2002 Brazilian Grand Prix

  2002 Brazilian Grand Prix

Race details
Race 3 of 17 in the 2002 Formula One season
Date	31 March 2002
Official name	XXXI Grande Prêmio Marlboro do Brasil
Location	Autódromo José Carlos Pace São Paulo, Brazil
Course	Permanent Racing Facility
Course length	4.309 km (2.667 mi)
Distance	71 laps, 305.939 km (189.357 mi)
Weather	Clear, Air Temp: 30°C
Pole position
Driver	Juan Pablo Montoya	Williams-BMW
Time	1:13.114
Fastest lap
Driver	Juan Pablo Montoya	Williams-BMW
Time	1:16.079
Podium
First	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari
Second	Ralf Schumacher	Williams-BMW
Third	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes
Lap leaders

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 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 ever world championship points at this race.

Michael Schumacher's win was his second of the season, his fourth 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.

Report

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 and qualifying

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]

Juan Pablo Montoya, who took pole position in his Williams car

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 an similar offence.^[11]

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 hyradulic 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 14th ahead of his BAR teammate Olivier Panis in 17th; they were separated by McNish in 15th. The Arrows and Minardi drivers qualified at the back of the field, covering positions 18 to 22 with Sato.^[16]

Race

The conditions for the race were dry with the air temperature 31 °C (88 °F) and the track temperature ranged between 38–40 °C (100–104 °F).^[17] 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.^[18] A crash by Bernoldi with two minutes of the session remaining caused his car to catch fire and required an red flag as the medical car was deployed to the scene. As medical car driver Alex Ribeiro attempted to assist Bernoldi, Heidfeld applied his car's brakes and ran wide into the path of the medical car's left door, causing it to sustain damage.^[19]

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.

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. Montoya was second with 16 points, two points ahead of Ralf Schumacher and eight 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.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Lap	Gap
1	6	Juan Pablo Montoya	Williams-BMW	1:13.114	—
2	1	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	1:13.241	+0.127
3	5	Ralf Schumacher	Williams-BMW	1:13.328	+0.214
4	3	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	1:13.565	+0.451
5	4	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:13.595	+0.481
6	14	Jarno Trulli	Renault	1:13.611	+0.497
7	15	Jenson Button	Renault	1:13.665	+0.551
8	2	Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari	1:13.935	+0.821
9	7	Nick Heidfeld	Sauber-Petronas	1:14.233	+1.119
10	24	Mika Salo	Toyota	1:14.443	+1.329
11	17	Pedro de la Rosa	Jaguar-Cosworth	1:14.464	+1.350
12	8	Felipe Massa	Sauber-Petronas	1:14.533	+1.419
13	16	Eddie Irvine	Jaguar-Cosworth	1:14.537	+1.423
14	9	Giancarlo Fisichella	Jordan-Honda	1:14.748	+1.634
15	11	Jacques Villeneuve	BAR-Honda	1:14.760	+1.646
16	25	Allan McNish	Toyota	1:14.990	+1.876
17	12	Olivier Panis	BAR-Honda	1:14.996	+1.882
18	20	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Arrows-Cosworth	1:15.112	+1.998
19	10	Takuma Sato	Jordan-Honda	1:15.296	+2.182
20	23	Mark Webber	Minardi-Asiatech	1:15.340	+2.226
21	21	Enrique Bernoldi	Arrows-Cosworth	1:15.355	+2.241
22	22	Alex Yoong	Minardi-Asiatech	1:16.728	+3.614
Source:[20]

