2002 Brazilian Grand Prix Explained

Type:F1
Country:Brazil
Grand Prix:Brazilian
Date:31 March
Year:2002
Previous Round:2002 Malaysian Grand Prix
Next Round:2002 San Marino Grand Prix
Race No:3
Season No:17
Official Name:XXXI Grande Prêmio do Brasil
Location:Autódromo José Carlos Pace
São Paulo, Brazil
Course:Permanent Racing Facility
Course Mi:2.677
Course Km:4.309
Distance Laps:71
Distance Mi:190.083
Distance Km:305.909
Weather:Clear, Air Temp: 30°C
Pole Driver:Juan Pablo Montoya
Pole Country:Colombia
Pole Team:Williams-BMW
Pole Time:1:13.114
Fast Driver:Juan Pablo Montoya
Fast Team:Williams-BMW
Fast Time:1:16.079
Fast Lap:60
Fast Country:Colombia
First Driver:Michael Schumacher
First Country:Germany
First Team:Ferrari
Second Driver:Ralf Schumacher
Second Country:Germany
Second Team:Williams-BMW
Third Driver:David Coulthard
Third Country:UK
Third Team:McLaren-Mercedes

The 2002 Brazilian Grand Prix (formally the XXXI Grande Prêmio Marlboro do Brasil) was a Formula One motor race held on 31 March 2002 at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, São Paulo, Brazil. It was the third round of the 2002 Formula One season and the thirty-first Brazilian Grand Prix. The 71-lap race was won by Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher after starting from the second position. Ralf Schumacher finished second for the Williams team with David Coulthard third in a McLaren.

Juan Pablo Montoya started from pole position alongside Michael Schumacher. Mika Salo scored his last world championship points at this race. Michael Schumacher's win was his second of the season, his fourth and last at Interlagos, and the result meant that he extended his lead in the Drivers' Championship to eight points over Ralf Schumacher and ten over Montoya. Ferrari reduced the lead of Williams in the Constructors' Championship to six points with fourteen races of the season remaining.

Background

The Grand Prix was contested by eleven teams, each of two drivers.[1] The teams, also known as constructors, were Ferrari, McLaren, Williams, Sauber, Jordan, BAR, Renault, Jaguar, Arrows, Minardi and Toyota.[1] Tyre suppliers Bridgestone and Michelin brought two new dry compounds for the race.

Going into the race, Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher led the Drivers' Championship with 14 points, ahead of Williams driver Juan Pablo Montoya with 12 points. Montoya's teammate Ralf Schumacher was third on 10 points, ahead of McLaren driver Kimi Räikkönen and Eddie Irvine for Jaguar. In the Constructors' Championship, Williams were leading with 22 points; eight points ahead of Ferrari with 14 points; McLaren were a further 10 points behind in third. Ferrari and Williams had so far dominated the championship, with Ralf Schumacher winning the Malaysian Grand Prix. Championship contender Montoya had gained second-place finishes, with Räikkonen achieving a third-place podium finishes.[2]

Following the Malaysian Grand Prix on 17 March, the teams conducted testing sessions at the Circuit de Catalunya from 19–22 March. Jaguar concentrated on chassis development to decide whether to race their previous chassis, the R2 and concentrate development on the R3 with their test team, when the latter suffered from poor performance.[3] McLaren test driver Alexander Wurz (McLaren) set the fastest time of the first day, while Rubens Barrichello (Ferrari) was fastest on the second and final days of testing, and Michael Schumacher (Ferrari) topped the third day's running.

