This was Rubens Barrichello’s weekend. With a new, two-year contract extension through the end of 2004 in his pocket Rubens was fastest in practice and yesterday he qualified on the pole. This morning he was the fastest in the warm-up and this afternoon — pit stop shuffles aside — he led the Austrian Grand Prix from the start to a few yards from the finish line on the last lap. That was when he obeyed team orders and moved aside to let his team-mate Michael Schumacher through for the win.
| Position | Driver | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael Schumacher (D) | Ferrari | 10 |
| 2 | Rubens Barrichello (BR) | Ferrari | 6 |
| 3 | Juan Pablo Montoya (COL) | Williams BMW | 4 |
| 4 | Ralf Schumacher (D) | Williams BMW | 3 |
| 5 | Giancarlo Fisichella (I) | Jordan Honda | 2 |
| 6 | David Coulthard (GB) | McLaren Mercedes | 1 |
| Fastest Qualifier: Rubens Barrichello (BR) | |||
This was nothing new for Barrichello who has often been asked to move aside during a race to allow his team leader to pass but it certainly caught the spectators and commentators by surprise coming so close to the end of a race that Rubens had dominated. In last year’s race he conceded second place to Schumacher at the last corner but this would have been only his second ever GP win and the crowd evidently felt that he deserved it.
There were jeers and whistles for Schumacher as he took his "victory" lap and climbed from the car instead of the usual adulation that he could have expected for winning so close to both his and Ferrari’s home and it was evident from his body language that he took little pleasure in the win. On the winner’s podium he pushed Barrichello to the top step and stood in second place even as the German national anthem was playing for his win. Schumacher also handed the winner’s trophy to Barrichello after it was awarded to him as there was no doubt in anybody’s mind who had earned it.
In the post-race press conference Barrichello sat in the centre, winner’s seat and Schumacher was once again in the second place finisher’s position. Barrichello seemed remarkably composed under the circumstances and downplayed questions about the team orders and the fact that it might well happen again in the future. Schumacher on the other hand expressed his feeling that he was not very happy with the way that it had played out and admitted that if he had a chance to do it over again he might have disobeyed the order to pass Barrichello and let him win the race.
Juan Pablo Montoya was third with his Williams team-mate Ralf Schumacher less than a second behind in fourth. Ralf had been leading Montoya for much of the race but Montoya was able to pass him during their respective single pit stops.
Giancarlo Fisichella was fifth scoring the first points of the year for Jordan, or indeed any Honda powered team. This leaves BAR as the only team that has not scored a single point all year. David Coulthard held off Jenson Button’s Renault for sixth place.
On the 22nd lap the safety car was brought out for the first time after a mechanical failure on Olivier Panis’ BAR caused his rear wheels to lock, spin him around and leave him stranded in the middle of the track in front of the pits.
The safety car was called on again on the 44th lap when Nick Heidfeld’s Sauber spun out of control on the main straight, slid across the grass at Turn One and — barely missing Montoya’s Williams — smashed backwards into the side of Takuma Sato’s Jordan in a huge impact which virtually demolished the Jordan. Heidfeld was able to get out of his car unassisted but had apparently hurt his leg and was helped off of the track by marshals. It was several minutes before the medical team removed Sato from his car and he was then taken by ambulance to the medical centre. He was later airlifted to a local hospital by helicopter but luckily it appears that while he has some bruises and a mild concussion he has no broken bones or serious injuries.