2003 United States Grand Prix

2003 United States Grand Prix
Race 15 of 16 in the 2003 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date	28 September 2003
Official name	XXXII SAP United States Grand Prix
Location	Indianapolis Motor Speedway Speedway, Indiana[1]
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	4.195 km (2.606 mi)
Distance	73 laps, 306.016 km (190.238 mi)
Weather	Scattered showers with temperatures up to 20.6 °C (69.1 °F); Wind speeds up to 25.93 km/h (16.11 mph)[2]
Pole position
Driver	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes
Time	1:11.670
Fastest lap
Driver	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari
Time	1:11.473 on lap 13
Podium
First	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari
Second	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes
Third	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Sauber-Petronas
Lap leaders

The 2003 United States Grand Prix (formally the XXXII SAP United States Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 28 September 2003 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Speedway, Indiana. It was the fifteenth race of the 2003 Formula One season. The 73-lap race was won by Michael Schumacher for the Ferrari team after starting from seventh position. Kimi Räikkönen, who started the Grand Prix from pole position, finished second in a McLaren car, with Heinz-Harald Frentzen third driving for Sauber.

The victory was Schumacher's second consecutive win, following the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

Report[]

Friday drivers[]

The 3 teams in the 2003 Constructors' Championship had the right to drive a third car on Friday that were involved in additional training. These drivers did not compete in qualifying or the race.

Constructor	Nat	Driver
Renault		Allan McNish
Jordan-Ford		Björn Wirdheim
Minardi-Cosworth		Gianmaria Bruni

Race[]

Michael Schumacher won the race by 18.258 seconds from pole-sitter Kimi Räikkönen, taking a huge step toward his record-breaking sixth Drivers' Championship as a result. Afterwards, Räikkönen remained in mathematical contention for the championship with one race to go, but Williams driver Juan Pablo Montoya dropped out of the hunt after being penalized for an incident on Lap 3 with Schumacher's Ferrari teammate Rubens Barrichello.

Barrichello retired after 2 laps due to a collision

It was the German's first double win since the Ferrari team and its tire supplier Bridgestone accused rival tire maker Michelin of using illegal tires for most of the season, at the Hungarian Grand Prix, threatening to decide the title in court. As a result, Michelin were forced to retool their tires before the Italian Grand Prix, with its teams suffering in the changing weather conditions at Indianapolis.

Though rain clouds surrounded the circuit at the start, all drivers began the race on dry tires. The cars on the "clean" side of the track got off the grid much better, with Räikkönen taking the lead ahead of Olivier Panis and the two Schumachers (all from the left side of the grid) (with drivers including Barrichello, Fernando Alonso, David Coulthard and Montoya dropping back on the right) and managing to open up a lead of 1.6 seconds over Panis's Toyota and Ralf Schumacher's Williams. On Lap 2, light rain began to fall on parts of the circuit as Räikkönen increased his lead to 2.4 seconds and Panis came under attack from the Williams. Michael Schumacher was up to fourth from seventh on the grid, and Coulthard took fifth place from Barrichello, who was struggling with a malfunctioning gearbox.

The start of the 2003 United States Grand Prix

Entering Turn 1 on Lap 3 Ralf Schumacher overtook Panis for second place, with Montoya pulling alongside Barrichello on the outside of the 90-degree right-hander to challenge for sixth. As they entered the left-handed Turn 2, Montoya was squeezed onto the curb and then the grass by the Ferrari, and as they began to exit the turn the right front wheel of the Williams touched the Ferrari's sidepod - forcing Barrichello onto the gravel. The Renaults of Fernando Alonso and Jarno Trulli both got around Montoya as he avoided the spinning Barrichello, managing to continue in eighth place with no apparent damage - even setting the fastest time on Lap 8, and by Lap 15 moving up to third on a drying track.

Ralf Schumacher retired on lap 22 after an accident.

Barrichello later said, "We were running side by side. I thought I had left him enough space, but he touched me and I spun." While Barrichello's car was being removed from the runoff area under a local yellow flag in Turns 1 and 2, Schumacher overtook Panis at the entry to Turn 1 on Lap 5, claiming that he completed the pass before the turn. The stewards agreed, and he was not penalized.

Several drivers tried to anticipate a heavier rainfall by stopping for wet tires very early in the first light shower. Panis, Cristiano da Matta, Jacques Villeneuve and Nicolas Kiesa all stopped on Lap 6 or 7, only to find the track beginning to dry already by Lap 8. Beginning with Villeneuve on Lap 9, they all stopped again within a few laps to change back to dry tires.

However the rain returned during the first round of scheduled pit stops, and when the championship contenders pitted – Montoya on Lap 17, Räikkönen on Lap 19 and Schumacher on Lap 20 – they all chose to stay with dry tires. On Lap 19, as the rain began to fall more heavily, Montoya was given a drive-through penalty for "causing an avoidable accident" with Barrichello. Montoya rejoined the track during the downpour still on dry tires in eleventh place, effectively ending his championship challenge. "A very disappointing race," he commented afterwards, "basically decided by the penalty I was given for the accident with Rubens and the moment I had to pay it. It is sad to lose my Drivers' Championship chances in this way."

On Lap 28, Button led Frentzen by 5.8 seconds as Schumacher overtook Räikkönen (the top Michelin runner, having already passed Wilson) for third place, then taking second five laps later from Heinz-Harald Frentzen. On Lap 38, having cut 1.5 seconds per lap from Button's lead, Schumacher reclaimed first while the other two Championship contenders, Räikkönen and Montoya, lay fourth and tenth despite the track beginning to dry out once more.

Jarno Trulli finished 4th in his Renault.