Ferrari's main 2002 car, the F2002, was introduced that weekend; the team had been using a modified version of their 2001 car, the F2001, for the opening two rounds.[4] Originally due to be introduced at the first race in Australia, problems with its performance had left the team to develop the car, delaying its debut. One chassis of the F2002 was made available to Michael Schumacher with teammate Barrichello using a modified F2001.[5]

Practice

Four practice sessions were held before the race: two 60 minute sessions on Friday and two 45 minute sessions on Saturday.[6] The Friday sessions were held in dry and sunny conditions. Michael Schumacher set the session's fastest time with a lap of 1:15.627, one second ahead of Ralf Schumacher. Giancarlo Fisichella was one-tenth of a second off Ralf Schumacher's pace, with the two Sauber drivers fourth and fifth, Nick Heidfeld ahead of Felipe Massa with Arrows driver Enrique Bernoldi rounding out the top six. The session was disrupted by an incident as Räikkönen stalled after spinning off at the Descida do Sol corner—the incident required a suspension as marshals cleared the track of the car.[7] In the second practice session, David Coulthard set the fastest lap of the day, a 1:15.075. The two Williams drivers were second and fourth, Montoya ahead of Ralf Schumacher; they were separated by Toyota driver Allan McNish. Michael Schumacher and Räikkönen completed the top six positions.[8]

The Saturday practice sessions were again held in dry and sunny conditions. Michael Schumacher again set the fastest lap with a time of 1:13.837. Räikkönen was the second fastest driver, edging closer to Michael Schumacher's time during the session. Barrichello was third fastest, with the Williams drivers fourth and sixth, Ralf Schumacher ahead of Montoya; they were separated by Coulthard.[9] In the final practice session, Ralf Schumacher set the fastest time of the session, a 1:13.543, two hundredths of a second ahead of Coulthard. The Renault drivers were running quicker, Jenson Button ahead of Jarno Trulli. Michael Schumacher and Räikkönen rounded out the top six. The session was disrupted by incidents as Massa's car broke down—the stranded car required a suspension as marshals need to clear the track— and Takuma Sato spun off and struck the safety barriers at turn 7 and lost his car's front wing.[10] After the session's conclusion, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) announced that Barrichello would have his fastest qualifying time stripped when it was determined that the Ferrari driver left the pitlane when closed. Sato was later given the same punishment for a similar offence.[11]

Qualifying

Saturday's afternoon qualifying session lasted for an hour. 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. Each driver was limited to twelve laps.[6] Montoya achieved his first pole position of the season, his first at Interlagos, with a time of 1:13.114. He was joined on the front row by Michael Schumacher who was one-tenth of a second behind. Ralf Schumacher qualified third, having battled with Montoya for pole position early in the session and was also happy with the set-up of his car.[12] [13] Coulthard qualified fourth, though he was unhappy with his qualifying pace.[14] Coulthard's teammate Räikkönen qualified fifth having been forced to use his team's spare car when his race car developed a hydraulic problem.[15] Trulli, Button, Barrichello, Heidfeld and Mika Salo rounded out the top ten. Pedro de la Rosa bettered teammate Irvine when he qualified 11th; Felipe Massa split the two Jaguar drivers in 12th. Fisichella qualified 14th, with the only Canadian driver in the field, Jacques Villeneuve, managed 15th ahead of his BAR teammate Olivier Panis in 17th; they were separated by McNish in 16th. The Arrows and Minardi drivers qualified at the back of the field, covering positions 18 to 22 with Sato.[16]

Qualifying classification

Driver Constructor Lap Gap
16 Juan Pablo MontoyaWilliams-BMW1:13.114 -
21 Michael SchumacherFerrari1:13.241+0.127
35 Ralf SchumacherWilliams-BMW1:13.328+0.214
43 David CoulthardMcLaren-Mercedes1:13.565+0.451
54 Kimi RäikkönenMcLaren-Mercedes1:13.595+0.481
614 Jarno TrulliRenault1:13.611+0.497
715 Jenson ButtonRenault1:13.665+0.551
82 Rubens BarrichelloFerrari1:13.935+0.821
97 Nick HeidfeldSauber-Petronas1:14.233+1.119
1024 Mika SaloToyota1:14.443+1.329
1117 Pedro de la RosaJaguar-Cosworth1:14.464+1.350
128 Felipe MassaSauber-Petronas1:14.533+1.419
1316 Eddie IrvineJaguar-Cosworth1:14.537+1.423
149 Giancarlo FisichellaJordan-Honda1:14.748+1.634
1511 Jacques VilleneuveBAR-Honda1:14.760+1.646
1625 Allan McNishToyota1:14.990+1.876
1712 Olivier PanisBAR-Honda1:14.996+1.882
1820 Heinz-Harald FrentzenArrows-Cosworth1:15.112+1.998
1910 Takuma SatoJordan-Honda1:15.296+2.182
2023 Mark WebberMinardi-Asiatech1:15.340+2.226
2121 Enrique BernoldiArrows-Cosworth1:15.355+2.241
2222 Alex YoongMinardi-Asiatech1:16.728+3.614
107% time

