Atlas F1 News Editor
All eyes were set on Formula One last weekend. After radical changes and months of controversy, the sport was almost forced to put on a good show to vanish memories of the tedious and one-sided 2002 season. And the circus delivered, offering an action-packed race. Atlas F1's Pablo Elizalde reviews the entire weekend's events and results from the first race of the 2003 season
Moreover, the season-opening race could not afford to be a repetition of last year's season, with Michael Schumacher and Ferrari dominating from start to finish, and with little happening behind the German. The changes imposed by the FIA made the headlines almost every day in the weeks leading to the first Grand Prix of the season; sometimes it was news that another change was introduced, and other times, unfortunately for the sport, someone was unhappy with the changes or, especially in Williams' and McLaren's case, that they were unhappy with the way those changes were imposed.
Those headlines, the changes, and the fact that it was the first race of the season guaranteed that the fans tuned back to watch how the "New F1" would develop. In the end, the F1 Circus delivered, and the Australian Grand Prix turned out to be one of the best races in recent years, and probably more entertaining than any of last year's events, with almost a year's worth of overtaking.
Mosley was quick to pat himself on the back, claiming the rule changes were a success, while others, perhaps more realistically, said it was not the changes that made the difference, but the weather, which in the last couple of years has been the most influential factor in turning a high-speed procession into a thrilling action-packed race.
Despite Mosley's delight, it's hard to imagine Schumacher not winning the race had he not changed his tyres due to the heavy morning rains, especially after being a second clear of his first non-Ferrari rival, Juan Pablo Montoya, in the revamped qualifying and with the same two-stop strategy. There is no denying that the new regulations contributed to the excitement, but only time will tell to what extent.
As it turned out, Schumacher and Ferrari got it wrong for the first time in more than a year, and the show, as well as their rivals, benefitted from it. The World Champions failed to cope with the circumstances and were outsmarted by McLaren, with David Coulthard putting on a flawless performance that saw him emerging in the lead after all of his rivals made costly mistakes and threw away a race they looked set to win.
The Scot saw how, one by one, Rubens Barrichello, Kimi Raikkonen, Schumacher and Montoya made mistakes that served him the win on a silver platter. Of the five drivers, perhaps it was Raikkonen who deserved the win the most. But for exceeding the pitlane speed limit by a mere 1.1 km/h, the Finn would have been the man on the top step of the podium, and deservedly so after charging his way from the back after taking the start from the pitlane in a bold and smart move by McLaren which allowed Raikkonen to refuel and change tyres.
For his part, Montoya, who had been the best of the non-Ferraris in qualifying, threw away a race win with a silly spin 11 laps from the end of the race. The Colombian looked like the clear favourite for a big part of the race, and only the entry of the Safety Car allowed his rivals the chance to close the gap and fight for victory.
The Williams FW25, at least in the hands of the Colombian driver, proved to be nearly as competitive as the McLaren despite the admission of aerodynamic problems before the start of the season. The track conditions, however, did not allow for a clear picture to be seen, and the verdict about who's fast and who's not will have to wait for at least a couple of races.
If the Australian Grand Prix is anything to go by, the fight for the point-scoring positions is likely to be intense this season, with Renault, Sauber, BAR and Toyota showing good form both in qualifying and in the race. Of those, the performance of the BARs and the Toyotas were the hardest to judge.
As for Toyota, Olivier Panis was their main man and also performed well in qualifying with the TF103, but a mechanical problem put an end to his hopes of a possible podium finish. The Japanese squad's true form will only be confirmed after a few races. The same can be said about the rest of the field and, especially, about the new Formula One Championship that was kicked off in Melbourne last Sunday.
Qualifying Analysis
Although the end result offered a familiar sight, the fact that Ferrari's Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello dominated the decisive Saturday qualifying was not a reflection of another boring and unexciting session, as all eyes were set on how the new one-lap shootout format would turn out to be.
"My thoughts were that I got three and a half minutes of uninterrupted television," said Eddie Jordan of the new qualifying. "My sponsors should be happier because it's a more equitable situation, which is very important to me particularly."
