2003 Japanese Grand Prix

The 2003 Japanese Grand Prix (formally the XXIX Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 12 October 2003 at the Suzuka Circuit, Suzuka, Mie, Japan. It was the sixteenth and final round of the 2003 Formula One season as well as the 29th Japanese Grand Prix. The 53-lap race was won by Rubens Barrichello driving for Ferrari after starting from pole position. Kimi Räikkönen, who started the race from eighth position, finished second in a McLaren car, with David Coulthard third in the other McLaren.

2003 Japanese Grand Prix
Race 16 of 16 in the 2003 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date 12 October 2003
Official name XXIX Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix
Location Suzuka Circuit, Suzuka, Mie, Japan
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 5.807 km (3.608 mi)
Distance 53 laps, 307.771 km (191.224 mi)
Weather Cloudy, Air: 22 °C (72 °F), Track 25 °C (77 °F)
Pole position
Driver
Ferrari
Time 1:31.713
Fastest lap
Driver Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW
Time 1:33.408
Podium
First
Ferrari
Second
McLaren-Mercedes
Third
McLaren-Mercedes

Barrichello's win saw Ferrari clinch their 13th Constructors Championship title, the team's fifth title in a row, with Barrichello's team-mate Michael Schumacher finishing eighth to secure his record-breaking 6th World Driver's Championship surpassing the record set by Juan Manuel Fangio in 1957. This was also Schumacher's fourth consecutive World Driver's title.[1]

Report

Background

Heading into the final race of the season, Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher was leading the World Driver's Championship standings with 92 points; McLaren driver Kimi Räikkönen was second on 83 points, 9 points behind Schumacher. A maximum of 10 points were available, which meant that Räikkönen could still win the title. Schumacher only needed an eighth-place finish to become Driver's Champion even if Räikkönen won the race. Räikkönen needed to win and Schumacher not to score a single point in order for him to become Driver's Champion.[2]

There was one driver change heading into the race. Having been a driver for the BAR-Honda team for most of the season, Jacques Villeneuve pulled out of the Grand Prix after asking to be released by the team and was replaced by the team's test driver Takuma Sato.[3] Sato had been confirmed as a driver for the team for the 2004 season in the days running up to the race and would drive alongside Jenson Button.[4]

Classification

Qualifying
Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap
1 2 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 1:31.713
2 3 Juan Pablo Montoya Williams–BMW 1:32.412 +0.699
3 21 Cristiano da Matta Toyota 1:32.419 +0.706
4 20 Olivier Panis Toyota 1:32.862 +1.149
5 8 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:33.044 +1.331
6 14 Mark Webber Jaguar–Ford 1:33.106 +1.393
7 5 David Coulthard McLaren–Mercedes 1:33.137 +1.424
8 6 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren–Mercedes 1:33.272 +1.559
9 17 Jenson Button BAR–Honda 1:33.474 +1.761
10 15 Justin Wilson Jaguar–Ford 1:33.558 +1.845
11 9 Nick Heidfeld Sauber–Petronas 1:33.632 +1.919
12 10 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber–Petronas 1:33.896 +2.183
13 16 Takuma Sato BAR–Honda 1:33.924 +2.211
14 1 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:34.302 +2.589
15 12 Ralph Firman Jordan–Ford 1:34.771 +3.058
16 11 Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan–Ford 1:34.912 +3.199
17 19 Jos Verstappen Minardi–Cosworth 1:34.975 +3.262
18 18 Nicolas Kiesa Minardi–Cosworth 1:37.226 +5.513
19 4 Ralf Schumacher Williams–BMW No time
20 7 Jarno Trulli Renault No time
Source:[5]

Race
Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 2 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 53 1:25:11.743 1 10
2 6 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 53 +11.085 8 8
3 5 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 53 +11.614 7 6
4 17 Jenson Button BAR-Honda 53 +33.106 9 5
5 7 Jarno Trulli Renault 53 +34.269 20 4
6 16 Takuma Sato BAR-Honda 53 +51.692 13 3
7 21 Cristiano da Matta Toyota 53 +56.794 3 2
8 1 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 53 +59.487 14 1
9 9 Nick Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas 53 +1:00.159 11  
10 20 Olivier Panis Toyota 53 +1:01.844 4  
11 14 Mark Webber Jaguar-Cosworth 53 +1:11.005 6  
12 4 Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW 52 +1 Lap 19  
13 15 Justin Wilson Jaguar-Cosworth 52 +1 Lap 10  
14 12 Ralph Firman Jordan-Ford 51 +2 Laps 15  
15 19 Jos Verstappen Minardi-Cosworth 51 +2 Laps 17  
16 18 Nicolas Kiesa Minardi-Cosworth 50 +3 Laps 18  
Ret 11 Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Ford 33 Out of fuel 16  
Ret 8 Fernando Alonso Renault 17 Engine 5  
Ret 10 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Petronas 9 Engine 12  
Ret 3 Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 9 Hydraulics 2  
Source:[6]

Notes

Championship standings after the race
  • Bold text indicates the World Champions.
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
gollark: WHY even has configurable optimization levels - you can add an `-O [optimization level]` argument.
gollark: What are you irtuufhffuffhufufhfgjjfhcjjfccjudcbfjfhing at?
gollark: Anyway, basically: WHY takes some C code, and sticks it in the main function, and then adds a busy loop to waste CPU time.
gollark: They should make an EsoAPI with support for brainf*** and other important languages.
gollark: ```WHY was created to illustrate to somebody that compiled languages are not necessarily faster.Compiling WHY involves reading the WHY source file and then placing it in a C source file at the end of the `main` function after a busy loop.Here is a Python implementation; it requires GCC to be installed. It supports different "optimization" levels. ```Quoted from the Wiki.

References
  1. "Japanese GP - Sunday - Race Notes". grandprix.com. 12 October 2003. Archived from the original on 2014-04-29. Retrieved 6 May 2013.
  2. "Deciding the World Championship". grandprix.com. 7 October 2003. Retrieved 6 May 2013.
  3. "Villeneuve pulls out of Japan's GP". CNN International. 9 October 2003. Retrieved 6 May 2013.
  4. "Sato replaces Villeneuve". BBC Sport (BBC). 7 October 2003. Retrieved 6 May 2013.
  5. "2003 Japanese Grand Prix – Qualifying". Motorsport Stats. 30 October 2019.
  6. "2003 Japanese Grand Prix". Formula1.com. Formula1.com Limited. Archived from the original on 26 December 2014. Retrieved 26 December 2015.
  7. "Japan 2003 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
Previous race:
2003 United States Grand Prix		 FIA Formula One World Championship
2003 season		 Next race:
2004 Australian Grand Prix
Previous race:
2002 Japanese Grand Prix		 Japanese Grand Prix Next race:
2004 Japanese Grand Prix

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.