The BAR team's hopes for a podium finish by Button ended on Lap 42 when the Briton's engine failed on the main straight, restoring Frentzen to second place. The Sauber driver himself was overtaken by Räikkönen on Lap 55, before eventually finishing in third (Frentzen's second podium in four years at Indianapolis, and his final Formula One podium). Combined with teammate Nick Heidfeld's fifth place, the Sauber team earned ten points to move past BAR and Jaguar into fifth in the constructor's standings. Jarno Trulli finished fourth for Renault, ahead of Nick Heidfeld, Montoya, Giancarlo Fisichella and Wilson. Schumacher's win also put Ferrari back in front of Williams in the constructor's, with 147 points compared to Williams's 144.

Post-race[]

The changing conditions saw the Michelin advantage in the dry superseded by Bridgestone dominance in the wet. Michelin motorsport director Pierre Dupasquier said: "Today's race was absolutely fascinating from a technical perspective. We set the early pace, and our drivers were the quickest out there when the circuit dried towards the end. In slightly damp conditions, our grooved dry weather tyres enabled our leading drivers to run up to three seconds per lap faster than Michael Schumacher. In wetter conditions, we were losing two seconds per lap."

According to Räikkönen, who ran with Michelins, "The weather basically lost us the race victory today as we were not as quick in the wet conditions as Michael. I made a good start from pole and was pretty much in control. Once the rain started things changed. We came in at the right times and didn't put a foot wrong but there was nothing we could do."

Classification[]

Qualifying[]

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1 Time	Q2 Time	Gap
1	6	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren–Mercedes	1:10.756	1:11.670
2	2	Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari	1:09.835	1:11.794	+0.124
3	20	Olivier Panis	Toyota	1:17.666	1:11.920	+0.250
4	3	Juan Pablo Montoya	Williams–BMW	1:10.372	1:11.948	+0.278
5	4	Ralf Schumacher	Williams–BMW	1:10.222	1:12.078	+0.408
6	8	Fernando Alonso	Renault	1:10.556	1:12.087	+0.417
7	1	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	1:10.736	1:12.194	+0.524
8	5	David Coulthard	McLaren–Mercedes	1:10.450	1:12.297	+0.627
9	21	Cristiano da Matta	Toyota	1:11.949	1:12.326	+0.656
10	7	Jarno Trulli	Renault	1:09.566	1:12.566	+0.896
11	17	Jenson Button	BAR–Honda	1:11.847	1:12.695	+1.025
12	16	Jacques Villeneuve	BAR–Honda	1:18.547	1:13.050	+1.380
13	9	Nick Heidfeld	Sauber–Petronas	1:17.768	1:13.083	+1.413
14	14	Mark Webber	Jaguar–Ford	1:10.081	1:13.269	+1.599
15	10	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Sauber–Petronas	1:13.541	1:13.447	+1.777
16	15	Justin Wilson	Jaguar–Ford	1:19.491	1:13.585	+1.915
17	11	Giancarlo Fisichella	Jordan–Ford	1:12.227	1:13.798	+2.128
18	12	Ralph Firman	Jordan–Ford	1:19.383	1:14.027	+2.357
19	19	Jos Verstappen	Minardi–Cosworth	No Time	1:15.360	+3.690
20	18	Nicolas Kiesa	Minardi–Cosworth	1:21.973	1:15.644	+3.974
Source:[3]

Race[]

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Tyre	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	1	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	B	73	1:33:35.997	7	10
2	6	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes	M	73	+18.258	1	8
3	10	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Sauber-Petronas	B	73	+37.964	15	6
4	7	Jarno Trulli	Renault	M	73	+48.329	10	5
5	9	Nick Heidfeld	Sauber-Petronas	B	73	+56.403	13	4
6	3	Juan Pablo Montoya	Williams-BMW	M	72	+1 Lap	4	3
7	11	Giancarlo Fisichella	Jordan-Ford	B	72	+1 Lap	17	2
8	15	Justin Wilson	Jaguar-Cosworth	M	71	+2 Laps	16	1
9	21	Cristiano da Matta	Toyota	M	71	+2 Laps	9
10	19	Jos Verstappen	Minardi-Cosworth	B	69	+4 Laps	19
11	18	Nicolas Kiesa	Minardi-Cosworth	B	69	+4 Laps	20
Ret	16	Jacques Villeneuve	BAR-Honda	B	63	Engine	12
Ret	12	Ralph Firman	Jordan-Ford	B	48	Spun off	18
Ret	5	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	M	45	Gearbox	8
Ret	8	Fernando Alonso	Renault	M	44	Engine	6
Ret	17	Jenson Button	BAR-Honda	B	41	Engine	11
Ret	20	Olivier Panis	Toyota	M	27	Accident	3
Ret	14	Mark Webber	Jaguar-Cosworth	M	21	Accident	14
Ret	4	Ralf Schumacher	Williams-BMW	M	21	Accident	5
Ret	2	Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari	B	2	Collision	2
Source:[4][5]

Championship standings after the race[]

• Bold text indicates who still has a mathematical chance of becoming World Champion.

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Michael Schumacher 92 1 2 Kimi Räikkönen 83 1 3 Juan Pablo Montoya 82 4 Ralf Schumacher 58 5 Rubens Barrichello 55 Source: [6]

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Ferrari 147 2 Williams-BMW 144 3 McLaren-Mercedes 128 4 Renault 84 4 5 Sauber-Petronas 19 Source: [6]

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 2003 United States Grand Prix.

Coordinates: 39°47′42″N 86°14′05″W / 39.79500°N 86.23472°W / 39.79500; -86.23472