While the one-lap system was mostly a welcome idea, the new rule forbidding the teams to refuel their cars between qualifying and the race was received with a lot less enthusiasm. The rule all but made qualifying in its known conception a meaningless event in which teams were more concerned with preparing their cars for the race than to extract the maximum speed out of it to have the advantage of track position.
In the end, of course, the rule allowed David Coulthard to win the race after starting from 14th position, but the general feeling was that qualifying has now become a game of chess that confuses the viewers come race day and that creates loopholes for the teams to take advantage of. The new-look qualifying has so far proved to be successful, now it's a matter of fine-tuning.
The Grid
1. Michael Schumacher
Saturday time: 1:27.173
For the first time, Schumacher had to play road-sweeping machine for the rest of the drivers on Friday and finished down in fourth place. The Ferrari star, however, recovered brilliantly on Saturday and showed he's the man to beat either over one lap or over 12. Schumacher didn't put a foot wrong on his flying lap, and with an F2002 that was relatively low on fuel he scored his 51st pole position, albeit nearly 1.5 seconds slower than last year's time, set by Rubens Barrichello.
"My lap was spot on with no margin to push more," said the German, who had to use Barrichello's set-up following an accident during the practice session.
2. Rubens Barrichello
Saturday time: 1:27.418
Fastest on Friday, Barrichello could do nothing to stop his Ferrari teammate from clinching pole position. However, the Brazilian, who had started from pole in Melbourne last year, was distracted by Kimi Raikkonen's car after the Finn's rear left tyre exploded during his cool down lap, leaving debris on the track in front of Barrichello's Ferrari.
"I could have done a better time," said the Brazilian. "Maybe we need to look at the rules concerning this type of situation."
3. Juan Pablo Montoya
Saturday time: 1:28.101
After struggling in Friday's session and later in practice with the set-up of his FW25, Montoya managed to get things back on track with a strong performance on Saturday. After some swearing at his engineers - after a terrible 15-minute warm-up, in which he went off track three times - Montoya finished the fastest of the non-Ferrari drivers, although nearly a whole second behind Schumacher in the not-so-aerodynamically-efficient new Williams.
"Unless we come up with a big step forward on the aerodynamics package, basically more downforce, then we're done," he said.
4. Heinz-Harald Frentzen
Saturday time: 1:28.274
5. Olivier Panis
Saturday time: 1:28.288
The veteran Frenchman showed Toyota mean business in only their second year of Formula One by putting his name close to the top of the times in most of the sessions. In the hands of Panis, the Michelin-shod TF103 proved fast over the entire weekend, although some problems with the fuel pressure meant he lost some track time on Friday.
6. Jacques Villeneuve
Saturday time: 1:28.420
Both on Friday and Saturday the Canadian former World Champion enjoyed a return to form, taking full advantage of what was probably the most competitive BAR he had driven so far. The Brackley-based team used a new Honda engine in practice, but both Villeneuve and Jenson Button had problems with it, so Honda decided to use the old version for the rest of the weekend. Villeneuve put a solid but "not special" - by his own account - flying lap, and put himself in a good position to score points.
7. Nick Heidfeld
Saturday time: 1:28.464
8. Jenson Button
Saturday time: 1:28.682
This season is likely to be a crucial year for Button, and he kicked off his first season as Villeneuve's teammate by enjoying a promising start where he matched the former World Champion's pace in both qualifying sessions. Despite this, the Briton complained his 005 car felt a bit twitchy on his crucial Saturday lap.
9. Ralf Schumacher
Saturday time: 1:28.830
Ralf was nowhere to be seen for most of weekend and qualifying was no different. 10th in practice, 16th in first qualifying and more than seven tenths of a second off Montoya's pace in the decisive qualifying session. The German admitted he made a mistake on his flying lap and also paid the price of being one of the first drivers to jump onto the track.
10. Fernando Alonso
Saturday time: 1:28.928
11. David Coulthard
Saturday time: 1:29.105
Coulthard was the first example of why the new qualifying system will help the show in 2003. The Scot ran wide at the first corner on his flying lap and could do nothing to recover, finishing in a disappointing 11th position that, without the new rules, would have probably cost him all chances of fighting for victory.
