2002 Italian Grand Prix

Italy  2002 Italian Grand Prix
Race details
Race 15 of 17 in the 2002 Formula One season

Autodromo Nazionale Monza (last modified in 2000)
Date 15 September 2002
Official name LXXIII Gran Premio Vodafone d'Italia
Location Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Monza, Italy
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 5.793 km (3.600 mi)
Distance 53 laps, 306.719 km (190.586 mi)
Weather Sunny, hot, dry 23°C
Attendance 90,000[1]
Pole position
Driver
Williams-BMW
Time 1:20.264
Fastest lap
Driver Brazil Rubens Barrichello Ferrari
Time 1:23.297 on lap 36
Podium
First
Ferrari
Second
Ferrari
Third
Jaguar-Cosworth

The 2002 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Monza on 15 September 2002. It was another dominating one-two finish for Ferrari, with Rubens Barrichello winning on a two-stop strategy, in front of his one-stopping team mate Michael Schumacher. Jaguar-Cosworth's Eddie Irvine finished third and also scored his final points.

Report

Background

The Grand Prix was contested by ten teams with two drivers each. The teams (also known as constructors) were Ferrari, McLaren, Williams, Sauber, Jordan, BAR, Renault, Jaguar, Minardi and Toyota.[2]

Heading into the fifteenth race of the season, both the Drivers' Championship and Constructors' Championship were already settled, with Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher having claimed the Drivers' Championship four rounds earlier at the French Grand Prix.[3] Ferrari secured the Constructors' Championship at the thirteenth round of the championship (the Hungarian Grand Prix) with their nearest rival Williams too many points behind to catch them.[3]

After the Belgian Grand Prix on 1 September, all teams (except Arrows) conducted mid-season testing at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza between 3–6 September to prepare for the upcoming race at the circuit. Michael Schumacher was fastest on the first day, ahead of BAR test driver Anthony Davidson which was held in wet weather conditions, with intermittent dry spells.[4] Ralf Schumacher set the fastest times on the second where the rain continued into the morning before stopping meaning the track dried up as the session progressed.[5] The first full day of dry weather conditions was held on the third day where Pedro de la Rosa was the fastest driver.[6] Rubens Barrichello was the fastest driver on the final day of testing. Juan Pablo Montoya caused a red flag to be shown when he lost control of his car at the Curva di Lesmo corners, and removed his front wing.after colliding with the barrier.[7]

Due to the configuration of the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, with its high average speed, the teams set up their cars to produce the minimum amount of downforce possible.[8] Ferrari introduced a new qualifying-specification engine but the team installed a previous engine specification for the race on Sunday.[9] Williams and BAR introduced revised engine specifications for the qualifying session and Renault debuted new front wings for the Grand Prix.[8][10]

Practice and qualifying

Four practice sessions were held before the Sunday race, two each on Friday and Saturday. The Friday morning and afternoon sessions each lasted an hour; the third and fourth sessions, on Saturday morning, lasted 45 minutes each.[11] Conditions were sunny and dry for the Friday practice sessions.[8]

It was a good fight with Ralf and Michael and I am pleased to be on pole. We knew we would be at ease on this track from the start and we haven't needed to change the car too much during the weekend. The tyres are very consistent and we have found a good balance for our car. I hope for my first win this season and for my second here at Monza and in Formula One overall. It is going to be a good race.

Juan Pablo Montoya on taking the pole position.[12]

