2003 Austrian Grand Prix

The 2003 Austrian Grand Prix (formally known as A1 Grand Prix von Österreich 2003) was a Formula One motor race held on 18 May 2003 at the A1-Ring. It was the sixth round of the 2003 Formula One season and the 27th Austrian Grand Prix. The 69-lap race was won by Michael Schumacher driving a Ferrari car after starting from pole position. Kimi Räikkönen finished second driving for McLaren with Rubens Barrichello third in the other Ferrari. It was the last Austrian Grand Prix to be held until it returned to the renamed Red Bull Ring in 2014.

2003 Austrian Grand Prix
Race 6 of 16 in the 2003 Formula One World Championship
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Race details
Date 18 May 2003
Official name A1 Grand Prix von Österreich 2003[1]
Location A1-Ring, Spielberg, Austria
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 4.326 km (2.684 miles)
Distance 69 laps, 298.494 km (185.196 miles)
Scheduled distance 71 laps, 307.146 km (190.564 miles)
Weather Mostly cloudy with isolated showers in the area
Pole position
Driver
Ferrari
Time 1:09.150
Fastest lap
Driver Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari
Time 1:08.337 on lap 41 (lap record)
Podium
First
Ferrari
Second
McLaren-Mercedes
Third
Ferrari
Lap leaders

Background

The Grand Prix was contested by ten teams with two drivers each. The teams (also known as constructors) were Ferrari, Williams, McLaren, Renault, Sauber, Jordan, Jaguar, BAR, Minardi and Toyota.[2] It was announced in January 2003 that the Austrian Grand Prix would be dropped from the Formula One calendar in 2004, three years before the contract for the race was due to expire. This was because an exit clause was enabled in response to the European Union pushing forward a ban on tobacco advertising to 1 October 2005.[3]

Before the race, McLaren driver Kimi Räikkönen led the Drivers' Championship with 32 points, ahead of Michael Schumacher (28) and Fernando Alonso (25). Rubens Barrichello was fourth with 20 points, while David Coulthard was a close fifth with 19 points.[4] In the Constructors' Championship, McLaren was leading with 51 points, three points ahead of their rival Ferrari. Renault (34 points) and Williams (32 points) contended for fourth place and Jordan was fifth with 11 points.[4]

Qualifying

Qualifying was interesting, as there was no knowledge of what the weather would be for the race, making tyre and fuel strategy critical. Michael Schumacher qualified on pole despite a huge slide on his best qualifying lap. Championship leader Kimi Räikkönen qualified second, and was given special dispensation from the FIA to change his cracked valve, without incurring the usual penalty for changing an engine.

Qualifying classification
PosNoDriverConstructorQ1 TimeQ2 TimeGap
1 1 Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:07.908 1:09.150
2 6 Finland Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 1:08.978 1:09.189 +0.039
3 3 Colombia Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 1:08.839 1:09.391 +0.241
4 9 Germany Nick Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas 1:09.479 1:09.725 +0.575
5 2 Brazil Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 1:08.187 1:09.784 +0.634
6 7 Italy Jarno Trulli Renault 1:09.450 1:09.890 +0.740
7 17 United Kingdom Jenson Button BAR-Honda 1:08.831 1:09.935 +0.785
8 15 Brazil Antônio Pizzonia Jaguar-Cosworth 1:09.024 1:10.045 +0.895
9 11 Italy Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Ford 1:09.281 1:10.105 +0.955
10 4 Germany Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW No Time 1:10.279 +1.129
11 20 France Olivier Panis Toyota 1:09.764 1:10.402 +1.252
12 16 Canada Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Honda 1:08.680 1:10.618 +1.468
13 21 Brazil Cristiano da Matta Toyota 1:10.370 1:10.834 +1.684
14 5 United Kingdom David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:08.947 1:10.893 +1.743
15 10 Germany Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Petronas 1:10.055 1:11.307 +2.157
16 12 Republic of Ireland Ralph Firman Jordan-Ford 1:11.171 1:11.505 +2.355
17 14 Australia Mark Webber Jaguar-Cosworth 1:08.512 1:11.662 +2.512
18 18 United Kingdom Justin Wilson Minardi-Cosworth 1:11.056 1:14.508 +5.358
19 8 Spain Fernando Alonso Renault 1:09.680 1:20.113 +10.963
20 19 Netherlands Jos Verstappen Minardi-Cosworth 1:10.894 No Time
Sources:[5][6][7]

Race

Fernando Alonso chose to start from the pitlane in the spare car, and Mark Webber chose to start from the pitlane in his regular car. This meant Webber could not change tyres or add fuel until the race started, whereas Alonso could. His Jaguar broke this rule, and so Webber received a 10-second stop/go penalty.[8]

Cristiano da Matta had a faulty launch control, which caused 2 aborted starts, reducing the race to 69 laps. On the third (and final) formation lap, Heinz-Harald Frentzen's Sauber did not start, and he did not have time to set up the team car.

