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2003 Australian Grand Prix
Motor car race From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The 2003 Australian Grand Prix (formally the 2003 Foster's Australian Grand Prix)[5] 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.
 | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (July 2018) |
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Background
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The 2003 Australian Grand Prix took place at the 5.303 km (3.295 mi) Albert Park Circuit in Albert Park, Melbourne, Victoria on 15 March 2015; it was the first round of sixteen in the 2003 Formula One World Championship and the eighth staging of the World Championship Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park.[1][2] For the event, the mesh barriers around the track were raised from 2.5 m (8.2 ft) to 4.75 m (15.6 ft) following the death of marshal Graham Beveridge in an accident during the 2001 race.[6]
Out of the 10 teams and 20 drivers on the starting grid,[7] four drivers made their debut.[8][9] The 2002 CART FedEx Championship Series champion Cristiano da Matta joined the Toyota team alongside Olivier Panis.[8][10] The two replaced Toyota's 2002 lineup of Allan McNish, who moved to Renault as third driver and Mika Salo, who left Formula One.[11][12] At the Minardi team, 2001 International Formula 3000 champion Justin Wilson joined Jos Verstappen, who rejoined the series after a one-year absence.[9] The third rookie driver in the 2003 driver lineup was Antônio Pizzonia, who joined Jaguar to partner former Minardi racer Mark Webber;[9][12] both replaced Eddie Irvine and Pedro de la Rosa.[13] The last rookie competitor was Formula Nippon driver Ralph Firman,[9] who replaced Takuma Sato at Jordan.[14]
At the front of the field, many were tipping Ferrari driver and five-time world champion Michael Schumacher as the favourite to win the 2003 World Drivers' Championship.[15][16] Bookmakers in Australia and the United Kingdom installed Michael Schumacher as the favourite to win the Australian Grand Prix for the fourth consecutive time.[17][18] He said he was expecting other teams to perform better than the season before, "It will automatically become harder because other teams hadn't done a great job last year, and I am pretty sure they will do a much better job this year and therefore competition will become harder."[19] Nigel Mansell, the 1992 world champion, said Schumacher's high level of talent combined with his strong desire to succeed, would make him quite difficult to beat.[20]
The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA; Formula One's governing body) president Max Mosley with the support of Formula One head Bernie Ecclestone imposed sporting regulation changes to attempt to reduce costs in Formula One, make the series more competitive and stem the decline in television viewing figures.[21][20] The championship points system was expanded to include the first eight finishers to try and keep the title battle open for as long as possible and reward consistency.[7][22] Qualifying was divided into two one-hour sessions instead of one for the first time since 1995 and each one was held on Fridays and Saturdays with cars running one at a time for one single quick lap.[20][22] Drivers now had to begin the race with their qualifying fuel loads and tyres.[23] The Sunday morning warm-up session for teams to fine-tune their vehicle settings were ended and cars were placed under parc fermé conditions in which significant changes to cars and refuelling between Saturday qualifying and the race was prohibited.[24][25][26] A two-hour test session for teams that agreed to restrict their in-season testing programmes took place on Friday morning,[25] and team orders that affected race results were prohibited.[22] Spare cars could only be used if Formula One technical delegate Charlie Whiting was convinced a damaged chassis was irreparable in parc fermé;[26] drivers who did use spare cars would be required to start the race from the pit lane.[23]
Both Ferrari and McLaren delayed the debut of their new cars, with Ferrari bringing a revised version called the F2002B and McLaren introducing the significantly revised MP4-17D, which had a completely new rear end and several aerodynamic refinements to both the front and rear.[27] Among these was the introduction of new rear wing profiles that were no longer rectangular but rounded at the ends, a solution introduced by Renault in the 2002 season to reduce the formation of vortices and also copied by British American Racing (BAR), Williams and Jaguar.[27] The new Williams FW25 had several changes compared to the car that had run in winter testing. In particular, the gearbox and rear suspension used in testing on the hybrid versions of the FW24 car were mounted, while the solution designed for the FW25 was temporarily abandoned.[27] Renault used Friday morning's private test session to test different solutions for the cooling of the R23 car's body and for the aerodynamics, finally opting for a solution that included a chimney only on the car's right side, where the oil radiator was.[27]
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Private test session
The first two-hour private test session took place in sunny weather conditions on Friday morning.[28][29] Although the track surface provided little grip to cars, there were minor offs for drivers onto the grass but no one spun.[29] Nine drivers took part in the session.[30] Renault driver Jarno Trulli was fastest with a lap time of 1:28.125, ahead of Webber and Jordan's Giancarlo Fisichella;[28] all three drivers were within one-tenth of a second of each other.[30]
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Practice and warm-up sessions