Saturday's afternoon qualifying session lasted for an hour. Each driver was limited to twelve laps, with the starting order decided by the drivers' fastest laps. During this session, the 107% rule was in effect, which necessitated each driver set a time within 107% of the quickest lap to qualify for the race.[11] The Williams and Ferrari teams chose to experiment with tyre set-ups by using hard compound tyres with the aim of gaining better race performance.[13] Montoya eclipsed the fastest lap speed recorded in Formula One (which was previously held by Keke Rosberg set at the 1985 British Grand Prix) to clinch his seventh pole position of the season with a time of 1:20.264.[14] He felt his lap time was "pretty good" and gained a large amount of time at the Curva di Lesmo corners which contributed to a fast middle sector time.[15] Montoya was joined on the front row of the grid by Michael Schumacher who was 0.257 seconds off Montoya's pace and was happy with his lap time despite him taking time to get the optium temperature in his tyres. Ralf Schumacher qualified third and reported making a mistake at Curva di Lesmo on his third timed run.[10] Barrichello set his fastest lap time on his second timed run to secure fourth position. Räikkonen initially secured fifth place but collided with Sato (who was running on the inside line) at the Variante della Roggia chicane with two minutes of the session remaining causing the session to be suspended for seven minutes. Räikkönen (who on a timed lap after exiting the pit lane) was unable to improve his lap time and get into the spare car which was set-up for Coulthard because of the limited time available.[10][12][16] Both drivers and their representatives were summoned by the stewards and after reviewing video evidence, they decided to delete Räikkönen's fastest lap time which moved him down from fifth to sixth on the grid and Irvine inherited Räikkönen's former starting position.[17] Irvine endured a difficult qualifying session: he was afflicted with an gear change problem on his first two runs, and later made a mistake on his third run before he was held up by traffic on his fourth. Coulthard took seventh in the other McLaren and was frustrated because his tyres took a large amount of time to warm-up and lost time when he ran over the kerb at the Variante della Roggia chicane. de la Rosa took eighth and ran the spare Jaguar throughout but was afflicted with problems with his differential and his car misfired during the session.[10] Villeneuve took ninth place and was frustrated as he felt he could have qualified in seventh because he made mistakes heading into the Variante Ascari and the Curva Parabolica corners. Salo rounded out the top ten qualifiers and was happy with his car in race trim but his expectation was to qualify in a higher starting position.[12]

Trulli improved his car on all of his timed laps and drafted off teammate Button on his fastest lap to secure eleventh place but lost time after running very closely behind Button heading into the Curva Parabolica corner. Fisichella had a strategy to run two timed laps but his final run disrupted because of the Räikkönen and Sato incident which restricted Fisichella to twelfth. He later said he hoped of a possibility to qualify tenth and was struggling for grip.[12] He was ahead of McNish in the slower Toyota who was satisfied despite being held up by traffic on his second run.[10] McNish was in front of the two Saubers (with Massa ahead of Heidfeld); Massa used scrubbed tyres which provided him with more front-end grip on his first timed run and had a large amount of understeer after new tyres were installed on his car. More downforce was added to Massa's car for his final run. Heidfeld ran wide on the exit of the Curva di Lesmo on his final timed lap which prevented him from recording a faster lap time.[10][12] Panis was sixteenth in the second BAR with Button sharing the eighth row in seventeenth.[13] Despite the incident with Räikkonen Sato took eighteenth and said "That was the most difficult qualifying session of my career".[12] Sato had also made driving mistakes during the session meaning he could not set a representative lap time.[12] The two Minardi cars lined up on the final row of the grid with Webber ahead of the returning Yoong;[13] both Webber and Yoong were affected by the red-flag period and Yoong lost his final two timed laps as a consequence.[10]

Race

The drivers took to the track at 09:30 CEST (UTC+2) for a 30-minute warm-up session,[11]

The race took place in the afternoon from 14:00 local time. The weather conditions on the grid were dry and sunny before the race; the track temperature ranged between 33–34 °C (91–93 °F).[18] Ralf Schumacher switched to the spare Williams because his regular car developed an fuel pressure problem.[19] As the five red lights went out to signal the start of the race, Montoya made a bad start as he narrowly avoided stalling and drove to the right to block Michael Schumacher. This allowed Montoya's teammate Ralf Schumacher (who made a good start and got ahead Michael Schumacher) to move into the lead and the two drivers were side-by-side on the main straight heading into the Variante chicane. Montoya ran wide to prevent a collision with Ralf Schumacher under braking and Schumacher drove over the chicane.[19][20] Williams contacted FIA race director Charlie Whiting who replied that Ralf Schumacher was required to cede the lead back to Montoya.[20] McNish made the best start in the field, moving from thirteenth to seventh by the end of the first lap, while Trulli made up four positions over the same distance.[21] At the end of the first lap, the order of the top ten drivers was Ralf Schumacher, Montoya, Barrichello, Michael Schumacher, Räikkönen, Irvine, McNish, Salo, Panis and Villeneuve.[22]

