian struggled badly to get close to any of his rivals. Oversteering problems did not help matters, and the Minardi driver finished over three seconds behind the driver in front.
The Race
Following the first engine change of the year for Ferrari, Schumacher took the start from the pitlane, which allowed him to change tyres and refuel his car. He also avoided the possible problems of the tricky first corner, which fortunately would not see any incidents when the start was given.
Barrichello was quick off the line and managed to keep the lead ahead of Raikkonen, with Alonso making another of his flying starts to move from sixth to third by the end of the straight. Massa followed in fourth, but was soon passed by Button. Fisichella, Ralf Schumacher and Coulthard completed the top eight at the end of a rather uneventful opening lap.
Barrichello and Raikkonen quickly began to open the gap to Alonso, who was unable to keep up with the pace of the leaders and was coming under pressure from Button. Behind the BAR driver, Massa was struggling with his tyres and was holding up a group of cars led by Fisichella, who didn't take long to pass his teammate, before Ralf and Coulthard followed suit as Massa continued to drop down the order.
Like Massa, Alonso was also having a hard time driving his car, the Spaniard having to concede third place to Button on lap seven as the Briton began to lap faster than his rivals despite carrying more fuel on board. Further back, Schumacher was fighting his way to the top slower than expected, the German driving a very heavy Ferrari.
By lap 10, Schumacher had only gained five places and was running behind Jaguar's Klien, whom he tried to pass at the hairpin on the following lap. The move seemed a bit over-optimistic and they made contact after the Austrian closed the door. Schumacher made the move stick, though, and Klien was forced to come into the pits to retire with a damaged suspension.
Barrichello and Raikkonen pitted on lap 12, leaving Button in the lead as the BAR driver continued to drive very quickly to open the gap to Alonso, who pitted next. After a couple of fastest race laps, Button made his first scheduled pitstop three laps after the leaders, returning some six seconds behind Raikkonen and leaving Ralf in the lead momentarily.
Once the Williams driver pitted, Barrichello returned to the lead, followed by Raikkonen, who chased the Brazilian by less than a second. Button was third, with Sato, still to stop, in fourth ahead of Alonso and Ralf Schumacher.
His brother Michael, meanwhile, continued with his troubled weekend and, on lap 15, lost his Ferrari and spun, losing several seconds before he got back up to speed in eighth place. The World Champion recovered two more places before making his first scheduled pitstop, which dropped him down to 14th place behind Villeneuve.
Up in front, Barrichello and Raikkonen were still separated by less than a second, but their gap to Button had opened to over 13 seconds by lap 25. Two laps later, McLaren called Raikkonen into the pits earlier than planned in order to have a shot at overtaking Barrichello. The Finn stopped and rejoined in third place. His pace, however, was not as fast as Barrichello's, and when the Brazilian made his second stop on lap 29, his gap to Raikkonen had grown to nearly two seconds.
Button was left in the lead once more, the Briton lapping significantly quicker than both Barrichello and Raikkonen. When he made his second and final pitstop on lap 35, Button was nearly ten seconds in front of the Ferrari and McLaren drivers. He rejoined again in third place, but would soon move up to second after Raikkonen returned to the pits just nine laps after his second pitstop.
Schumacher, meanwhile, was again hit by bad luck as he suffered a puncture and was forced to nurse his car to the pits before rejoining already out of the fight for the points.
Raikkonen lost out in the gamble to try to pass Barrichello as he ended up chasing Button by over nine seconds with less than 20 laps remaining. Behind the leading trio, Sato was ahead of Montoya and Alonso, with Ralf and Coulthard battling for seventh place. On lap 37, Coulthard tried to pass the German driver, but the cars collided and the Williams was sent spinning.
Ralf returned to the race only to head for the pits. Suddenly he seemed to change his mind and looked like trying to return to the track before spinning at the entry of the pitlane. The angry German finally decided to pit and eventually retire despite his car not being damaged.
"I came into the pits to fix the car which we thought had been damaged," Ralf said after the race, "but after a careful look, the engineers decided that I could continue the race. However, too much time had elapsed by then and it was too late to get out on track again, because I would have been two laps down."
Coulthard, meanwhile, suffered a puncture as a consequence of the incident and lost of his chances of scoring points after having to pit, coming back out in ninth place.
As the final round of pitstops was approaching, Barrichello began to push. By lap 40, the Ferrari driver was over 27 seconds ahead of Button, which seemed enough for the Brazilian to pit for the last time and emerge ahead of the BAR driver. And so he did. Barrichello pitted on lap 42 and rejoined eight seconds in front of Button, with Raikkonen another six behind but lapping faster than the Briton.
Alonso was in a distant fourth, while Montoya was also in a lonely fifth position, ahead of Sato, Fisichella, and Massa. That order would remain unchanged until the end of the race and the interest focused on the battle for the lead as both Button and Raikkonen closed the gap to Barrichello.
Raikkonen was the fastest of the three and lapped almost a second quicker than his rivals. Time was running out, however, and although the McLaren driver managed to get within one second of Button, he didn't have the chance to pass and had to settle for third place behind the BAR driver. Barrichello eased off in the end and crossed the line just one second ahead of Button to score one significant victory, not only for himself but also for Ferrari in a country with the biggest, unleashed financial potential...
