Michael Schumacher wins again in Austria

Published on 18 May 2003 by Huub Rothengatter

Michael Schumacher has won the Austrian Grand Prix, all his own work this year. In an exciting race the German in his Ferrari had to deal with Raikkonen, Montoya and team mate Barrichello. A defective ruel rig during Schumacher's first pitstop nearly caused a pitfire as we remember of Jos back in 1994 at Hockenheim.

Schumacher wins in Austria without help from the pitwall

Before the race all ingredients were present for an exciting race. A cloudy sky over a well mixed starting grid, something that Max Mosley had hoped for. The only thing missing was a Ferrari on last row and a Minardi on pole. Proof that the new qualifying system is well worth it.

The start was broken off twice due to Da Matta who stalled his Toyota. Two restarts and dito warmup laps. The risk of becoming a victim to malfunction is quite large, F1 cars are designed to race and not to stand still or move slowly.
Frentzen is the first one, he even tried to get to his T-car for the second restart but to no avail.
Jos Verstappen was the second victim. With his new launch control system his car would not move and even his own right footed technique did not work due to a failure to the throttle. There was nothing else to do than to park the car on the side of the track and walk back to the pitbox.


Austrian Grand Prix: unexpected happenings

The rest was on its way and nothing happened in the first corner. For a brief moment the safety car was deployed while Jos's car was removed off the track. It was not until lap 4 before everyone was allowed to go full throttle.
Michael Schumacher kept the lead and sped away. Each lap he increased the gap with Montoya with a second.
In lap 13 something happened what Jos had hoped for, but unfortunately he was not on the track to enjoy it. It started to rain and all drivers slowed down and lost about 8 seconds off their lap times. Montoya did not follow suit, he started gaining 3 seconds per lap on Michael Schumacher who was 12 seconds ahead. Unfortunately it was only a little drizzle and Montoya was only able to close the gap to 3 seconds.


The safety car was deployed due to Jos's broken down Minardi

Next were the pitstops, none of the drivers changed to intermediates or rain tyres. The only pitstop which was sligthly exciting was Ferrari's. Normally the Ferrari mechanics are faultless but first Barrichello had problems refuelling, resulting in a 13 second delay. Next was Schumacher, the refuelling started but the rig was giving the problems. Little flames could be seen between the nozzle and the car. The mechanics exstinguished the fire and the German driver, who didn't seem all that bothered, continued the race in third eventually finishing in first.
The normally reliable BMW engine of Montoya was a great help to Schumacher. JPM blew his engine, Kimi was surprised by it and Schumacher used this commotion to slip into 1st.


Kimi Raikkonen was not paying attention and lost his place

The second part of the race was less spectaculair. Alonso, Heidfeld and Fisichella had to give up due to technical problems and Ferrari's pitstops were back to 'normal'.
The fights between Ralf Schumacher and David Coulthard for 5th and the one between Raikkonen and Barrichello for 2nd place were the most interesting at the end of the race. Ralf broke under pressure in lap 57 and had to let DC pass when he blocked his front wheel in the Remus-curve. The fight for 2nd place between Kimi and Rubens kept the race interesting until the end. Both drivers showed their value and drove next to eachother in several corner. Raikkonen was very persistent and avoided a repeat of last years' Ferrai one-two.


Button impresses with a good 4th place

Remarkable was Jenson Button's race. The Brit shows every fortnight that he has grown up and is ready for a podium position. Probably just a matter of time.