Ralf Schumacher began to pull away from Montoya. Further down the field Villenueve got ahead of Heidfeld to take over tenth, while Button passed Massa to move into thirteenth position and Yoong overtook teammate Webber for eighteenth. Ralf Schumacher set a new fastest lap, a 1:26.230 on lap three, but was later eclipsed by Barrichello. Villeneuve was overtaken by Trulli on the same lap and Webber reclaimed eighteenth from Yoong.[18][21] Williams received a reply to order Ralf Schumacher to cede first position to Montoya which was relayed to Schumacher by the Senior Operations Engineer of Williams Sam Michael at the end of lap four.[19][20] Afterwards Ralf Schumacher pulled over to the side of the track at the Variante chicane with smoke billowing from his engine and became the first retirement of the race at the start of lap five.[18] His teammate Montoya thus temporarily inherited the lead but was blinded by the smoke, allowing Barrichello to move into the inside line, and after running in Montoya's slipstream, he passed the Williams driver for the lead under braking going into the Variante chicane.[20]

Classification

Qualifying

Pos No Driver Constructor Lap Gap
1 6 Colombia Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 1:20.264 —
2 1 Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:20.521 +0.257
3 5 Germany Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW 1:20.542 +0.278
4 2 Brazil Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 1:20.705 +0.442
5 16 United Kingdom Eddie Irvine Jaguar-Cosworth 1:21.606 +1.342
6 4 Finland Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 1:21.712 +1.448
7 3 United Kingdom David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:21.803 +1.539
8 17 Spain Pedro de la Rosa Jaguar-Cosworth 1:21.960 +1.696
9 11 Canada Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Honda 1:22.126 +1.862
10 24 Finland Mika Salo Toyota 1:22.318 +2.054
11 14 Italy Jarno Trulli Renault 1:22.383 +2.119
12 9 Italy Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Honda 1:22.515 +2.251
13 25 United Kingdom Allan McNish Toyota 1:22.521 +2.257
14 8 Brazil Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas 1:22.565 +2.301
15 7 Germany Nick Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas 1:22.601 +2.337
16 12 France Olivier Panis BAR-Honda 1:22.645 +2.381
17 15 United Kingdom Jenson Button Renault 1:22.714 +2.450
18 10 Japan Takuma Sato Jordan-Honda 1:23.166 +2.902
19 23 Australia Mark Webber Minardi-Asiatech 1:23.794 +3.530
20 22 Malaysia Alex Yoong Minardi-Asiatech 1:25.111 +4.847
Source:[23]

Race

Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 2 Brazil Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 53 1:16:19.982 4 10
2 1 Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari 53 +0.255 2 6
3 16 United Kingdom Eddie Irvine Jaguar-Cosworth 53 +52.579 5 4
4 14 Italy Jarno Trulli Renault 53 +58.219 11 3
5 15 United Kingdom Jenson Button Renault 53 +1:07.770 17 2
6 12 France Olivier Panis BAR-Honda 53 +1:08.491 16 1
7 3 United Kingdom David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 53 +1:09.047 7  
8 9 Italy Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Honda 53 +1:10.891 12  
9 11 Canada Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Honda 53 +1:21.068 9  
10 7 Germany Nick Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas 53 +1:22.046 15  
11 24 Finland Mika Salo Toyota 52 +1 Lap 10  
12 10 Japan Takuma Sato Jordan-Honda 52 +1 Lap 18  
13 22 Malaysia Alex Yoong Minardi-Asiatech 47 +6 Laps 20  
Ret 6 Colombia Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 33 Chassis 1  
Ret 4 Finland Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 29 Engine 6  
Ret 23 Australia Mark Webber Minardi-Asiatech 20 Engine 19  
Ret 8 Brazil Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas 16 Collision 14  
Ret 17 Spain Pedro de la Rosa Jaguar-Cosworth 15 Collision 8  
Ret 25 United Kingdom Allan McNish Toyota 12 Suspension 13  
Ret 5 Germany Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW 4 Engine 3  
Sources:[23][24]

