by Erik C. Nielsen
Pictures copyright and courtesy Ferrari Media and DaimlerChrysler Media Services
The goal of the FIA was to make the races more interesting for the 2003 season. Little did we know that Max and Bernie had the ear of God to affect fate? When the dust settled and all of the cars were cleared from the track, Kimi was on top of the podium for the second time in his career. The last victory was well deserved. This one came with controversy. Editor's Note: As of this writing, the outcome of the race is still under question. Race stewards have been summoned to Paris to review evidence that Fisichella had started his 56th lap before the race was stopped. This would move the "end of the race" up to lap 54, at which point he was in the lead.
The race started off behind the safety car after the skies opened up and turned Interlagos into a swimming pool shortly before the start of the race. Rubens Barrichello managed to get not only his home crowd, but all of the tifosi excited again by putting his Ferrari on pole and kept following the safety car for the first 8 laps as the circuit began to dry. Thoughts went that Ferrari would be getting out of the early season funk that they seem to be in and get back to the repeat championship form that everyone has come to expect. The race went topsy-turvy from there.
Brazil is known as a place where things don’t always work the same as the rest of the westernized world. Some days the phones don’t work, other days it’s the electricity. This Sunday, it was the drainage. Even though the track started to dry, turn 3 became a river of water, catching 6 cars, including the rain master himself. Michael Schumacher reflected on the situation "I am disappointed for myself and for what happened to Rubens. We both had the possibility of winning today. The weather conditions were difficult but acceptable today. As for my accident, I was aquaplaning and in that situation, you are just a passenger in the car.”
The river also managed to catch Juan Pablo and Jenson Button. The real excitement in the turn came with Fernando Alonso not seeing the yellow flags for Mark Webber’s wreck and crashing into debris strewn across the track. In prior years, the wreck would more than likely have been fatal, but with modern safety concerns, the Renault driver managed to walk away only badly shaken. The massive debris field that looked like downtown Baghdad called the marshals to their senses and brought out the red flag with more than
enough laps in the book to call it a day. Giancarlo Fisichella and the entire Jordan crew were ecstatic and it looked like it was champagne for everyone. Then someone at the FIA ruined the party and found the rule that it was not the standings at the red flag, but two laps prior. Giancarlo didn’t pass Kimi soon enough and was relegated to second with Alonso capturing the last spot on the podium.
The home town favorite was actually leading the race around the half way point when his streak of bad luck followed him like a 4000 pound bunker buster, and Ruben’s day ended on the side of the track with a fuel feed failure, once again bringing disappointment to the unlucky Brazilian. Even DC got shafted by leading the race with what really were 4 laps to go, and making an ill-timed pit stop (in hindsight, that is).
Some things in F1 have remained the same. When it rains, all bets are off. Travel agencies advertise Brazil as the place to go and get lucky. None of the drivers realized that so many of them would get screwed this weekend. The circus continues in two weeks at San Marino. Hopefully, it will mark the debut for the 2003 cars for McLaren and Ferrari, and this season will get underway and not be a continuation of 2002.
Race Results
by Erik C. Nielsen