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There were three practice sessions preceding Sunday's race: one 60-minute session on Friday and two 45-minute sessions on Saturday.[31] The first practice session took place in dry and hot weather conditions on Friday morning.[32][33] McLaren's Kimi Räikkönen set the fastest lap of 1:26.509 with five minutes remaining, 0.479 seconds faster than his teammate David Coulthard.[33][34] Trulli, Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello, Webber, Michael Schumacher, Renault's Fernando Alonso, Sauber's Nick Heidfeld, and the Williams duo of Juan Pablo Montoya and Ralf Schumacher followed in the top ten.[34] Several drivers went off the track during the session.[32][33] The engine in Jacques Villeneuve's BAR car failed 11 minutes in and pulled off the circuit with fire licking around the cockpit.[33][34] His teammate Jenson Button also had an engine failure while Fisichella's fuel pump failed.[32]
The second practice session was held on Saturday morning.[32][35] The circuit was slippery and dirty following heavy rainstorms overnight,[36] but the track dried quickly.[32] Button lapped fastest at 1:27.415 towards the conclusion of the session. He was almost two-tenths of a second faster than second-placed Barrichello.[36] Ralf Schumacher, Michael Schumacher, Trulli, Coulthard, Montoya, Alonso, Webber and Villeneuve rounded out the top ten.[35] Montoya had an oil valve issue that leaked oil into the airbox and billowed smoke from the car.[32][37] His engine was not changed because it was not damaged.[37] Michael Schumacher lost control of his Ferrari in Ascari corner, removing the nose cone and left-front wheel against the barrier. Pizzonia had a braking issue and spun backwards at turn three close to the sports centre.[32][35] He returned to the garage and exited his car unhurt.[38] With ten minutes remaining, Räikkönen lost control of his McLaren at the fast right-hand Whiteford corner and heavily damaged the car's left-front corner.[32][35][37] Räikkönen was unhurt,[35] but officials stopped practice for nine minutes as marshals secured his damaged car on the grass verge.[36][38] Villeneuve stopped at the end of the session with an hydraulic system mechanical issue.[32][37]
The final practice session took place later that morning in cool and cloudy weather as a majority of teams experimented with fuel loads and car settings to prepare for the second qualifying session that afternoon.[39][40] Räikkönen sat out the session as McLaren were working on his car,[41] while Michael Schumacher's Ferrari was repaired.[42] Trulli was fastest with a lap time of 1:26.928 set with five minutes remaining. Button did not improve on his fastest time and fell to second.[40] Alonso, the Ferrari duo of Michael Schumacher and Barrichello, the Williams pair of Montoya and Ralf Schumacher, Heidfeld, Couthard and Da Matta completed the top ten.[39] Coulthard suffered a right-rear puncture and returned slowly to the pit lane before having a fuel pump failure upon entering the pit lane.[32][37] A 15-minute warm-up session saw Barrichello lap fastest at 1:27.738, followed by teammate Michael Schumacher, the Renaults of Alonso and Trulli, Coulthard, Villeneuve, Ralf Schumacher, Räikkönen, Button and Panis.[31][43]
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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
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It rained heavily before the race, and the track started in half-wet conditions. Räikkönen stopped for dry tyres at the end of the formation lap. Montoya and Panis also started on dry tyres, while the Ferraris, Saubers and BARs were on wet tyres. 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.
However, the track dried quickly and abnormal tire wear soon occurred on the two Ferraris. After two laps Coulthard, who started on wet tyres, returned to the pits to replace them with dry ones. 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.
Meanwhile Räikkönen quickly recovered from the back, while Coulthard, on dry tyres, set the fastest lap of the race. Despite this, Ferrari chose not to immediately call Schumacher back to the pits. 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.
Montoya, Trulli and Ralf Schumacher took advantage of the interruption to refuel, but the German driver lost a lot of time due to a spin and restarted at the back of the group. The safety car returned to the pits at the end of lap 20, with Räikkönen in the lead threatened by Michael Schumacher, who was in turn followed by Coulthard, Villeneuve, Button, Montoya, Panis and Frentzen. On lap 25 Villeneuve, who was having problems with the radio, entered the pits together with his teammate Button, causing a lot of confusion in the team garage and causing the Englishman to lose almost twenty seconds. Meanwhile Michael Schumacher unsuccessfully attacked Räikkönen. Unable to pass him, the German driver returned to the pits on lap 29, imitated three laps later by the McLaren drivers. Montoya then moved on to lead, followed by Räikkönen, Schumacher, Coulthard, Trulli and Alonso. Räikkönen had his turn leading the race until he received a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane. Räikkönen served the penalty on lap 39, returning to the track behind the two Renaults. When Montoya refueled for the last time on lap 42, Michael Schumacher found himself in the lead.
The German driver, however, damaged the flow diverters of his Ferrari by driving too violently over a curb. Some pieces of the damaged aerodynamic appendages broke off and slipped under the body. The race direction then displayed the black-orange flag to the German, which indicates the obligation to return to the pits within three laps for repairs. Schumacher, who still had to make another pit stop, was therefore forced to do so during the 46th lap. 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. 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.[citation needed] Montoya returned to the track, but lost first place to Coulthard, who won what turned out to be his last race victory.[44] Montoya was visibly frustrated on the podium.
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Classification
Qualifying
- Notes
- ^1 – Jos Verstappen and Justin Wilson did not set a lap time in the Q2 section, in order to avoid the parc fermé regime.[46]
Race
- Notes
- ^1 – Kimi Räikkönen and Jos Verstappen started the race from the pitlane.
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Championship standings after the race
- Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
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References
External links
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