1:18.232

– The best times of Barrichello (1:13.919) and Sato (1:15.283) were canceled.[17]

Race

The conditions for the race were dry with the air temperature 31C and the track temperature ranged between 38C40C.[18] The drivers took to the track at 09:30 (UTC -3) for a 30-minute warm-up session.[6] Michael Schumacher maintained his good form over the weekend by setting the fastest time of the session, a 1:15.866, half a second faster than de la Rosa, in second place. Räikkönen had the third fastest time, ahead of the Williams drivers in fourth and fifth—Ralf Schumacher ahead of Montoya—with Barrichello rounding out the top six.[19] A crash by Bernoldi with two minutes of the session remaining caused his car to catch fire and required a red flag as the medical car was deployed to the scene. As medical car driver and former Formula One driver Alex Ribeiro stopped to assist Bernoldi, Heidfeld lost control and slid off the track, colliding with the car's left door just after Ribeiro opened it.[20]

The race started at 14:00 local time. Michael Schumacher made a good start, drawing alongside Montoya into the first corner. Montoya held the outside line for the turn, but Michael Schumacher overtook around the inside when Montoya ran wide. As the leading pair headed into the first straight, Montoya was in the slipstream off Michael Schumacher's car and braked later than the Ferrari driver which resulted in Montoya losing his front wing. On lap 7, Fisichella's car suffered an engine failure and became the first retirement of the race. Schumacher managed to narrowly win ahead of Ralf, but an unusual incident happened at the end of the race, when retired soccer star Pelé, who was tasked with waving the checkered flag, failed to notice the Schumachers approaching the line. He immediately waved by the time he realized his mistake, but did it on the Jordan of Takuma Sato, who was running two laps down on ninth and third-place finisher Coulthard.[21] [22]

Post-race

The top three drivers appeared on the podium to collect their trophies, and in the subsequent press conference.

The race result left Michael Schumacher extending his lead in the Drivers' Championship with 24 points. Ralf Schumacher was second with 16 points, two points ahead of Montoya and ten ahead of Button. In the Constructors' Championship, Ferrari reduced the lead of Williams to six points, and McLaren remained third on eight points with fourteen races of the season remaining.

Race classification

Driver Constructor Time/Retired Grid Points
11 Michael SchumacherFerrari711:31:43.663210
25 Ralf SchumacherWilliams-BMW71+0.58836
33 David CoulthardMcLaren-Mercedes71+59.10944
415 Jenson ButtonRenault71+1:06.88373
56 Juan Pablo MontoyaWilliams-BMW71+1:07.56312
624 Mika SaloToyota70+1 Lap101
716 Eddie IrvineJaguar-Cosworth70+1 Lap13 
817 Pedro de la RosaJaguar-Cosworth70+1 Lap11 
910 Takuma SatoJordan-Honda69+2 Laps19 
1011 Jacques VilleneuveBAR-Honda68Engine15 
1123 Mark WebberMinardi-Asiatech68+3 Laps20 
124 Kimi RäikkönenMcLaren-Mercedes67Wheel rim5 
1322 Alex YoongMinardi-Asiatech67+4 Laps22 
Ret7 Nick HeidfeldSauber-Petronas61Brakes9 
Ret14 Jarno TrulliRenault60Engine6 
Ret8 Felipe MassaSauber-Petronas41Collision12 
Ret25 Allan McNishToyota40Spin16 
Ret12 Olivier PanisBAR-Honda25Gearbox17 
Ret20 Heinz-Harald FrentzenArrows-Cosworth25Suspension18 
Ret21 Enrique BernoldiArrows-Cosworth19Suspension21 
Ret2 Rubens BarrichelloFerrari16Hydraulics8 
Ret9 Giancarlo FisichellaJordan-Honda6Engine14 