Notes

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings
Pos Driver Points
1 Germany Michael Schumacher 128
2 Brazil Rubens Barrichello 61
3 Colombia Juan Pablo Montoya 44
4 Germany Ralf Schumacher 42
5 United Kingdom David Coulthard 37
Constructors' Championship standings
Pos Constructor Points
1 Italy Ferrari 189
2 United Kingdom Williams-BMW 86
3 United Kingdom McLaren-Mercedes 57
4 France Renault 20
5 Switzerland Sauber-Petronas 11

References

  1. ↑ F1 Racing. October 2002.
  2. ↑ "2002 Italian Grand Prix". Formula1.com. Formula1.com Limited. Archived from the original on 13 October 2014. Retrieved 26 December 2015.
  3. 1 2 "Drivers' and Constructors' Provisional Standings". FIA.com. Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. Archived from the original on 21 December 2002. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
  4. ↑ "Testing September 3rd: Monza Day One". Formula1.com. Formula1.com Limited. 3 September 2002. Archived from the original on 2 December 2002. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  5. ↑ "Testing continues at Monza". GrandPrix.com. Inside F1, Inc. 4 September 2002. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  6. ↑ Atlas F1 (5 September 2002). "De la Rosa Tops the Times at Monza - Day Three". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  7. ↑ "Testing September 6th: Monza Day Four". Formula1.com. Inside F1, Inc. 6 September 2002. Archived from the original on 5 February 2003. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  8. 1 2 3 "Free Practice" (PDF). FIA.com. Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 13 September 2002. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 March 2005. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  9. ↑ "New qualifying engine for Ferrari this weekend". GPUpdate. JHED Media BV. 12 September 2002. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Free Practice and Qualifying" (PDF). FIA.com. Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 14 September 2002. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 April 2004. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  11. 1 2 3 "2002 Formula One Sporting Regulations" (PDF). FIA.com. Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 31 October 2001. Retrieved 19 October 2014.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Atlas F1 (14 September 2002). "Saturday's Selected Quotes - Italian GP". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  13. 1 2 3 "Montoya takes pole". BBC Sport. BBC. 14 September 2002. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  14. ↑ "19,050 reasons for Montoya's record pole". crash.net. Crash Media Group. 14 September 2002. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  15. ↑ SPEED Channel Staff (14 September 2002). "Montoya Rockets to Italian GP Pole With Track Record". Speed. Speed Channel, Inc. Archived from the original on 18 October 2002. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  16. ↑ "McLaren explain Raikkonen shunt". GPUpdate. JHED Media BV. 14 September 2002. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  17. ↑ "Raikkonen penalized for qualifying incident". GrandPrix.com. Inside F1, Inc. 14 September 2002. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  18. 1 2 3 "2002 - Round 16 - Italy:Monza". Formula1.com. Formula1.com Limited. 15 September 2002. Archived from the original on 3 October 2002. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  19. 1 2 3 Atlas F1 (15 September 2002). "Sunday's Selected Quotes - Italian GP". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  20. 1 2 3 4 "Grand Prix Results: Italian GP, 2002". GrandPrix.com. Inside F1, Inc. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  21. 1 2 "Race Facts and Incidents" (PDF). FIA.com. Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 15 September 2002. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 October 2012. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  22. ↑ "Lap Chart" (PDF). FIA.com. Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 April 2004. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  23. 1 2 "Grand Prix of Italy". FIA.com. Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. Archived from the original on 18 October 2012. Retrieved 26 December 2015.
  24. ↑ "2002 Italian Grand Prix". Formula1.com. Formula1.com Limited. Archived from the original on 13 October 2014. Retrieved 26 December 2015.
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Coordinates: 45°36′56″N 9°16′52″E / 45.61556°N 9.28111°E / 45.61556; 9.28111

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