| 2003 Austrian Grand Prix | |||||
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Race 6 of 16 in the2003 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 |  Michael Schumacher | Ferrari | |||
| Time | 1:08.337 on lap 41(lap record) | ||||
| Podium | |||||
| First | Ferrari | ||||
| Second | McLaren-Mercedes | ||||
| Third | Ferrari | ||||
Lap leaders | |||||
The2003 Austrian Grand Prix(formally known asA1 Grand Prix von Österreich 2003) was aFormula One motor race held on 18 May 2003 at theA1-Ring. It was the sixth round of the2003 Formula One season and the 27thAustrian Grand Prix. The 69-lap race was won byMichael Schumacher driving aFerrari car after starting frompole position.Kimi Räikkönen finished second driving forMcLaren withRubens Barrichello third in the other Ferrari. It was the last Austrian Grand Prix to be held until it returned to the renamedRed Bull Ring in2014.
It was Ferrari's last win in Austria until2022.
The Grand Prix was contested by ten teams with two drivers each. The teams (also known asconstructors) wereFerrari,Williams,McLaren,Renault,Sauber,Jordan,Jaguar,BAR,Minardi andToyota.[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 theEuropean Union pushing forward a ban on tobacco advertising to 1 October 2005.[3]
Before the race, McLaren driverKimi Räikkönen led theDrivers' Championship with 32points, ahead ofMichael Schumacher (28) andFernando Alonso (25).Rubens Barrichello was fourth with 20 points, whileDavid Coulthard was a close fifth with 19 points.[4] In theConstructors' 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 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 leaderKimi Räikkönen qualified second, and was given special dispensation from theFIA to change his cracked valve, without incurring the usual penalty for changing an engine.
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Q1 Time | Q2 Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Michael Schumacher | Ferrari | 1:07.908 | 1:09.150 | |
| 2 | 6 |  Kimi Räikkönen | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:08.978 | 1:09.189 | +0.039 |
| 3 | 3 |  Juan Pablo Montoya | Williams-BMW | 1:08.839 | 1:09.391 | +0.241 |
| 4 | 9 | Nick Heidfeld | Sauber-Petronas | 1:09.479 | 1:09.725 | +0.575 |
| 5 | 2 |  Rubens Barrichello | Ferrari | 1:08.187 | 1:09.784 | +0.634 |
| 6 | 7 |  Jarno Trulli | Renault | 1:09.450 | 1:09.890 | +0.740 |
| 7 | 17 |  Jenson Button | BAR-Honda | 1:08.831 | 1:09.935 | +0.785 |
| 8 | 15 | Antônio Pizzonia | Jaguar-Cosworth | 1:09.024 | 1:10.045 | +0.895 |
| 9 | 11 | Giancarlo Fisichella | Jordan-Ford | 1:09.281 | 1:10.105 | +0.955 |
| 10 | 4 | Ralf Schumacher | Williams-BMW | No time1 | 1:10.279 | +1.129 |
| 11 | 20 |  Olivier Panis | Toyota | 1:09.764 | 1:10.402 | +1.252 |
| 12 | 16 |  Jacques Villeneuve | BAR-Honda | 1:08.680 | 1:10.618 | +1.468 |
| 13 | 21 | Cristiano da Matta | Toyota | 1:10.370 | 1:10.834 | +1.684 |
| 14 | 5 | David Coulthard | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:08.947 | 1:10.893 | +1.743 |
| 15 | 10 | Heinz-Harald Frentzen | Sauber-Petronas | 1:10.055 | 1:11.307 | +2.157 |
| 16 | 12 |  Ralph Firman | Jordan-Ford | 1:11.171 | 1:11.505 | +2.355 |
| 17 | 14 |  Mark Webber | Jaguar-Cosworth | 1:08.512 | 1:11.662 | +2.512 |
| 18 | 18 | Justin Wilson | Minardi-Cosworth | 1:11.056 | 1:14.508 | +5.358 |
| 19 | 8 |  Fernando Alonso | Renault | 1:09.680 | 1:20.113 | +10.963 |
| 20 | 19 |  Jos Verstappen | Minardi-Cosworth | 1:10.894 | No time2 | |
| Sources:[5][6][7] | ||||||
Fernando Alonso chose to start from the pitlane in the spare car, andMark 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 upRubens 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, leaderJuan 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, andDavid 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.
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Michael Schumacher | Ferrari | 69 | 1:24:04.888 | 1 | 10 |
| 2 | 6 | Kimi Räikkönen | McLaren-Mercedes | 69 | +3.362 | 2 | 8 |
| 3 | 2 | Rubens Barrichello | Ferrari | 69 | +3.951 | 5 | 6 |
| 4 | 17 | Jenson Button | BAR-Honda | 69 | +42.243 | 7 | 5 |
| 5 | 5 | David Coulthard | McLaren-Mercedes | 69 | +59.740 | 14 | 4 |
| 6 | 4 | Ralf Schumacher | Williams-BMW | 68 | +1 Lap | 10 | 3 |
| 7 | 14 | Mark Webber | Jaguar-Cosworth | 68 | +1 Lap | PL3 | 2 |
| 8 | 7 | Jarno Trulli | Renault | 68 | +1 Lap | 6 | 1 |
| 9 | 15 | Antônio Pizzonia | Jaguar-Cosworth | 68 | +1 Lap | 8 | |
| 10 | 21 | Cristiano da Matta | Toyota | 68 | +1 Lap | 13 | |
| 11 | 12 | Ralph Firman | Jordan-Ford | 68 | +1 Lap | 16 | |
| 12 | 16 | Jacques Villeneuve | BAR-Honda | 68 | +1 Lap | 12 | |
| 13 | 18 | Justin Wilson | Minardi-Cosworth | 67 | +2 Laps | 18 | |
| Ret | 11 | Giancarlo Fisichella | Jordan-Ford | 60 | Fuel system | 9 | |
| Ret | 9 | Nick Heidfeld | Sauber-Petronas | 46 | Engine | 4 | |
| Ret | 8 | Fernando Alonso | Renault | 44 | Engine/Spin | PL3 | |
| Ret | 3 | Juan Pablo Montoya | Williams-BMW | 32 | Engine | 3 | |
| Ret | 20 | Olivier Panis | Toyota | 6 | Suspension | 11 | |
| Ret | 19 | Jos Verstappen | Minardi-Cosworth | 0 | Launch control | 20 | |
| DNS | 10 | Heinz-Harald Frentzen | Sauber-Petronas | 0 | Clutch | 15 | |
Source:[11] | |||||||
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| Previous race: 2003 Spanish Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 2003 season | Next race: 2003 Monaco Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 2002 Austrian Grand Prix | Austrian Grand Prix | Next race: 2014 Austrian Grand Prix |
47°13′11″N14°45′53″E / 47.21972°N 14.76472°E /47.21972; 14.76472
