2003 Austrian Grand Prix

  2003 Austrian Grand Prix

Race details
Race 6 of 16 in the 2003 Formula One season
Date	May 18, 2003
Official name	XXVII A1 Grand Prix of Austria
Location	A1-Ring, Spielberg, Austria
Course	Permanent racing facility 4.326 km (2.684 mi)
Distance	69 laps, 298.494 km (185.196 mi)
Weather	Clear
Pole position
Driver	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari
Time	1:09.150
Fastest lap
Driver	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari
Time	1:08.337 on lap 41
Podium
First	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari
Second	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes
Third	Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari

The 2003 Austrian Grand Prix (formally the XXVII A1 Grand Prix of Austria) was a Formula One race held on 18 May 2003 at the A1-Ring. It was the sixth round of the 2003 Formula One season. The race, contested over 69 laps, was won by Michael Schumacher driving a Ferrari car after starting from pole position. Kimi Raikkonen 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.

Report

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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.

Race

Fernando Alonso chose to start from the pitlane in the team 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. Regardless, he managed to finish in 7th, earning 2 points.
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-Harold 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. After the safety car, Schumacher sped away from the rest of the field.
After 11 laps, it started to rain, initially lightly, although eventually people needed to pit for wet tyres. On lap 23, Schumacher pitted, and there was a problem with his refueller, possibly caused by the fact that the team had used it to fill up Rubens Barrichello's car. The fuel nozzle had problems coming out, and when it did, this caused a large fire. The fire was extinguished quickly, and Schumacher continued in the race, losing about 15–20 seconds of time, and putting him in third place.
On lap 32, everything changed. Räikkönen was having engine-related performance problems, and this allow Schumacher to catch and eventually pass him. A few hundred yards ahead, leader Juan Pablo Montoya's engine blew up, and he retired, giving Schumacher the race lead, a lead which he held for the rest of the race.
After the second round of pitstops, Barichello closed up on second-place Räikkönen, but was unable to pass him, despite his car being clearly faster.

Classification

Qualifying

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 Time	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 Time

Race

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	17	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	19
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	Clutch	20
DNS	10	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Sauber-Petronas	0	Clutch	15

Notes

• This was the last Austrian Grand Prix until 2014 at the same track (although renamed the Red Bull Ring).

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Kimi Räikkönen 40 2 Michael Schumacher 38 3 Rubens Barrichello 26 4 Fernando Alonso 25 5 David Coulthard 23

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Ferrari 64 2 McLaren-Mercedes 63 3 Renault 35 4 Williams-BMW 35 5 Jordan-Ford 11

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

References

Coordinates: 47°13′11″N 14°45′53″E / 47.21972°N 14.76472°E / 47.21972; 14.76472