"I have to say I did a pretty poor job. I ran off the circuit in the first corner and that really set the trend for the rest of the lap," said Coulthard. "I did a pretty average job for the rest of that lap."
12. Jarno Trulli
Saturday time: 1:29.136
13. Giancarlo Fisichella
Saturday time: 1:29.344
Jordan endured a very subdued weekend, fighting all weekend for the positions outside the top ten. Fisichella did the best he could with the new Ford-powered EJ13, completing a solid lap and outqualifying his new teammate Ralph Firman by nearly two seconds. Fisichella himself, however, was also two seconds off the pace of pole position.
14. Mark Webber
Saturday time: 1:29.367
Like Jordan, the Jaguar team had a very quiet start to a crucial season, which in the case of the Milton Keynes-based's squad was good news. Webber demonstrated that the R4 is a totally different beast to the problematic R3, and the Australian put on a decent performance despite making a mistake at the first corner both in Friday and Saturday's qualifying. Webber, who struggled for grip in the first sector, admitted he had been too aggressive.
15. Kimi Raikkonen
Saturday time: 1:29.470
16. Cristiano da Matta
Saturday time: 1:29.538
The Brazilian CART champion fared very well on Friday, considering he had only an hour to learn a track that was new to him, but the Saturday result was disappointing, as he finished more than a second behind the impressive Panis. On his flying lap, da Matta found Heidfeld ahead of him, which he later claimed had cost him time.
17. Ralph Firman
Saturday time: 1:31.242
Unlike da Matta, rookie Firman had the advantage of Friday testing to learn the track and continue acclimatising to his Jordan. Still, having such a quick teammate as Fisichella and a car that didn't look too competitive was obviously not doing Firman any favours. He finished only four positions behind Fisichella, but almost two seconds behind despite being satisfied with his qualifying lap.
18. Antonio Pizzonia
Saturday time: 1:31.723
19. Jos Verstappen
No time on Saturday
Minardi were quick to find a loophole in the new regulations and, taking advantage of it, decided to abort both their drivers' qualifying laps in order to be able to work on their cars overnight in the hope of rain. Having hardly tested the new PS03 before the race, Verstappen did a creditable job setting the 18th fastest time on Friday.
20. Justin Wilson
No time on Saturday
Like all other three rookies, Wilson failed to impress in Australia. The tall Brit had the chance of getting some useful track time on Friday and performed respectably in qualifying, finishing around half a second behind Verstappen. Like the Dutchman, he didn't complete his flying lap on Saturday.
The Race
Kimi Raikkonen, who also opted for rain tyres, decided not to complete the parade lap and dived straight into the pits, which allowed him to change to dry-weather tyres and refuel, although that meant he was forced to take the start from the pitlane alongside Jos Verstappen, who had suffered an oil leak in his racing car and had to switch to the spare.
The start of the race was rather uneventful, excluding Barrichello, whose Ferrari decided to get moving before the green lights went on, incurring a penalty that he wouldn't get to serve. "I was holding the car on the brake as much as I could, but it just wanted to start early today," he later explained.
At the top of the field, Schumacher made a clean start and easily managed to keep his lead, while Barrichello was second followed by Montoya, and Panis, who would soon be overtaken by Nick Heidfeld, who on wet-weather tyres was much faster than the Frenchman.
At the end of lap one, the two Ferraris were flying thanks to their tyre choice and were already more than seven seconds ahead of the pack, where the action was hectic. Coulthard, running in 10th, dived into the pits at the end of lap two, switching to dry-weather tyres.
That, and the fact that Schumacher pitted for dry-weather tyres moments later, allowed Montoya to take the lead ahead of Alonso, Trulli, Ralf, Webber and Raikkonen. Ferrari's World Champion opted to dive into the pits just before the Safety Car was deployed following an accident by Firman, who lost control of his car over the debris left by Barrichello, crashing against the wall.
When the race resumed four laps later, Montoya began to edge away from Trulli, who had moved up to second after Alonso pitted. The Renault driver was soon put under pressure by Ralf, closely followed by a charging Raikkonen and Michael Schumacher. Coulthard was down in seventh behind Webber, who retired on lap 16 with a broken suspension.