Race Results
Pos Driver Team-Engine Time
1. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1h29:12.420
2. Button BAR-Honda (M) + 1.035
3. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) + 1.469
4. Alonso Renault (M) + 32.510
5. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) + 45.193
6. Sato BAR-Honda (M) + 54.791
7. Fisichella Sauber-Petronas (B) + 1:05.464
8. Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) + 1:20.080
9. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) + 1:20.619
10. Webber Jaguar-Cosworth (M) + 1 lap
11. Villeneuve Renault (M) + 1 lap
12. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) + 1 lap
13. Heidfeld Jordan-Ford (B) + 1 lap
14. Panis Toyota (M) + 1 lap
15. Glock Jordan-Ford (B) + 1 lap
16. Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth (B) + 3 laps
Fastest Lap: M.Schumacher, 1:32.238
Not Classified/Retirements:
Driver Team On Lap
Bruni Minardi-Cosworth (B) 39
R.Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 38
Zonta Toyota (M) 35
Klien Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 12
World Championship Standing, Round 16:
Drivers: Constructors:
1. M.Schumacher 136 1. Ferrari 244
2. Barrichello 108 2. BAR-Honda 105
3. Button 79 3. Renault 96
4. Alonso 50 4. Williams-BMW 64
5. Trulli 46 5. McLaren-Mercedes 58
6. Montoya 46 6. Sauber-Petronas 32
7. Raikkonen 34 7. Jaguar-Cosworth 10
8. Sato 26 8. Toyota 9
9. Coulthard 24 9. Jordan-Ford 5
10. Fisichella 21 10. Minardi-Cosworth 1
11. R.Schumacher 12
12. Massa 11
13. Webber 7
14. Panis 6
15. Pizzonia 6
16. da Matta 3
17. Heidfeld 3
18. Klien 3
19. Glock 2
20. Baumgartner 1
Fastest Race Laps
Pos Driver Team Lap Time
1. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 55 1:32.238
2. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 28 1:32.455 + 0.217
3. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 53 1:32.876 + 0.638
4. Button BAR-Honda (M) 33 1:32.935 + 0.697
5. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 34 1:33.108 + 0.870
6. Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) 43 1:33.483 + 1.245
7. Fisichella Sauber-Petronas (B) 25 1:33.520 + 1.282
8. Sato BAR-Honda (M) 36 1:33.533 + 1.295
9. R.Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 31 1:33.546 + 1.308
10. Alonso Renault (M) 55 1:33.625 + 1.387
11. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 26 1:33.727 + 1.489
12. Zonta Toyota (M) 24 1:34.269 + 2.031
13. Panis Toyota (M) 51 1:34.603 + 2.365
14. Heidfeld Jordan-Ford (B) 55 1:34.717 + 2.479
15. Webber Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 32 1:34.893 + 2.655
16. Glock Jordan-Ford (B) 54 1:34.931 + 2.693
17. Villeneuve Renault (M) 55 1:34.950 + 2.712
18. Klien Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 10 1:36.888 + 4.650
19. Bruni Minardi-Cosworth (B) 23 1:37.377 + 5.139
20. Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth (B) 51 1:37.578 + 5.340
Pitstop Times
Pos Driver Team Time Lap
1. Zonta Toyota (M) 23.534 11
2. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 23.555 27
3. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 23.665 29
4. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 23.667 42
5. Panis Toyota (M) 23.868 23
6. Zonta Toyota (M) 24.065 25
7. Panis Toyota (M) 24.158 10
8. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 24.207 28
9. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 24.593 47
10. Panis Toyota (M) 24.627 39
11. Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) 24.752 44
12. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 24.922 11
13. Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) 25.026 10
14. Fisichella Sauber-Petronas (B) 25.048 42
15. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 25.155 12
16. Fisichella Sauber-Petronas (B) 25.379 27
17. Fisichella Sauber-Petronas (B) 25.455 11
18. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 25.623 12
19. Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) 25.687 26
20. Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth (B) 25.898 23
21. Bruni Minardi-Cosworth (B) 26.035 25
22. Villeneuve Renault (M) 26.167 14
23. Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth (B) 26.193 12
24. Sato BAR-Honda (M) 26.337 38
25. Alonso Renault (M) 26.392 13
26. Heidfeld Jordan-Ford (B) 26.400 17
27. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 26.436 20
28. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 26.787 36
29. Webber Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 26.816 15
30. Villeneuve Renault (M) 26.871 34
31. Sato BAR-Honda (M) 26.953 18
32. R.Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 26.992 15
33. Glock Jordan-Ford (B) 27.176 15
34. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 27.286 38
35. Alonso Renault (M) 27.367 33
36. Webber Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 27.558 35
37. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 27.561 35
38. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 27.640 38
39. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 27.646 16
40. Heidfeld Jordan-Ford (B) 27.909 36
41. Button BAR-Honda (M) 27.977 14
42. R.Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 28.189 34
43. Button BAR-Honda (M) 28.313 35
44. Bruni Minardi-Cosworth (B) 28.603 10
45. Glock Jordan-Ford (B) 28.730 33
46. Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth (B) 33.020 38