San Marino Grand Prix - Ferrari Owners' Club

GRAND PRIX: San Marino: Michael Overcomes the Odds by Henk J. Brouwer

22.4.03

The fourth Grand Prix of the season took place at the well-known circuit Autodromo Enzo E Dino Ferrari at Imola in San Marino .

San Marino is the smallest independent state in the world, with 61.000 sq/km and approx. 6.000 inhabitants. In the early days the Grand Prix of Switzerland was held here, although occasionally Dijon-Prenois was also used.

For Ferrari it was a home match. Friday morning was rather unusual: at 10:45 Giancarlo Fisichella was paid a tribute because he won the Grand Prix of Brazil after all. Bernie Ecclestone himself arranged a ceremony to hand over the trophy and the Jordan Team - at last - got the honour they deserved and should have received in Brazil.

The first out in Friday qualifying was Justin Wilson of the Minardi Team, followed by Matteo Bobbie and Jos Verstappen. Minardi had developed a new front wing but drove with the old one. Jarno Trulli spun off in his Renault but Webber and Firman both had a good session. In the end Barrichello temporarily grabbed first place but Michael Schumacher then improved this time by nearly half a second.

On Saturday the tifosi were scarce but the day began with more excitement. Drops were falling… not many, no rain, but neverless a helicopter was in the air near Bologna to watch the development of the weather. Wilson started with qualifying followed by Jos Verstappen. Jos had some trouble with oversteer and spun off. Next there wasn't much excitement to see. Some drivers had to deal with a pointy car, others with low down force levels (Sauber) or undone tape (Renault). Coulthard and Button made small but very expensive mistakes, which resulted in the end in a 12th and 9th place. Button in his BAR went very fast but also made a little mistake due to oversteer and ended ninth. Webber, who was really on the edge, went into 5th place. Michael Schumacher was the fastest with 1.22.327, followed by his brother and Barrichello . As with every Grand Prix, Sunday will be the day of truth….

Sunday started in mourning because that night the mother of Michael and Ralf died. Both drivers decided to start and that needs no further comment. There were the speculations of how many stops each team would make and it was very obvious that the pit stops would be important for the course of this Grand Prix. Next, it was good to ascertain that nobody was troubled by any injury from crashes in Brazil and the tifosi were there, in great numbers! With Michael Schumacher on pole and three drivers -Verstappen, Firman and Wilson- starting in the pit-lane it could be an interesting start.

In the event, the start brought no surprises but above all no accidents. Webber had some difficulties and the Jag of Pizzonia went dead, which caused some avoidances for the drivers behind him. Ralf Schumacher left the grid first, followed by his brother who - in my opinion - let him. Barrichello and Coulthard also had very good starts and this order remained for 4 or 5 laps as Michael began to push but Ralf didn't give in. In lap 11 Olivier Panis was the first driver who made a pit stop followed by Heidfeld, and Da Matta. In lap 15 Ralf entered the pits from first position and had some difficulties with leaving, which cost him a few seconds.

In lap 17 Michael did his stop (8,2) and returned just after Raikkonen and Coulthard in 3rd position but just before his brother Ralf. Webber drove too fast in the pit lane and got a drive-through penalty and in lap 19 Jacques Villeneuve retired due to hydraulic problems. At that moment Coulthard was in second and I can't avoid the feeling that McLaren has better strategies then the year before. At this time Michael had build a lead of 6,9 seconds on his brother, followed by Barrichello and Raikkonen.

All the excitement of this race was found in the pits. Montoya had already formed the opinion that Ralf was getting better treatment and who's going to blame him: his stop in 10.4sec speaks for itself. On lap 33 Barrichello stops for the second time and rejoins just after Ralf. After him Michael was sent away one second faster, returning to the race just before before Raikkonen. At this point there were some fights in the field, but the pit stops brought the interest. Nobody at Jaguar was ready when Pizzonia entered. A first class howler I think.

