Barrichello Wins 2002 US GP

In a move which may have surprised his team mate more than anyone else Rubens Barrichello won the United States Grand Prix today. Michael Schumacher led the race from the start to the last few yards but then slowed down to let Barrichello catch up with him so that the two Ferraris could cross the finish line together.

Complete GP of United States results.

Apparently this was entirely Schumacher’s idea and Barrichello — who had not been told about it — did not slow quite as much and crossed the line 0.010 seconds ahead of Schumacher in the closest recorded GP finish ever.

After the race Schumacher said that Barrichello had deserved the win for the help that he had given him earlier in the season when the championship was not yet decided but it still wasn’t entirely clear whether or not it has really been his intention to give Barrichello the win.

David Coulthard was third for McLaren but this would almost certainly not have been the case but for some mistakes made by the two Williams drivers.

At the start of the second lap Juan Pablo Montoya attempted to pass his Williams team mate Ralf Schumacher on the outside of Turn One but Schumacher’s rear end drifted wide and clipped Montoya. Montoya continued without any apparent damage but Schumacher had to pit for a new rear wing which dropped him a lap behind the leaders and ended any chances that he may have had for a decent result.

Having got away with this one Montoya then misread a pit board and entered the pits about 10 laps early. He compounded the error by failing to tell his crew on the radio that he was coming in and so caught them completely unawares and lost more time while they scrambled to get ready as he approached his pit. Considering this he was probably lucky to finish fourth and score at least three points.

Jarno Trulli (Renault) was fifth with Jacques Villeneuve scoring the remaining point for BAR in sixth.

Posted: Sunday, September 29th, 2002

Frentzen May Drive For Sauber In USGP

Following the FIA’s decision to penalize Sauber’s Felipe Massa 10 grid positions at the United States Grand Prix in Indianapolis for causing an avoidable collision with Pedro de la Rosa in Monza last Sunday it now looks like Massa may not get to race there at all.

Sauber is considering giving his ride for the weekend to Heinz-Harald Frentzen who will be joining them full-time next season.

The FIA has given the green light to the idea by stating that the penalty was imposed against the individual driver and not the team and that if Sauber decides to suspend their driver for the event it is up to them.

The wording of the penalty states that it will be imposed “at the next event” but as it is a new penalty for this year and this is the first time that it has been awarded to anyone there is some speculation as to whether it would carry forward to the following event if Massa sits this one out or if it will expire at Indianapolis.

Posted: Wednesday, September 18th, 2002

Barrichello Wins 2002 Italian GP

Rubens Barrichello won today’s Italian Grand Prix at Monza with his Ferrari team mate Michael Schumacher right behind him in second place. Barrichello’s two-stop strategy and subsequently lighter fuel load for much of the race kept him just in front of Schumacher who only made one pit stop.

Complete GP of Italy results.

Eddie Irvine scored his first podium finish for Jaguar this year in third place. Irvine drove a steady race but he was never in touch with the leaders and would never have seen the champagne had it not been for the unforeseen retirement of several usually reliable cars in front of him.

Jarno Trulli had a problem on the warm-up lap which dropped him to the back of the grid but he fought back and finished a credible fourth for Renault in front of his home fans. Trulli’s team mate Jenson Button finished fifth in the second Renault right in front of Olivier Panis in his BAR.

David Coulthard finished seventh having also had to fight his way through the field after a first lap collision with his McLaren team mate Kimi Raikkonen sent him to the pits for a new front wing.

Ralf Schumacher made a great start to take the lead from his Williams team mate Juan Pablo Montoya but retired with engine failure on the fourth lap. Montoya survived longer but eventually retired with suspension damage after clouting the one of the kerbs a little too hard.

Alex Yoong was the last classified finisher in 13th place on his first drive back with Minardi even though he was five laps down after pitting for repairs.

Once again there was no sign of the Arrows team this weekend but it looks like they may yet reappear as they have been given some time by the British bankruptcy court to get their affairs sorted out.

Posted: Sunday, September 15th, 2002

Massa Penalized For Crash

Sauber driver Felipe Massa has been penalized for his collision with Pedro de la Rosa’s Jaguar in today’s Italian Grand Prix.

In accordance with the steward’s decision Massa will be moved 10 places back from his qualifying position on the grid of the next Formula 1 event which will be the United States Grand Prix.

Posted: Sunday, September 15th, 2002

All Change At Toyota

Toyota has announced that they will have a completely different driver line-up for next year.

There has been quite a bit of speculation that Allan McNish — who’s contract expires at the end of this year — would not be back next season but most people thought that Mika Salo would be returning as he still has a year to run on his contract. Not so said Toyota as Salo “agreed” to end his stint at the team early.

Both drivers had been hired as development drivers last year as Toyota prepared for their Formula 1 debut but now that the cars have been proven to be fairly competitive — on power at least — there is apparently a feeling that they need some higher profile names in their cars as they try to move up to the next level and compete with the more established teams.

Current BAR driver Olivier Panis has been confirmed for one of the empty seats but there is no solid news yet on who will land the second.

The rumour mill is still favouring Newman-Haas CART driver Cristiano da Matta for the second seat but Penske IRL pilot Helio Castroneves will reportedly be testing for Honda in the future.

Posted: Tuesday, September 3rd, 2002

Michael Schumacher Wins 2002 Belgian GP

Michael Schumacher led today’s Belgian Grand Prix from start to finish and in doing so broke yet another record by winning his 10th race of the season. To add icing to the cake it was also the 50th straight podium finish for Ferrari.

Complete GP of Belgium results.

His teammate Rubens Barrichello was second and it appears that Schumacher’s record setting is going to take precedence over Barrichello’s fight for second position in the World Championship as the team has ruled out asking Schumacher to move aside to let Barrichello gain a position. They have conceded that the teammates will only have to race until the second pit stop and the driver in the lead at that point will be the winner unless something untoward happens.

Both of the Ferraris completely outclassed the rest of the field with Schumacher well ahead of Barrichello who was himself around 30 seconds in front of Juan Pablo Montoya’s third placed Williams.

The McLarens of David Coulthard and Kimi Raikkonen were shadowing Montoya in fourth and fifth positions until Raikkonen retired with mechanical problems.

Ralf Schumacher had qualified well but a poor start and a spin cost him both time and positions. He finally finished fifth after inheriting several places towards the end of the race.

Eddie Irvine collected sixth place and another point for Jaguar when several cars in front of him succumbed to engine failures.

Mika Salo finished in seventh place for Toyota with Jacques Villeneuve’s BAR behind him in eighth.

Allan McNish (Toyota), Nick Heidfeld (Sauber) and Takuma Sato (Jordan) were the last cars still running at the flag and they were all a lap behind the leaders.

With 10 laps to go a sudden rush of solo accidents and engine failures took out six drivers in as many laps and signalled a caution to the remaining teams, many of whom — most notably Ferrari — eased off a little at that point.

Posted: Sunday, September 1st, 2002