Judgement day in corner 3
Published on 06 April 2003 by Huub Rothengatter
Kimi Raikkonen has won the Brasilian Grand Prix which was exciting and full of incidents. He finished the race, which only lasted 53 of the 72 laps, just in front of Fisichella. The Jordan driver overtook him in lap 54 but that lap didn't count due to a crash of Mark Webber in the corner leading to the straight and Alonso who crashed into the Jaguar's debris. Despite his crash did Alonso finish in third, but wasn't able to attend the ceremony due to a leg injury. Jos didn't make it to the end of the race, he spun in the third corner just like Michael Schumacher, Montoya, Wilson, Pizzonia, Button and Wilson.
A couple of hours before the start a torrential downpour came down on the circuit. This heavy rainfall delayed the start for 15 minutes. The race then started behind the safety car. Jos is starting from the pitlane in the T-car and has a go at a no-stop strategy. To let this work the safety car should stay out for about 20 laps, to safe fuel. After 7 laps the safety car goes in despite the soaking wet track. This results in good fights for position, which in first instance gives advantage to the cars on Michelin tyres. The top 3 at that point: Raikkonen, Coulthard and Montoya with Michael Schumacher at a distance but he is the only one on Bridgestone tyres who can keep up with the speed. Wilson is the first one who experiences how wet corner 3 is and slides off. A few moments later Firman's front wheel suspension breaks off and spins, in his spin he touches Panis and both of the are unable to continue. The safety car is deployed and the whole field comes together again. A couple of laps later both Montoya and Pizzonia spin off in corner 3. The race director makes a slight error by not deploying the safety car again but he leave it at showing yellow flags. This decision could have caused a major accident when Michael Schumacher spins off in the same corner while a large crane is getting the other two cars out of the way. Luckily Schumacher doesn't hit anything, but this is reason for the race director to send the safety car out once more. Due to all the retirements Jos have moved forward to position and is in point winning position. Minardi's strategy seems to work. Unfortunately Jos is victim of this 3rd corner. He is driving right behind Raikkonen, who just overtook him. The spray is hindering Jos's view and he spins off. He manages to save the car but the engine cuts out and this means end of race for Jos.
The corner three makes its next victim: Jenson Button hits the tyrewall at great speed. Raikkonen has made a stop during a safety car situation and is fourth now. Rubens Barrichello is making some progress on his Bridgestone intermediate tyres. He is pressurising race leader Coulthard and in lap 42 the Scot makes a little error due to his wearing tyres, Barrichello takes the lead. The Brasilian doesn't have much luck; just like in the 9 previous races here he doesn't make it to the finish. After leading the pack for 2 laps his Ferrari engine cuts out and Rubens has to disappoint his home crowd yet again. Coulthard takes the lead again, he needs to get into the pits to get new tyres and some fuel, this makes Raikkonen race leader again. Behind the Fin, Giancarlo Fisichella in his Jordan is getting faster on his Bridgestones. Kimi Raikkonen is forced to make a small error and Fisichella goes into the lead and seems to go all the way to the finish. A crash of Mark Webber in the last corner makes a surprising finish for Fisichella impossible. At first the damage seems to be limited to a safety car situation, but then Alonso ploughs his Renault at 150mph into some debris and crashes heavily. The race director has had enough, 75% of the total race distance has been covered so he stops the race. For a moment everyone thinks that Fisichella has won a Grand Prix after 109 attempts. However due to the fact that Webber crashes in the same lap when Fisichella takes the lead are the race positions of the lap before the one which is counted as end result. This means Kimi Raikkonen wins the Brasilian Grand Prix, the second one for the young Fin and third in a row for McLaren.