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	1	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	71	1:31:43.663	2	10
2	5	Ralf Schumacher	Williams-BMW	71	+0.588	3	6
3	3	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	71	+59.109	4	4
4	15	Jenson Button	Renault	71	+1:06.883	7	3
5	6	Juan Pablo Montoya	Williams-BMW	71	+1:07.563	1	2
6	24	Mika Salo	Toyota	70	+1 Lap	10	1
7	16	Eddie Irvine	Jaguar-Cosworth	70	+1 Lap	13
8	17	Pedro de la Rosa	Jaguar-Cosworth	70	+1 Lap	11
9	10	Takuma Sato	Jordan-Honda	69	+2 Laps	19
10	11	Jacques Villeneuve	BAR-Honda	68	Engine	15
11	23	Mark Webber	Minardi-Asiatech	68	+3 Laps	20
12	4	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes	67	Wheel rim	5
13	22	Alex Yoong	Minardi-Asiatech	67	+4 Laps	22
Ret	7	Nick Heidfeld	Sauber-Petronas	61	Brakes	9
Ret	14	Jarno Trulli	Renault	60	Engine	6
Ret	8	Felipe Massa	Sauber-Petronas	41	Collision	12
Ret	25	Allan McNish	Toyota	40	Spin	16
Ret	12	Olivier Panis	BAR-Honda	25	Gearbox	17
Ret	20	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Arrows-Cosworth	25	Suspension	18
Ret	21	Enrique Bernoldi	Arrows-Cosworth	19	Suspension	21
Ret	2	Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari	16	Hydraulics	8
Ret	9	Giancarlo Fisichella	Jordan-Honda	6	Engine	14
Source:[21]

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Michael Schumacher 24 2 Ralf Schumacher 16 3 Juan Pablo Montoya 14 4 Jenson Button 6 5 David Coulthard 4

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-BMW 30 2 Ferrari 24 3 McLaren-Mercedes 8 4 Renault 6 5 Jaguar-Cosworth 3

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

References

1. "2002 Entry List". Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. Archived from the original on 2 February 2002. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
2. Frampton, Andrew. "Brazilian Grand Prix (Sao Paulo) 2002 preview". Car Enthusiast. Retrieved 19 October 2014.
3. "Jaguar to decide on chassis this week". GrandPrix.com. Inside F1, Inc. 19 March 2002. Retrieved 19 October 2014.
4. "Schu eager to race new car". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 25 March 2002. Retrieved 20 October 2014.
5. "Schumacher to use F2002 in Brazil". GrandPrix.com. Inside F1. 24 March 2002. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
6. "2002 Formula One Sporting Regulations" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 31 October 2001. Retrieved 19 October 2014.
7. Gray, Will (29 March 2002). "Friday First Free Practice - Brazilian GP". Atlas F1. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 19 October 2014.
8. Gray, Will (29 March 2002). "Friday Second Free Practice - Brazilian GP". Atlas F1. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 19 October 2014.
9. Gray, Will (30 March 2002). "Saturday First Free Practice - Brazilian GP". Atlas F1. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 19 October 2014.
10. "Ralf fastest in final practice". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 30 March 2002. Retrieved 19 October 2014.
11. "Barrichello to lose fastest time". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. 30 March 2002. Retrieved 19 October 2014.
12. "Montoya claims Brazilian pole". GPUpdate. 30 March 2002. Retrieved 19 October 2014.
13. "Saturday's Selected Quotes - Brazilian GP". Atlas F1. Haymarket Publications. 30 March 2002. Retrieved 21 October 2014.
14. "Coulthard confident of stronger race". Atlas F1. Haymarket Publications. 30 March 2002. Retrieved 20 October 2014.
15. "Qualifying: Brazilian GP". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 30 March 2002. Retrieved 20 October 2014.
16. Gray, Will (30 March 2002). "Montoya Beats Schumacher Brothers to Pole in Brazil". Atlas F1. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 21 October 2014.
17. "Brazilian GP: Jaguar race notes". motorsport.com. 31 March 2002. Retrieved 19 October 2014.
18. "Sunday Warm Up - Brazilian GP". Atlas F1. Haymarket Publications. 31 March 2002. Retrieved 19 October 2014.
19. Henry, Alan (31 March 2002). "Medical car crash close to tragedy". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 19 October 2002.
20. "Brazilian Grand Prix: Qualifying Session Classification" (PDF). FIA.com. Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 30 March 2002. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 April 2004. Retrieved 21 October 2014.
21. "2002 Brazilian Grand Prix". Formula1.com. Formula1.com Limited. Archived from the original on 13 October 2014. Retrieved 26 December 2015.

Coordinates: 23°42′13″S 46°41′59″W / 23.70361°S 46.69972°W