David Coulthard Wins 2002 Monaco GP

David Coulthard scored his, and McLaren’s, first victory of the season in today’s Monaco Grand Prix. Coulthard beat Williams BMW pole-sitter Juan Pablo Montoya away from the line at the start and led all the way to the chequered flag.

Complete GP of Monaco results.

As it is virtually impossible to pass on Monte Carlo’s narrow, twisty street circuit Montoya trailed along behind Coulthard for most of the race with Michael Schumacher’s Ferrari right behind trying to pressure him into a mistake. The mistake never happened but on the 46th lap Montoya’s BMW powerplant gave out and he retired which moved Michael up into second place.

Montoya’s Williams team-mate Ralf Schumacher finished third and was the last driver on the same lap as Coulthard and Michael Schumacher, albeit over a minute behind his brother.

Jarno Trulli scored his first points of the year for Renault in fourth place, Giancarlo Fisichella (Jordan) was fifth and Heinz-Harald Frentzen scored another point for Arrows in sixth by keeping Rubens Barrichello’s Ferrari behind him for much of the race.

Barrichello had an interesting race to say the least. A poor start dropped him out of the top six and for many laps he was all over the back of Kimi Raikkonen’s McLaren but, of course, he was unable to pass. Finally he ran into the back of the McLaren under braking for the chicane and both had to pull into their pits for repairs. The damage to the rear of Raikkonen’s car put him out of the race but Barrichello was able to continue after his mechanics fitted a new nose and front wing to his car. The race stewards gave him a stop-and-go penalty for causing the accident and then a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane during his previous stop-and-go. Even after all these extra pit stops and penalties Barrichello finished a strong seventh but once again he was out of the points.

Felipe Massa also received a stop-and-go penalty, his was for running his Sauber into the rear of Enrique Bernoldi’s Arrows under braking for Ste Devote. This was only the start of his problems, however, as on lap 63 he crashed head-on into the Armco barrier at the same corner. Luckily he did not seem to be hurt but it took him a while to get out of his car.

The most frightening moment of the race came as Takuma Sato tried to move over to let his Jordan team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella past in the tunnel. He misjudged it, crashed into the barrier and came sliding out of the tunnel minus several wheels and much of his bodywork. He also barely missed hitting Fisichella as he rebounded back into the road after the impact.

Toyota team-mates Allan McNish and Mika Salo both retired after separate Armco related incidents as did Alex Yoong (Minardi).

Neither Olivier Panis nor Jacques Villeneuve finished the race and so BAR Honda is still the only team without a single point so far this year.

Montoya’s DNF spoiled a six race scoring streak as he had been the only driver apart from Michael Schumacher to score points in every race so far this season.

Posted: Sunday, May 26th, 2002

Ferrari On The Carpet

An FIA statement released today states that Ferrari’s management and drivers have been summoned to appear before the World Motor Sports Council at its next meeting in Paris on 26th June to explain incidents in yesterday’s Austrian Grand Prix.

They will apparently be asked to explain both Rubens Barrichello allowing Michael Schumacher to pass him for the win a few yards from the finish line and also Schumacher’s subsequent refusal to stand on the top step of the podium and receive the winner’s trophy, giving both honours to Barrichello.

Team orders are not illegal in Formula 1, in fact according to the FIA it is quite permissible for a team to decide in advance which of their drivers will be assisted to win as long as that decision can be justified by their chase for the Championship title, so it would appear that the podium ceremony and subsequent comments by the drivers could be more of an issue than the race result itself.

Of course it could also be that Ferrari badly underestimated the strength of public and media criticism of their tactics — including a statement in support of Barrichello from the Brazilian President — and now they will get a ceremonial slap on the wrist to keep up the appearance of a sporting event.

Posted: Monday, May 13th, 2002

Michael Schumacher Given 2002 Austrian GP Win

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.

Complete Austrian GP results.

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 22^nd 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 44^th 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.

Posted: Sunday, May 12th, 2002