The top three pitted a lap later, and while everything went smoothly for Montoya and Trulli, Ralf had a problem with a rear wheel and lost some 10 seconds. To add insult to injury the German was too optimistic when coming out of the pits, and in order to keep Alonso at bay he pushed too hard on the first corner and spun. Alonso was forced to cut through the grass, while the Williams driver continued after recovering from the spin.
For the second time in the Grand Prix, the race director was forced to deploy the Safety Car to remove Webber's car from the track. After three laps the race resumed with Raikkonen in the lead and followed by Schumacher, Coulthard, Villeneuve and Button, with Montoya down in seventh after his pitstop.
"My teammate came in on the wrong lap which is disappointing for the first pitstops and it's quite embarrassing really for the whole team," said Button of the incident, which did little to help ease the tension between the two drivers from the Brackley team.
Up in front, Schumacher's pressure on Raikkonen didn't pay off, and after four laps behind the Finn, Schumacher dived into the pits for his second pitstop, returning to the track in sixth. Raikkonen, meanwhile, managed to open a 4.5-second gap to Coulthard, with Montoya back in third, albeit more than 16 seconds behind. The Colombian moved up to second when Coulthard pitted on lap 32. He was followed by Raikkonen, who finally made his pitstop and rejoined the race right in front of Schumacher.
The Ferrari driver tried his best again, but the ice-cold Finn refused to give way and Schumacher's best attempt saw him being pushed on the grass at the first corner. In the end, the fight was pointless, as Raikkonen had speeded a mere 1.1 km/h in the pitlane and received a drive-through penalty that spoiled all his chances of a maiden win.
Raikkonen's penalty cleared the way for Montoya who, after his second pitstop on lap 42, returned to the race in second place behind Schumacher. The German, however, had run wide at turn 12 and as a result his car had been damaged, with the bargeboard hanging from the right side of the car. As a consequence he got a black and orange flag that forced him to come into the pits to repair his car. The German, however, took the opportunity to refuel his car, which suggested he had planned to pit again anyway.
"I had the lead and, I don't know, I went into turn one and when I picked up the throttle the car just turned into me. My fault," admitted Montoya, who could do nothing to avoid Coulthard from cruising to score a surprising win.
With his rivals falling out of contention one by one, the Scot stayed out of trouble and, thanks to McLaren's strategy and the Safety Cars periods, repeated the feat of being the only driver who had won in a car other than the F2002 since the Ferrari was introduced at last year's Brazilian Grand Prix. Coulthard, however, refused to get carried away.
"I think pace-wise, we generally believe that we're competitive with Williams but still have a bit of a gap to Ferrari," he said. "None of us know what the future's going to hold... but ultimately winning a Grand Prix is about how you perform on that given weekend and no one can take the result away from us today."
Montoya and Raikkonen completed the podium, the first without a Ferrari driver since the 1999 Malaysian Grand Prix, as Schumacher had to be content with fourth place. "All things considered I think we can be happy with fourth place today," Schumacher said. "It was an interesting day with plenty of action and these five points will be important later in the year. The F2002 is still very competitive."
In the end, Melbourne provided just what Formula One needed: a good race, with on-track action and without controversy. The sport won the first round of a battle that will last a whole year. However, it's too early to start celebrating the rebirth of a more exciting Formula One. There are 15 rounds left and the jury is still out.
Lap 1: Rubens Barrichello makes what can be only described as an optimistic start (for which he is later penalised with a drive-through penalty). Michael Schumacher takes the lead with Barrichello, Montoya and Panis giving chase. It is quickly clear that the dry tyres are a problem and Panis is quickly passed by the Frentzen and Heidfeld in the Saubers, Jenson Button and Jacques Villeneuve in the BARs and Fernando Alonso and Jarno Trulli in the Renaults. At the end of the lap Schumacher is 1.5 seconds ahead of Barrichello and there is then a gap of 5.8 secs to Heidfeld, Montoya, Frentzen, Button, Villeneuve, Alonso and Trulli. David Coulthard was 10th.