After the last stop Michael entered the race just before Barrichello, but - to give him just a little bit more on Raikkonen - let him pass. And again Barrichello wasn't very lucky, because his last pit stop killed the possibility of a second place: a tardy left-front wheel resulted in a stop of 13.3 seconds, returning on 4th position just before Coulthard. At that time Michael consolidated his lead and Barrichello was pushing to outwit Ralf in which he succeeded just before entering the main straight in a wonderful manouvre. In spite of all the efforts Barrichello made Raikkonen didn't give up his second place.

Michael Schumacher took at Imola his 65th victory with rightly modest enjoyment. There was no fist, there was no visible joy and just before he got out of his car he took a moment all to himself. Michael decided to go on the podium for the ceremony but was visibly troubled by sadness. Indeed a real sportsman to me. Congratulations and I wish him and Ralf strength for the difficult times to come.

Jean Todt:

Today in Imola Michael proved yet again, even to those who do not seem to accept it, that he is a special man. Despite being in mourning, he wanted to take part in this race for the sake of the team and went on to win it. Then, going onto the podium, he wanted to acknowledge all the team and our fans, who love him as much as we do. We have gone through some very stressful moments and Michael appreciated the way the team supported him. It is at moments like these that the values we hold dear and cultivate in the team come to the fore.

Rubens Barrichello :

My race was conditioned by the fact that I never really had a clear track ahead of me, because of the Williams drivers’ strategy. In the whole race, there were only three laps when I could push to the maximum. So I was unable to fully exploit my three stop strategy. I was unable to get past Ralf in the pit stop and my problem at my next one lost me some time and but for that I might have caught Ralf earlier and been able to catch Kimi. But it was a fun race from a driving point of view with some good clean fights. When I came up behind Ralf, I was enthusiastic about my overtaking, I saw my chance and went for it. In the closing stages, I tried all I could to catch Kimi, but I really did not get close enough until the final lap and then there was not enough time to pass him. It was nice of Michael to let me pass him, when his race was already secure and I was pushing very hard on my ‘in’ lap.

Ross Brawn :

After a difficult start to the season and especially difficult circumstances this weekend, today’s result is a great incentive to keep doing well and tackle the coming races with confidence. It was a shame for Rubens that he had a problem during the third pit stop as, but for that, he could probably have finished second. The car performed strongly and the strategy worked well.

RACE RESULTS - SAN MARINO GP
62 Laps. Weather : Dry, Overcast

Classified:
Pos	Driver	Team		Time
1.	M. Schumacher	Ferrari	(B)	1h28:12.058
2.	Raikkonen	McLaren	(M)	+ 0:01.882
3.	Barrichello	Ferrari	(B)	+ 0:02.291
4.	R. Schumacher	Williams	(M)	+ 0:08.803
5.	Coulthard	McLaren	(M)	+ 0:09.411
6.	Alonso	Renault	(M)	+ 0:43.689
7.	Montoya	Williams	(M)	+ 0:45.271
8.	Button	BAR	(B)	+ 1 Lap
9.	Panis	Toyota	(M)	+ 1 Lap
10.	Heidfeld	Sauber	(B)	+ 1 Lap
11.	Frentzen	Sauber	(B)	+ 1 Lap
12.	da Matta	Toyota	(M)	+ 1 Lap
13.	Trulli	Renault	(M)	+ 1 Lap
14.	Pizzonia	Jaguar	(M)	+ 2 Laps

World Championship Standing, Round 4 :
Drivers:			Constructors:
1.	Raikkonen	32	1.	McLaren	51
2.	Coulthard	19	2.	Ferrari	32
3.	M. Schumacher	18	3.	Renault	26
4.	Alonso	17	4.	Williams	23
5.	Barrichello	14	5.	Jordan	10
6.	R. Schumacher	13	6.	Sauber	8
7.	Fisichella	10	7.	BAR	6
=7.	Montoya	10
9.	Trulli	9
10.	Frentzen	7
11.	Button	3
=11.	Villeneuve	3
13.	Heidfeld	1