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings
DriverPoints
1 Michael Schumacher24
12 Ralf Schumacher16
13 Juan Pablo Montoya14
24 Jenson Button6
15 Kimi Räikkönen4
Source: [23]
Constructors' Championship standings
ConstructorPoints
1 Williams-BMW30
2 Ferrari24
3 McLaren-Mercedes8
14 Renault6
15 Jaguar-Cosworth3
Source:

References

-23.7036°N -46.6997°W

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 2002 Entry List. Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 27 June 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20020602144615/http://www.fia.com/homepage/selection-a.html. 2 June 2002.
  2. Web site: Frampton. Andrew. Brazilian Grand Prix (Sao Paulo) 2002 preview. Car Enthusiast. 19 October 2014.
  3. News: Jaguar to decide on chassis this week. GrandPrix.com. Inside F1, Inc.. 19 March 2002. 19 October 2014.
  4. News: Schu eager to race new car. BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 25 March 2002. 20 October 2014.
  5. Web site: Schumacher to use F2002 in Brazil. GrandPrix.com. Inside F1. 24 March 2002. 27 June 2014.
  6. Book: Domenjoz. Luc. Formula 1 Yearbook 2002–2003. Sporting regulations. 2002. Parragon. Bath, Somerset. 220–221. 0-75259-146-0. registration. Internet Archive.
  7. News: Gray. Will. Friday First Free Practice - Brazilian GP. Atlas F1. Haymarket Publications. 29 March 2002. 19 October 2014.
  8. News: Gray. Will. Friday Second Free Practice - Brazilian GP. Atlas F1. Haymarket Publications. 29 March 2002. 19 October 2014.
  9. News: Gray. Will. Saturday First Free Practice - Brazilian GP. Atlas F1. Haymarket Publications. 30 March 2002. 19 October 2014. 23 September 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150923202142/http://www.atlasf1.com/news/2002/mar/report.php/id/6886/.html. dead.
  10. News: Ralf fastest in final practice. BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 30 March 2002. 19 October 2014.
  11. News: Barrichello to lose fastest time. Autosport. Haymarket Publications. 30 March 2002. 19 October 2014.
  12. Web site: Montoya claims Brazilian pole. GPUpdate. 30 March 2002. 19 October 2014.
  13. News: Saturday's Selected Quotes - Brazilian GP. Atlas F1. Haymarket Publications. 30 March 2002. 21 October 2014.
  14. News: Coulthard confident of stronger race. Atlas F1. Haymarket Publications. 30 March 2002. 20 October 2014.
  15. News: Qualifying: Brazilian GP. BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 30 March 2002. 20 October 2014.
  16. News: Gray. Will. Montoya Beats Schumacher Brothers to Pole in Brazil. Atlas F1. Haymarket Publications. 30 March 2002. 21 October 2014. 23 September 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150923202144/http://www.atlasf1.com/news/2002/mar/report.php/id/6895/.html. dead.
  17. Web site: Brazil 2002 - Qualifications • STATS F1. F1. STATS. www.statsf1.com. fr. 14 November 2018.
  18. Web site: Brazilian GP: Jaguar race notes. motorsport.com. 31 March 2002. 19 October 2014.
  19. News: Sunday Warm Up - Brazilian GP. Atlas F1. Haymarket Publications. 31 March 2002. 19 October 2014.
  20. News: Henry. Alan. Medical car crash close to tragedy. The Guardian. 31 March 2002. 19 October 2002.
  21. News: 1 April 2002. Pacy German too quick for Pele. en-GB. 24 March 2021.
  22. Web site: Walthert. Matthew. Pele and 5 Formula 1 PR Disasters. 24 March 2021. Bleacher Report. en.
  23. Web site: Brazil 2002 - Championship • STATS F1. www.statsf1.com. 13 March 2019.