At the start, Jos Verstappen's launch control broke, and he retired. This caused the safety car to be deployed. Michael eventually led Montoya and Räikkönen when the green flag came out at the end of lap 4. The field remained relatively stable for the next several laps.

After 11 laps, it started to rain lightly, although it was not enough to force cars into the pits. Moments later, Jarno Trulli's Renault spun at turn one and he rejoined without problems. On lap 23, Michael pitted and there was a problem with his fuel filler, possibly caused by the fact that the team had used it to fill up Rubens Barrichello's car, which had a very slow first stop. Some of the fuel that actually did come out of the nozzle hit the bodywork on the sidepods, causing a small fire. The fire was extinguished quickly, and Michael continued in the race, losing about 12 seconds and was now running in third position.

On lap 32, everything turned into Michael's favour. Räikkönen was having engine-related performance problems, and this allowed Schumacher to catch and eventually pass him. On the straight between turns two and three, leader Juan Pablo Montoya's engine blew up. He made it back to the garage, and Michael was back in the lead. Alonso was on a good run despite starting from the pit lane, and was running in the top five when he spun off course at turn one, on what turned out to be his own oil caused by a blown engine in his Renault. Michael eventually set the fastest lap of the day, at an average speed of 227.894 km/h.[9]

After the second round of stops, Barrichello closed up on second-place Räikkönen, but was unable to pass him due to some good defensive moves by Kimi, despite his car being clearly faster. Michael eventually went on to win the race, his third successive of the season.[10] Jenson Button finished fourth for BAR despite being disappointed in qualifying, and David Coulthard's race was uneventful in fifth place. Ralf Schumacher was sixth, Webber finished a brilliant seventh despite his penalties, and Trulli was eighth for the final point. Despite causing the aborted starts earlier in the day, da Matta finished the race, a lap down in tenth position.

Race classification
PosNoDriverConstructorLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
1 1 Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari 69 1:24:04.888 1 10
2 6 Finland Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 69 +3.362 2 8
3 2 Brazil Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 69 +3.951 5 6
4 17 United Kingdom Jenson Button BAR-Honda 69 +42.243 7 5
5 5 United Kingdom David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 69 +59.740 14 4
6 4 Germany Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW 68 +1 Lap 10 3
7 14 Australia Mark Webber Jaguar-Cosworth 68 +1 Lap PL 2
8 7 Italy Jarno Trulli Renault 68 +1 Lap 6 1
9 15 Brazil Antônio Pizzonia Jaguar-Cosworth 68 +1 Lap 8  
10 21 Brazil Cristiano da Matta Toyota 68 +1 Lap 13  
11 12 Republic of Ireland Ralph Firman Jordan-Ford 68 +1 Lap 16  
12 16 Canada Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Honda 68 +1 Lap 12  
13 18 United Kingdom Justin Wilson Minardi-Cosworth 67 +2 Laps 18  
Ret 11 Italy Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Ford 60 Fuel system 9  
Ret 9 Germany Nick Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas 46 Engine 4  
Ret 8 Spain Fernando Alonso Renault 44 Engine/Spin PL  
Ret 3 Colombia Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 32 Engine 3  
Ret 20 France Olivier Panis Toyota 6 Suspension 11  
Ret 19 Netherlands Jos Verstappen Minardi-Cosworth 0 Launch control 20  
DNS 10 Germany Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Petronas 0 Clutch 15  
Source:[11]

Championship standings after the race
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References
  1. "A1 Grand Prix von Österreich 2003 - Race". Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  2. "2003 Entry List". FIA.com. Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. Archived from the original on 2 June 2002. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
  3. "Early end for Austrian GP". BBC Sport. BBC. 27 January 2003. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  4. "Drivers' and Constructors' Final Standings". FIA.com. Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. Archived from the original on 2 December 2003. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  5. "2003 Austrian GP – 1st Qualification". ChicaneF1. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
  6. "2003 Austrian GP – 2nd Qualification". ChicaneF1. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
  7. "2003 Austrian Grand Prix Classification Grid". Motorsport Stats. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
  8. "AUSTRIAN GP - SUNDAY - RACE REPORT". 19 May 2003. Archived from the original on 10 January 2015. Retrieved 9 January 2015.
  9. "2003 Austrian Grand Prix fastest laps". Statsf1.com. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
  10. "2003 Austrian Grand Prix results". Statsf1.com. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
  11. "2003 Austrian Grand Prix". Formula1.com. Formula1.com Limited. Archived from the original on 26 December 2014. Retrieved 26 December 2015.
  12. "Austria 2003 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 8 March 2019.

47°13′11″N 14°45′53″E

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