Lap 2: As the two Ferraris continue to go away from the field, building the lead to 10 seconds as the others fight for third place, Montoya re-passes Heidfeld. Further back Justin Wilson shows the advantage gained from Minardi's qualifying strategy by moving up to 10th on his wet tyres. Coulthard heads for the pits to switch to dry tyres.
Lap 3: Frentzen moves ahead of Heidfeld to take fourth while Alonso makes a big charge and goes from eighth to sixth ahead of the two BARs.
Lap 5: Montoya's charge reduces the Ferrari lead to 4.5 seconds, indicating that it is time for drivers to change tyres. Alonso passes Frentzen for fourth place and Trulli moves up to sixth ahead of Heidfeld. Button heads for the pits to switch tyres.
Lap 6: Barrichello goes off and hits the wall at high speed in Turn 5. Mark Webber is moving up the order and as other cars slow or go to the pits he emerges in sixth ahead of the recovering Panis, Ralph Firman and Raikkonen. Frentzen heads for the pits.
Lap 7: Michael Schumacher heads for pitlane and Montoya goes into the lead with Alonso and Trulli behind him. Ralf Schumacher is up to fourth with Webber fifth and Panis sixth. Heidfeld heads for the pits. Firman's race comes to an end when he crashes in Turn 5. The Safety Car goes on to standby. Michael Schumacher rejoins in 10th place.
Lap 8: Cristiano da Mattra's F1 debut ends when he spins into a sand trap from 11th place. The Safety Car is deployed and Panis, Fisichella, Pizzonia and Wilson head for the pits. The order is Montoya, Alonso, Trulli, Ralf Schumacher, Webber, Raikkonen, Michael Schumacher, Coulthard, Villeneuve and Panis.
Lap 10: Alonso pits. This drops him to the tail of the field. Trulli moves to second.
Lap 15: Three consecutive fastest laps increases Montoya's lead to six seconds as Trulli comes under pressure from Ralf Schumacher, Raikkonen, Michael Schumacher and Webber. Coulthard, Villeneuve and Button give chase.
Lap 16: Webber goes out with what looks like a rear driveshaft failure. This promotes Coulthard to sixth place. Webber's car stops in a dangerous position and the Safety Car is deployed again.
Lap 17: Montoya, Trulli, Ralf Schumacher and Wilson head for the pits. Ralf has a slow stop and then spins while trying to hold position. This pushes Alonso across a sand trap.
Lap 21: The race restarts with Raikkonen leading Michael Schumacher, Coulthard, Villeneuve, Button and Montoya. Then come Panis, Frentzen, Fisichella, Trulli, Verstappen, Pizzonia, Alonso and Ralf Schumacher. Heidfeld has disappeared with a suspension failure.
Lap 25: Raikkonen holds back Schumacher while Coulthard runs closely behind the leading pair. The two BARs head for the pit lane at the same moment, which means that Button loses a lot of time waiting for Villeneuve to refuel. This drops them out of contention. Montoya moves to fourth ahead of Panis and Frentzen.
Lap 30: Panis is given a much-delayed drive-through penalty for crossing the white line at the pit exit during his pit stop on lap 8. He drops from fifth to 12th.
Lap 31: Verstappen goes into the pits, dropping out of eighth place. Pizzonia has a harmless spin.
Lap 32: Coulthard pits and falls back to sixth. This puts Montoya up to second with Frentzen third, Fisichella fourth and Michael Schumacher fifth.
Lap 33: Raikkonen and Fisichella pit. Montoya leads from Kimi, Frentzen, Michael Schumacher, Coulthard and Trulli. Olivier Panis retires with a fuel pressure problem.
Lap 36: Frentzen pits and falls back down the order. Coulthard moves to fourth ahead of Trulli and Alonso. Raikkonen is given a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pitlane.
Lap 37: Michael Schumacher challenges Raikkonen for second and the two go into the first corner side by side. Schumacher goes on to the grass.
Lap 40: Schumacher runs wide over a kerb at Turn 12.
Lap 41: Ralf Schumacher and Villeneuve both pit.
Lap 42: Montoya and Alonso pit. Montoya does not change tyres. At the same time Raikkonen has a big off at Turn 14 but is able to rejoin without damage. Michael Schumacher leads but there are problems as some aerodynamic devices have come loose on the Ferrari.
