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| GRAND PRIX:
Malaysia: The Young Ones |
25.3.03
The first victory of Kimi Raikkonen's fledgling career was a thoroughly
earned one. It was also the second in succession for the McLaren team.
For Fernando Alonso, who dominated the first quarter of the race after
starting on pole, third place was a great result in just his 19th race.
Their performance overshadowed that of Rubens Barrichello, whose second
place gave Ferrari a podium finish but little compensation for the failure
to capitalise on their superior package. One second faster than the McLarens
in Friday's first qualifying session, the pace eluded Ferrari when it
counted.
Michael Schumacher failed to make the podium for the second race in
succession after a clash at the first corner with Jarno Trulli. Two pit
stops, one for a new front wing and one for a drive-through penalty, dropped
the world champion down to 14th place. His drive back up the order to
finish sixth was one of the highlights of the race
But he stays in touch in the championship in joint third place, eight
points behind Raikkonen. David Coulthard - who retired on lap three with
an electrical problem - still lies second following his win in the first
Grand Prix.
The Renaults qualified on the front row of the grid, and went on to disprove
the claims made by Ferrari, McLaren and Williams that they had only done
so by carrying a light fuel load and would suffer from having to make
pit stops too early in the race.
Alonso led early on, with Raikkonen second and Sauber's Nick Heidfeld
third. The Spaniard's fuel lasted until lap 14 when he pitted and relinquished
the lead to Raikkonen. Barrichello then took over until he, too, pitted,
on lap 22.
Barrichello was able to exploit the superiority of the Ferrari over the
middle part of the race to get ahead of Alonso after the second round
of pit stops. But he could do nothing about the calm, mature performance
of Raikkonen.
The generational shift was summed up by Barrichello after the race. "I
think both [Raikkonen and Alonso] are future world champions - I just
hope I can win it before them," he said.
The
start was the critical moment, when Michael collided with Trulli and Rubens
lost a few places. On lap 3, we called Michael into the pits to replace
the front wing, damaged in the incident. This same incident also saw Michael
given a penalty and he drove through the pit-lane on lap 9, losing ground
even more. All things considered, Michael’s sixth place is significant
for the Drivers’ championship. Rubens drove a good race to take second
place. Now we have to work to be as well prepared as possible for the next
race in Brazil, where we will continue to race the F2002. In the meantime,
we will continue with the development of the F2003-GA, which we know is
more competitive than the current car.
After
the start there was a lot of debris from other cars and I was lucky not
to hit everything. I found myself behind Heidfeld, but we had good straight
line speed and I was able to pass cars. The car set-up was fantastic but
having fallen back, I had to catch up and that compromised my race. After
the second stop, I had a slight misfire, but I kept pushing until, with
15 laps to go, the team told me to hold position. I must thank the Stewards
for allowing me to race without the HANS system. Sid Watkins checked me
out and agreed that I should not use it, as I have got a small hernia which
is quite painful. I tried all weekend to make the HANS work and for the
next race, we will have a solution which should fix the problem.
It
was an unfortunate start. I made a mistake and hit Jarno and I have apologised
to him. That was the decisive moment of my race. It came as a big surprise
that I was still able to fight for points after I pitted for the drive-through
penalty. So, I am happy enough in the circumstances. I have no complaints
about my car, which worked very well, thanks to the team. Let’s hope
the next race will be better.
|
RACE RESULTS - MALAYSIAN GP
56 Laps. Weather : dry & hot
|
| Classified: |
| Pos |
Driver |
Team |
|
Time |
| 1. |
Raikkonen |
McLaren |
(M) |
1h32:22.195 |
2. |
Barrichello |
Ferrari |
(B) |
+ 0:39.286 |
3. |
Alonso |
Renault |
(M) |
+ 1:04.007 |
4. |
R. Schumacher |
Williams |
(M) |
+ 1:28.026 |
5. |
Trulli |
Renault |
(M) |
+ 1 Lap |
6. |
M. Schumacher |
Ferrari |
(B) |
+ 1 Lap |
7. |
Button |
BAR |
(B) |
+ 1 Lap |
8. |
Heidfeld |
Sauber |
(B) |
+ 1 Lap |
9. |
Frentzen |
Sauber |
(B) |
+ 1 Lap |
10. |
Firman |
Jordan |
(B) |
+ 1 Lap |
| 11. |
de Matta |
Toyota |
(M) |
+ 1 Lap |
| 12. |
Montoya |
Williams |
(M) |
+ 3 Laps |
13.. |
Verstappen |
Minardi |
(B) |
+ 4 Laps |
| World Championship Standing, Round 2 : |
| Drivers: |
|
Constructors: |
1. |
Raikkonen |
16 |
|
1. |
McLaren |
26 |
2. |
Coulthard |
10 |
|
2. |
Ferrari |
16 |
3. |
Montoya |
8 |
|
3. |
Renault |
16 |
4. |
Barrichello |
8 |
|
4. |
Williams |
14 |
5. |
Alonso |
8 |
|
5. |
Sauber |
4 |
6. |
M. Schumacher |
8 |
|
6. |
BAR |
2 |
7. |
Trulli |
8 |
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| 8. |
R. Schumacher |
6 |
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| 9. |
Frentzen |
3 |
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| 10. |
Button |
2 |
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11. |
Heidfeld |
1 |
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Click here
to return to the Ferrari Happenings page.
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Alonso was on pole, and drove
a great race
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Kimi did smile a lot later on!
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The most absurd car park in the
world: F1's parc ferme
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Temps were in their 30's for
the race, and MS gets ready
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The first corner is about to
go wrong....
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...and Schuey punts Trulli out
of the way
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Raikkonen was hard on it all
race long
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Good drive, but it seemed a consolation
second place for Rubens
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pics by Ferrari, Sutton, Shell &
Schlegelmilch
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