Jump to content

2003 Australian Grand Prix

Coordinates: 37°50′59″S 144°58′06″E / 37.84972°S 144.96833°E / -37.84972; 144.96833
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by TheriusBuzz (talk | contribs) at 08:28, 23 October 2021 (→Race). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

2003 Australian Grand Prix
Race 1 of 16 in the 2003 Formula One World Championship
Race details
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 miles)
Distance 58 laps, 307.574 km (191.118 miles)
Weather Damp at beginning, dry later, cloudy, mild
Attendance 118,000[1]
Pole position
Driver
Ferrari
Time 1:27.173
Fastest lap
Driver Finland Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes
Time 1:27.724 on lap 32[2]
Podium
First
McLaren-Mercedes
Second
Williams-BMW
Third
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 13th and final race victory of his Formula One 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 received 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 struggled on dry tyres, with the Renaults, Ralf Schumacher and Coulthard climbing quickly. Barrichello took his penalty, and on his in-lap, lost traction on a quickly drying track, crashing at Turn Five on lap five, followed by rookie Ralph Firman, who had climbed to eighth by lap seven on his dry Bridgestones. Da Matta’s debut also came to a premature end when he spun into the gravel at turn 3. Schumacher dropped to eighth, pitting for dry tyres, with the leaders pitting just before a safety car to clear the stranded cars. Mark Webber's Jaguar had climbed to sixth, but his rear suspension broke just after the restart and he stopped in an awkward place, prompting a second appearance of the safety car.

At the halfway point of the race, Montoya was leading, 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 he received 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, prevented him from closing on Räikkönen again. He missed out on the podium for the first time since the 2001 Italian Grand Prix and ending Ferrari's 53 consecutive podium finishes. It was the first time since the 1999 European Grand Prix that neither of the Ferraris finished on the podium and also it was the first time since the 1998 Italian Grand Prix that Bridgestone-shod cars failed to finished on the podium. 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 on the podium.

Classification

Qualifying

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

Race

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

Championship standings after the race

  • 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. ^ "Australia 2003". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  4. ^ "2003 Australian Grand Prix". Formula1.com. Formula1.com Limited. Archived from the original on 17 January 2015. Retrieved 26 December 2015.
  5. ^ a b "Australia 2003 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
Previous race:
2002 Japanese Grand Prix 		FIA Formula One World Championship
2003 season 		Next race:
2003 Malaysian Grand Prix
Previous race:
2002 Australian Grand Prix 		Australian Grand Prix Next race:
2004 Australian Grand Prix

37°50′59″S 144°58′06″E / 37.84972°S 144.96833°E / -37.84972; 144.96833

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2003_Australian_Grand_Prix&oldid=1051400969"