Lap 45: Trulli pits and drops from fourth place to fifth.
Lap 46: Michael Schumacher gets a black and orange flag and has to pit for repairs to be made to his car. The stop reveals that he needed fuel anyway so no real time is lost. He rejoins in fourth place. Montoya leads Coulthard and Raikkonen.
Lap 48: Montoya spins at the exit of Turn 1 and loses the lead to Coulthard but he rejoins ahead of Raikkonen. The race order is set but in the closing laps a battle develops for second as Montoya comes under threat from Raikkonen and Michael Schumacher. Trulli is a lonely fifth with Frentzen sixth although he is under pressure from Alonso and Ralf Schumacher.
Lap 53: Fisichella retires with a gearbox problem. Pizzonia pulls off to retire with a mechanical failure.
Lap 58: Coulthard wins from Montoya, Raikkonen and Michael Schumacher. The remaining points go to Trulli, Frentzen, Alonso, Ralf Schumacher, Villeneuve and Button. The only other finisher is Verstappen a lap down.
Few times in its 53-year history Formula One was under so much pressure to perform as it was at this year's season opening Australian Grand Prix. After months of controversy, politics, war of words, and confusing rules changes, Formula One needed to prove it was still a sport, and that no matter what happened behind the scenes, the important part of it all was still the on-track action.
"I think it was quite exceptional," said the FIA president after the race. "There was something happening all the time, there was never a dull period. I'd give it an eight or nine (out of 10) but I would have to say that the weather played a part."
The young Finn also managed to beat Schumacher in an exciting duel for second place, demonstrating he is ready to challenge for race wins whenever his car allows him to. This time, the revised MP4-17D, although not as quick as the Ferrari F2002, proved to be up to the task and showed that McLaren have probably made the right choice by starting the season with the old machine. That, despite a qualifying fiasco which saw Coulthard starting from 11th and Raikkonen from 15th place.
After an impressive performance in qualifying, the Honda-powered team dropped the ball in the race, and a controversial pitstop blunder that saw Jacques Villeneuve coming into the pits on Jenson Button's lap, didn't help their chances of scoring any points.
The new format received mixed reactions, with Schumacher claiming he was bored after having nothing to do for nearly an hour; ironically, the new system has meant quite the opposite for the spectators used to wait for long periods of time before seeing a car taking to the track under the old format. The new system proved to be fans-friendly, with on-track action from start to finish, but also beneficial for the lesser teams.
Friday Qualifying: 4th, 1:27.103
Friday Qualifying: 1st, 1:26.372
Friday Qualifying: 10th, 1:27.450
Friday Qualifying: 13th, 1:27.563
Frentzen can be blindingly quick over a single lap, and the German proved it with his surprising performance on Saturday, putting his Petronas-powered Sauber C22 on the second row of the grid, and this despite claiming he was unable to get the second chicane right on his flying-lap.
Friday Qualifying: 8th, 1:27.352
Friday Qualifying: 3rd, 1:26.832
Friday Qualifying: 12th, 1:27.510
Heidfeld performed on par with teammate Frentzen during most of the weekend, but in a closely-packed field, less than two tenths of a second difference meant three positions down. Still, it showed Sauber have created another good car aided by the power of the 2002 Ferrari engine.
Friday Qualifying: 5th, 1:27.159
Friday Qualifying: 16th, 1:28.266
Friday Qualifying: 7th, 1:27.255
The young Spaniard lived up to the hype surrounding him by outqualifying his more experienced teammate Jarno Trulli. Alonso benefitted from the extra track time thanks to Renault's decision to opt for Friday testing, and the 21-year old made good use of it. Alonso, however, could have wound up much higher up the grid if not for a mistake on his Saturday qualifying lap.
Friday Qualifying: 6th, 1:27.242
Friday Qualifying: 9th, 1:27.411
Despite making a name for himself as a qualifying specialist, the Italian was outqualified by his new teammate Alonso. Like the Spaniard, Trulli also made a mistake on his lap, which - coupled with an understeering Renault R23 - cost the Pescaran a chance of making it into the top ten.
