Rubens Barrichello wins the race securing the Constructors' Title for
Ferrari and the Drivers' Title for Michael Schumacher. Kimi Raikkonen managed
to finish second but never appeared a threat to Rubens while team-mate David
Coulthard finished in 3rd.
BAR Honda seem to have indeed produced a 'super special' package at their
second home GP with Jenson Button finishing in 4th and Takuma Sato who
replaced Jacques Villeneuve finished 6th. This secured them 5th in the
Constructors' Title.
Jarno Trulli was sandwiched between the two finishing 5th after starting
from last!.
Cristiano da Matta scored 2 points for the Toyota team finishing in 7th while
Michael Schumacher who had a tense race managed to finish 8th and score a
point.
The race started with Rubens Barrichello having a good start with Montoya
following but Alonso who started from 5th had a storming start and was third
at the first turn. The 2 McLarens also had good starts.
Halfway into the lap and Juan Pablo Montoya gets ahead of Rubens Barrichello
and takes the lead.
Order after the first lap: Juan Pablo Montoya, Rubens Barrichello, Fernando
Alonso, Cristiano da Matta, David Coulthard, Kimi Raikkonen, Olivier Panis and
Jenson Button. Michael Schumacher was up in 12th place.
Ralf Schumacher starting from 20th spins and rejoins at the back while
Trulli who started from 19th was closing in on Michael Schumacher in 12th!
Order after the third lap: Juan Pablo Montoya, Rubens Barrichello, Fernando
Alonso, Cristiano da Matta, Kimi Raikkonen, David Coulthard, Olivier Panis and
Jenson Button.
Kimi Raikkonen closing in on Cristiano da Matta for 4th
Michael Schumacher loses his front wing as he tries to pass Sato. He pits
and replaces his front and rejoins at the back.
Montoya suffers from a problem and slows down and loses the lead to Rubens
Barrichello. He pits after a very slow lap and retires in the pits.
Cristiano da Matta is the first of the front runner to pit while Heinz Harald
Frentzen blows an engine.
Top 4 after the 11th lap, Rubens Barrichello, Fernando Alonso, Kimi
Raikkonen and David Coulthard.
Barrichello, Alonso, and Coulthard pit and Kimi Raikkonen takes the lead.
Raikkonen pits a lap later but appears to fuel for longer indicating a change
in strategy.
Jenson Button who has yet to stop leads the race, Michael Schumacher is in
16th.
Order after lap 17: Rubens Barrichello, Fernando Alonso, David Coulthard,
Kimi Raikkonen, Cristiano da Matta, Jenson Button, Olivier Panis and Mark
Webber.
Alonso retires with an engine problem
Order after lap 22: Rubens Barrichello, David Coulthard, Kimi Raikkonen,
Cristiano da Matta, Jenson Button, Olivier Panis, Jarno Trulli and Takuma
Sato. Michael Schumacher in 10th.
Michael Schumacher and Ralf Schumacher pit and Barrichello pits a lap later
and so does David Coulthard.
Order after lap 26: Rubens Barrichello, Kimi Raikkonen, Jenson Button,
Jarno Trulli, David Coulthard, Takuma Sato, Nick Heidfeld and Cristiano da
Matta.
Kimi Raikkonen makes his second stop and rejoins in 3rd
Michael Schumacher makes his second and final stop.
da Matta and Ralf Schumacher pit
Barrichello makes his 3rd and final stop and rejoins in second behind
Coulthard. Coulthard pits from second and rejoins behind Raikkonen
Michael Schumacher tries to pass da Matta but can't and brakes hard forcing
his brother Ralf who was right behind him to crash into him losing a front
wing and putting him out of contention.
Order after lap 44: Rubens Barrichello leading Kimi Raikkonen by 16
seconds. David Coulthard, Jenson Button, Jarno Trulli, Takuma Sato, Cristiano
da Matta and Michael Schumacher make the top 8.
The top 8 remain the same for the rest of the race and Rubens Barrichello
goes on to win the race for Ferrari who also win the Constructors Championship
and Michael Schumacher wins his 6th Drivers Championship.
Kimi Raikkonen finishes second ahead of David Coulthard. Jenson Button and
Jarno Trulli. Takuma Sato, Cristiano da Matta and Michael Schumacher make the
top 8.
So Michael Schumacher wins his 6th Drivers' Title with 93 points from Kimi
Raikkonen who finished a close second with 91. Juan Pablo Montoya finished 3rd
with 82 points ahead of Rubens Barrichello with 65 points. Ralf Schumacher was
5th with 58 points ahead of Fernando Alonso with 55 points. David Coulthard
was 7th with 51 points ahead of Jarno Trulli with 33 points.
Jenson Button manages to finish 9th and the 'best of the rest' ahead of Mark
Webber in the standings but on equal points.
Heinz Harald Frentzen, Giancarlo Fisichella, Cristiano da Matta, Nick
Heidfeld, Olivier Panis, Jacques Villeneuve, Marc Gene, Takuma Sato, Ralph
Firman and Justin Wilson make up the rest of the drivers who actually scored
in the Drivers' Championship this season.
In the Constructors' Championship, Ferrari won it by a big margin over
Williams who failed to score any points and they were very close to losing
second place to McLaren. Ferrari ended up with 158 points ahead of Williams
with 144 and McLaren with 142. Renault was 4th with 88 ahead of BAR with 26
points. Sauber kept 6th ahead of Jaguar and Toyota while Jordan finished in
9th ahead of Minardi.
Congratulations to all the the winners from this season.
We hope that you have enjoyed our coverage of this season and look forward to
an even more exciting season in 2004.
