2003 Australian Grand Prix

  2003 Australian Grand Prix

Race details
Race 1 of 16 in the 2003 Formula One season
Date	9 March 2003
Official name	LXVIII Foster's Australian Grand Prix
Location	Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit, Melbourne, Australia
Course	Temporary street circuit
Course length	5.303 km (3.295 mi)
Distance	58 laps, 307.574 km (191.118 mi)
Weather	Damp at beginning, dry later, cloudy, mild
Attendance	118,000[1]
Pole position
Driver	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari
Time	1:27.173
Fastest lap
Driver	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes
Time	1:27.724 on lap 32[2]
Podium
First	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes
Second	Juan Pablo Montoya	Williams-BMW
Third	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes
Lap leaders

The 2003 Australian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 9 March 2003 at the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit. The race was won by McLaren driver David Coulthard, who took the final race victory of his career.

Report

Background

There was a lot of speculation about how the new set of rules that debuted in this race would affect Ferrari, which were the ones to cause the changes after their dominant 2002 season.

Qualifying

Qualifying was an all Ferrari affair, with Schumacher edging out Barrichello. Montoya took third, with Frentzen, Panis and Villeneuve putting in good performances for 4th, 5th and 6th. The McLarens had poor qualifying, with Coulthard in 11th, and Räikkönen making a mistake, and ending up 15th.

Race

Weather conditions were changeable at the start. Räikkönen stopped for dry tyres at the end of the formation lap. Barrichello jumped the start, and would soon receive a drive-through penalty. Schumacher led at the end of lap 1, with Barrichello in close company. Montoya was 6 seconds behind in third, followed by Frentzen and Villeneuve. Panis went backwards on dry tyres, with the Renaults, Ralf Schumacher and Coulthard climbing quickly. Barrichello received his penalty, and on his in lap, who lost traction on a quickly drying track, crashed at Turn Five on lap five, followed by rookie Ralph Firman, who had driven well on his dry Bridgestones to climb to eighth by lap seven. Schumacher dropped to eighth, pitting for dry tyres, with the leaders pitting just before a safety car (caused as a result of Firman and da Matta crashing). But then Mark Webber's Jaguar, lying an impressvie sixth, broke his rear suspension and stopped in an awkward place, so came out the safety car again on laps 19 and 20.

By halfway through, it was Montoya who was holding the front, followed by Kimi Räikkönen and Michael Schumacher. Renault's Jarno Trulli also fought closely until he went into the pits. Räikkönen had his turn leading the race until a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane. After a wheel-to-wheel dispute with the Finnish driver, Michael Schumacher was forced onto the grass, consequently losing his right deflector, which despite not having great overall impact on the car's aerodynamics, barred him from closing on Räikkönen again and made him miss the podium for the first time since the 2001 Italian Grand Prix and the first time Ferrari missed out on a podium since the 1999 European Grand Prix.

When Williams seemed to have the first victory of the year in their pocket, Montoya spun after entering the first corner too fast, with eight laps from the end and without any pressure from his rivals. Montoya returned to the track, but lost first place to Coulthard, who won what turned out to be his last race victory. Montoya was visibly frustrated in the podium with this incident that, he admitted later, was totally his fault.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1 Time	Q2 Time	Gap
1	1	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	1:27.103	1:27.173
2	2	Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari	1:26.372	1:27.418	+0.245
3	3	Juan Pablo Montoya	Williams-BMW	1:27.450	1:28.101	+0.928
4	10	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Sauber-Petronas	1:27.563	1:28.274	+1.101
5	20	Olivier Panis	Toyota	1:27.352	1:28.288	+1.115
6	16	Jacques Villeneuve	BAR-Honda	1:26.832	1:28.420	+1.247
7	9	Nick Heidfeld	Sauber-Petronas	1:27.510	1:28.464	+1.291
8	17	Jenson Button	BAR-Honda	1:27.159	1:28.682	+1.509
9	4	Ralf Schumacher	Williams-BMW	1:28.266	1:28.830	+1.657
10	8	Fernando Alonso	Renault	1:27.255	1:28.928	+1.755
11	5	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	1:27.242	1:29.105	+1.932
12	7	Jarno Trulli	Renault	1:27.411	1:29.136	+1.963
13	11	Giancarlo Fisichella	Jordan-Ford	1:27.633	1:29.344	+2.171
14	14	Mark Webber	Jaguar-Cosworth	1:27.675	1:29.367	+2.194
15	6	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:26.551	1:29.470	+2.297
16	21	Cristiano da Matta	Toyota	1:27.478	1:29.538	+2.365
17	12	Ralph Firman	Jordan-Ford	1:29.977	1:31.242	+4.069
18	15	Antônio Pizzonia	Jaguar-Cosworth	1:30.092	1:31.723	+4.550
19	19	Jos Verstappen	Minardi-Cosworth	1:30.053	No Time
20	18	Justin Wilson	Minardi-Cosworth	1:30.479	No Time

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	5	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	58	1:34:42.124	11	10
2	3	Juan Pablo Montoya	Williams-BMW	58	+8.675	3	8
3	6	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes	58	+9.192	15	6
4	1	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	58	+9.482	1	5
5	7	Jarno Trulli	Renault	58	+38.801	12	4
6	10	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Sauber-Petronas	58	+43.928	4	3
7	8	Fernando Alonso	Renault	58	+45.074	10	2
8	4	Ralf Schumacher	Williams-BMW	58	+45.745	9	1
9	16	Jacques Villeneuve	BAR-Honda	58	+1:05.536	6
10	17	Jenson Button	BAR-Honda	58	+1:05.974	8
11	19	Jos Verstappen	Minardi-Cosworth	57	+1 Lap	20
12	11	Giancarlo Fisichella	Jordan-Ford	52	Gearbox	13
13	15	Antônio Pizzonia	Jaguar-Cosworth	52	Suspension	18
Ret	20	Olivier Panis	Toyota	31	Fuel pressure	5
Ret	9	Nick Heidfeld	Sauber-Petronas	20	Suspension	7
Ret	18	Justin Wilson	Minardi-Cosworth	16	Radiator	19
Ret	14	Mark Webber	Jaguar-Cosworth	15	Suspension	14
Ret	21	Cristiano da Matta	Toyota	7	Spin	16
Ret	12	Ralph Firman	Jordan-Ford	6	Accident	17
Ret	2	Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari	5	Accident	2
Source:[3]

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 David Coulthard 10 2 Juan Pablo Montoya 8 3 Kimi Räikkönen 6 4 Michael Schumacher 5 5 Jarno Trulli 4

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 McLaren-Mercedes 16 2 Williams-BMW 9 3 Renault 6 4 Ferrari 5 5 Sauber-Petronas 3

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

References

1. F1 Racing. April 2003.
2. "2003 Australian Grand Prix - Race". Manipe F1. Archived from the original on 8 May 2012. Retrieved 24 November 2012.
3. "2003 Australian Grand Prix". Formula1.com. Formula1.com Limited. Archived from the original on 17 January 2015. Retrieved 26 December 2015.

Coordinates: 37°50′59″S 144°58′06″E / 37.84972°S 144.96833°E