Grace Under Fire
Austrian GP, May 18, 2003

By Erik Nielsen

Pictures copyright and courtesy Ferrari Media

After a non-championship form to the start of the season, Michael Schumacher showed that he has what it takes to repeat, again, as world champion. Even a fire during a refueling showed the German has to be pushed to the extreme to break a sweat. He summed up the event with “I could see the fire – maybe the mechanics thought I was cold and wanted to warm me up!”

With another 1-3 result, Ferrari has taken the lead over McLaren in the constructor’s championship, but the Flying Finn part 2’s second place finish still leaves him at the top of the leader board. The tifosi will argue that it wasn’t the Finn’s skill, but Ruben’s continuous bad luck with an extended pit stop with the now notorious fuel rig that had the results end up where they did. The Brazilian charged hard at the back of the silver arrow, but just didn’t have enough grunt to make it around. At this stage of the game, it’s better to not push it and finish, rather than get punted out.

Other than the pits, the race ran very much Ferrari’s way, once it got started that is. The Toyota of da Matta (which translates roughly to “no matter” in English) stalled twice on the grid. The Japanese car companies have copying other’s ideas and perfecting them down to a science. You’d think that they would stop looking over Jaguar’s shoulders. The race finally went off on trial number three, but the safety car was soon called out when Jos Verstappen’s Minardi went Ver-stopping.

Juan Pablo’s day ended when the lump gave up its ghost in rather spectacular form. The Columbian tried his best to spin the results for the sponsor’s benefit. “Even when some drizzle came I was catching Michael at a rate of two seconds a lap, which I think clearly shows that the FW25 has potential, the team is going in the right direction and the Michelins are working well. A shame, but at least we know we have the potential to win." Chatter down the paddock says that there are bugs that need to be worked out of the car before actions can back that statement up. His team-mate once again had balance problems with the car and could do no better than 6th.

Jenson Button was runner up to the podium. Again. But he did finish better than his former world champion team mate. Again.

Surprisingly, both Jaguars finished in the top 10. Unfortunately, only Mark Webber was able to show up in points paying position. Jarno Trulli captured the last points paying position with his finish in 8th. The Renaults were not in their dominant position as was seen in the last couple of races. Was Alonso’s second place finish several weeks ago a flash in the pan or was it a sign of things to come? This race shows that regardless of how it turns out, the momentum is gone.

Even with the rule changes in qualifying, a pattern is beginning to emerge. Ferrari is making a strong push with their new car, while the new McLaren is still locked up in a garage in Woking. The rumor is that it will debut this week, but its first race weekend will be in Montreal. If Ferrari can make a statement in Monaco, it could cement the gap. Someone else will need to keep an eye on that race. I’ll be the one with the binoculars looking at the females on the boats in the harbor mumbling that not only can I not keep up with a 19 year old, I definitely can’t afford one.