Friday Qualifying: 14th, 1:27.633
Friday Qualifying: 15th, 1:27.675
Friday Qualifying: 2nd, 1:26.551
Raikkonen looked like McLaren's main contender on Friday, posting the second quickest time, only behind Barrichello. Unfortunately for him, he endured a torrid Saturday. Raikkonen crashed out in practice and was forced to use the spare car in qualifying, and thus in the race. A mistake late on his flying lap caused damage to his car's floor as well as the rear left tyre, which burst on his slowing down lap.
Friday Qualifying: 11th, 1:27.478
Friday Qualifying: 17th, 1:29.977
Friday Qualifying: 19th, 1:30.092
Pizzonia had little track time with his racing car before first qualifying and could only complete a handful of laps before the Saturday session due to a problem with his brakes. With his limited knowledge of the circuit and going out in third position, the Brazilian Jaguar driver could not have hoped for much better than a clean lap. That he got, although it was more than two seconds off Webber's pace.
Friday Qualifying: 18th, 1:30.053
Friday Qualifying: 20th, 1:30.479
The predictions that forecasted rain for Sunday proved right in the morning, although by the time the cars lined up on the grid for the opening race of the season, the skies were mostly blue and the track was drying up. There were still some very wet patches around, and both Ferrari drivers - as well as Heinz-Harald Frentzen and David Coulthard - decided to start the race on intermediate tyres while the rest of the top drives opted for dry-weather tyres.
The advantage of using intermediates would soon disappear, and by lap five Montoya began to get closer to the Ferraris, while an impressive Fernando Alonso, apparently very low on fuel, had moved up to fourth, ahead of Frentzen and Trulli, also low on fuel. Still not having served his penalty, Barrichello became the first victim of the track conditions on lap six, when he went off the track and destroyed his car, leaving debris and dirt on the tarmac.
Raikkonen, having not pitted yet, had Schumacher all over his back, with Coulthard following closely behind and ahead of Villeneuve and Button. The BAR duo were next to pit... on the same lap. The Canadian dived into the pits while it was Button's turn, claiming he had a radio problem. The Briton was therefore forced to wait in the pitlane while Villeneuve refuelled.
With Schumacher also out of contention, everything was looking good for Montoya until, 11 laps from the end, the Colombian made a mistake at turn one and spun. He managed to recover, but Coulthard was already in the lead and victory was gone for him.
Thanks to the new scoring system the Renault team emerged ahead of Ferrari in the constructors' standings, with Trulli finishing in fifth and Alonso scoring his first two points with a seventh place behind Frentzen and ahead of Ralf.
CLASSIFIED
Pos Driver Team-Engine Tyres Time
1. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes (M) 1h34:42.124
2. Montoya Williams BMW (M) + 8.675
3. Raikkonen McLaren Mercedes (M) + 9.192
4. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) + 9.482
5. Trulli Renault (M) + 38.801
6. Frentzen Sauber Petronas (B) + 43.928
7. Alonso Renault (M) + 45.074
8. R.Schumacher Williams BMW (M) + 45.745
9. Villeneuve BAR Honda (B) + 1:05.536
10. Button BAR Honda (B) + 1:05.974
11. Verstappen Minardi Cosworth (B) + 1 lap
12. Fisichella Jordan Ford (B) + 6 laps
13. Pizzonia Jaguar Cosworth (M) + 6 laps
Not Classified/Retirements:
Driver Team On Lap
Panis Toyota (M) 31
Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas (B) 20
Wilson Minardi-Cosworth (B) 16
Webber Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 15
da Matta Toyota (M) 7
Firman Jordan-Ford (B) 6
Barrichello Ferrari (B) 5
Fastest lap: Raikkonen, 1:27.724, lap 32
World Championship Standing, Round 1:
Drivers: Constructors:
1. Coulthard 10 1. McLaren-Mercedes 16
2. Montoya 8 2. Williams-BMW 9
3. Raikkonen 6 3. Renault 6
4. M.Schumacher 5 4. Ferrari 5
5. Trulli 4 5. Sauber 3
6. Frentzen 3
7. Alonso 2
8. R.Schumacher 1
Pos Driver Team Lap Time
1. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 32 1:27.724
2. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 27 1:27.759 + 0.035
3. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 39 1:27.942 + 0.218
4. Alonso Renault (M) 35 1:28.170 + 0.446
5. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 28 1:28.272 + 0.548
6. Button BAR-Honda (B) 57 1:28.600 + 0.876
7. R.Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 37 1:28.617 + 0.893
8. Trulli Renault (M) 44 1:28.638 + 0.914
9. Villeneuve BAR-Honda (B) 57 1:28.770 + 1.046
10. Frentzen Sauber-Petronas (B) 35 1:29.096 + 1.372
11. Pizzonia Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 37 1:29.217 + 1.493
12. Fisichella Jordan-Ford (B) 49 1:29.274 + 1.550
13. Panis Toyota (M) 23 1:29.694 + 1.970
14. Webber Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 14 1:29.697 + 1.973
15. Verstappen Minardi-Cosworth (B) 29 1:31.785 + 4.061
16. Wilson Minardi-Cosworth (B) 13 1:33.139 + 5.415
17. Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas (B) 14 1:33.519 + 5.795
18. da Matta Toyota (M) 7 1:33.753 + 6.029
19. Firman Jordan-Ford (B) 6 1:36.644 + 8.920
20. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 5 1:37.086 + 9.362
Pos Driver Team Time Lap
1. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 14.699 39
2. Panis Toyota (M) 14.862 30
3. Button BAR-Honda (B) 24.144 5
4. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 24.591 2
5. Trulli Renault (M) 24.729 45
6. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 25.135 42
7. Alonso Renault (M) 25.269 42
8. Button BAR-Honda (B) 25.625 39
9. Villeneuve BAR-Honda (B) 25.720 4
10. R.Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 26.039 41
11. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 26.060 29
12. Villeneuve BAR-Honda (B) 26.134 41
13. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 26.463 46
14. Wilson Minardi-Cosworth (B) 26.599 8
15. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 26.782 17
16. Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas (B) 27.059 7
17. Frentzen Sauber-Petronas (B) 27.516 6
18. Trulli Renault (M) 27.757 17
19. Frentzen Sauber-Petronas (B) 27.758 36
20. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 28.352 32
21. Panis Toyota (M) 28.585 8
22. Alonso Renault (M) 28.606 10
23. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 28.877 33
24. Pizzonia Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 28.896 39
25. Fisichella Jordan-Ford (B) 29.533 8
26. Villeneuve BAR-Honda (B) 31.230 25
27. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 31.490 7
28. Pizzonia Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 31.893 8
29. Verstappen Minardi-Cosworth (B) 38.452 31
30. R.Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 40.515 17
31. Fisichella Jordan-Ford (B) 41.765 33
32. Button BAR-Honda (B) 44.291 25
The Australian Grand Prix, Lap by Lap
As the cars are lining up for the start Jos Verstappen goes into the pits and fails to get out before the pit lane is closed. As a result he has to start from the pits. The track is damp and so it is a question of which tyres should be used. Of the frontrunners Michael Schumacher, Rubens Barrichello, Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Jacques Villeneuve all decide to go with wet tyres while Juan Pablo Montoya, Jacques Villeneuve and Ralf Schumacher opt for dry tyres. At the end of the parade lap Kimi Raikkonen goes into the pits and starts the race from there.
Lap 4: The pendulum swings and there are signs that the dry tyres are the right choice for the track conditions. Montoya sets the fastest lap and starts to close on the two Ferraris. Alonso overtakes Heidfeld to move to fifth, while Trulli is also moving up fast to seventh. Villeneuve heads to the pits to change tyres.
Lap 12: The race restarts with Raikkonen passing Webber in Turn 1 and Michael Schumacher also getting ahead further around the lap. Montoya begins to pull away from Trulli. The race finally begins to settle down.
Lap 29: Having failed to overtake Raikkonen, Michael Schumacher comes into the pits. He drops from second to sixth.
Lap 39: Raikkonen pits for his penalty. Also coming in are Pizzonia and Button. This puts Michael Schumacher second ahead of Coulthard.
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