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2003 Japanese Grand Prix 
Race Report  

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 '05  '04  '03  '02  '01  '00  '99  '98  '97

 

Drivers Championship Constructors Championship
Reports & Results from other sessions

Race Report - Results

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.

Race Preview

Main Japanese GP Page

Fan Reviews

Session

2003

2002

Friday Practice Results Report Results
Friday Qualifying Results Report Results
First Saturday Practice Results   Results
Second Saturday Practice Results   Results
Saturday Qualifying Results Report Results
Race Results Report Results

What the teams and drivers said
Friday - Saturday - Sunday

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