Rubinho wins, Jos finishes in 15th
Published on 20 July 2003 by Huub Rothengatter
Rubens Barrichello has won the British Grand Prix 2003. The race was possible the best dry weather race we have had for a long time. It was impossible to predict who would win. Jos Verstappen managed to keep Justin Wilson and Nick Heidfeld behind him and finished as
At the start Jarno Trulli and Kimi Raikkone were faster than the Barrichello, who start from pole position. In lap 5 David Coulthard lost his headrest which caused a safety car situation. The top eight was kept together. In lap 11 however, there was a spectator on the track which led to another safety car situation. Nearly everyone went for an early pitstop which caused the whole field to be mixed up. Michael Schumacher had the most bad luck, he dropped from 5th to 15th. Da Matta did not go into the pits, he had done that during the first time the safety car was deployed. He became the leader of the race with his team mate Panis right behind him, never before two Toyota cars had led a race. Kimi Raikkonen was fast, after his stop he was able to overtake Trulli, Coulthard and Panis to regain his second position.
Christiano da Matta managed to keep the lead until lap 29. The Brasilian went for a pitstop and handed the lead over to Raikkonen. Michael Schumacher had a hard time trying to overtake Alonso and Villeneuve. When he finally managed to do that nothing kept him to march up to fourth position. At the front Kimi Raikkonen and Rubens Barrichello had good battles for 1st position. Barrichello was the better one in the end and drove to victory.
Jos Verstappen finished 15th, which was the highest possible during this eventful race. On itself a reasonable result due to the fact that Jos had some troube with his neck this weekend. We hope to post Jos's comments on todays' events.