2002 British Grand Prix

The 2002 British Grand Prix (formally the LV Foster's British Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held at the Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire, England on 7 July 2002. The 60-lap race was the tenth race of the 2002 Formula One season and was won by Michael Schumacher, driving a Ferrari, with team-mate Rubens Barrichello second and Juan Pablo Montoya third in a Williams-BMW.

2002 British Grand Prix
Race 10 of 17 in the 2002 Formula One World Championship
← Previous raceNext race →
Silverstone Circuit in its 2002 configuration
Silverstone Circuit in its 2002 configuration
Race details
Date 7 July 2002
Official name LV Foster's British Grand Prix
Location Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone, Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire, England
Course Permanent Road Facility
Course length 5.141 km (3.194 miles)
Distance 60 laps, 308.46 km (191.603 miles)
Weather Dry/Wet, Air Temp: 21°C
Attendance 65,000[1]
Pole position
Driver Williams-BMW
Time 1:18.998
Fastest lap
Driver Brazil Rubens Barrichello Ferrari
Time 1:23.083 on lap 58
Podium
First Ferrari
Second Ferrari
Third Williams-BMW
Lap leaders

Qualifying

edit

Qualifying saw Williams driver Juan Pablo Montoya edge out the two Ferraris to take his fourth consecutive pole position, beating Rubens Barrichello by 0.034 seconds and Michael Schumacher by 0.044. Ralf Schumacher was fourth in the other Williams, three-tenths of a second behind his brother but eight-tenths ahead of Kimi Räikkönen's McLaren in fifth. The top ten was completed by David Coulthard in the other McLaren, Jarno Trulli in the Renault, Mika Salo in the Toyota, Jacques Villeneuve in the BAR and Nick Heidfeld in the Sauber. Alex Yoong failed to set a lap within the 107% time in his Minardi and thus did not qualify.

Qualifying classification

edit
Pos No Driver Constructor Lap Gap
1 6   Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 1:18.998
2 2   Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 1:19.032 +0.034
3 1   Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:19.042 +0.044
4 5   Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW 1:19.329 +0.331
5 4   Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 1:20.133 +1.135
6 3   David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:20.315 +1.317
7 14   Jarno Trulli Renault 1:20.516 +1.518
8 24   Mika Salo Toyota 1:20.995 +1.997
9 11   Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Honda 1:21.130 +2.132
10 7   Nick Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas 1:21.187 +2.189
11 8   Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas 1:21.191 +2.193
12 15   Jenson Button Renault 1:21.247 +2.249
13 12   Olivier Panis BAR-Honda 1:21.274 +2.276
14 10   Takuma Sato Jordan-Honda 1:21.337 +2.339
15 25   Allan McNish Toyota 1:21.382 +2.384
16 20   Heinz-Harald Frentzen Arrows-Cosworth 1:21.416 +2.418
17 9   Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Honda 1:21.636 +2.638
18 21   Enrique Bernoldi Arrows-Cosworth 1:21.780 +2.782
19 16   Eddie Irvine Jaguar-Cosworth 1:21.851 +2.853
20 23   Mark Webber Minardi-Asiatech 1:22.281 +3.283
21 17   Pedro de la Rosa Jaguar-Cosworth 1:23.422 +4.424
107% time: 1:24.527
DNQ 22   Alex Yoong Minardi-Asiatech 1:24.785 +5.787
Source:[2]

Race

edit

There were dark clouds overhead at the beginning of the race. On the formation lap, Barrichello stalled and was put to the back of the grid. Then, when the starting lights went out, Allan McNish in the second Toyota retired immediately with a clutch failure. In the early laps, Montoya led from Michael Schumacher, with Räikkönen overtaking Ralf for third and Barrichello charging through the field, reaching eighth by lap 6.[3]

As the rain started to fall, the drivers made their first pit stops. Bridgestone teams changed from slick tyres to intermediates, but Michelin teams did not have that option as they had spent no time developing their own Intermediate solution throughout the season, thus forcing the affected teams to change from slicks straight to full wets, neither of which were ideal for the conditions.

Michael Schumacher and the Williams drivers all pitted on lap 13, but Ralf's stop went wrong as the Williams crew did not have his tyres ready.[4] Coulthard briefly inherited the lead, but the McLaren team had gambled by leaving him out longer than the other leaders, bringing him in on lap 15.[3] On lap 16, Michael Schumacher passed Montoya for the lead, and on lap 19 Barrichello completed his charge by passing the Colombian for second.

 
Jenson Button eventually retired with a suspension failure.

With the Bridgestone tyres better suited to the conditions than the Michelins, the Ferraris began to pull away. Meanwhile, Coulthard was struggling in ninth, McLaren's gamble having backfired.[3] As the weather appeared to improve, the team brought him and fourth-placed Räikkönen in to change back to slicks. This too did not pay off, as the rain in fact got heavier, and after changing back to wets again, the McLarens toiled at the back of the field, leading Coulthard to experiment with Michelin's underdeveloped Intermediates for a small stint, but confirming they were not any more competitive than the wets. Coulthard eventually finished two laps behind Schumacher while Räikkönen retired on lap 45 with an engine failure.[4]

The tyre issue also affected the Renaults, Trulli and Jenson Button running in the points before making three stops apiece.[5] Trulli dropped out on lap 30 with an electrical problem, before Button suffered a suspension failure on lap 55.

Up at the front, Schumacher led Barrichello by 13 seconds at half-distance. By this point, the Ferraris were so far ahead that Barrichello retained an advantage of over half a minute over third-placed Montoya following a spin on lap 33.[3] By making one fewer stop, Montoya managed to catch up with the Brazilian and overtake him on lap 41, but Barrichello repassed him five laps later and pulled away again.[3] Ralf Schumacher benefitted from the misfortunes of the McLarens and the Renaults to regain fourth, only to have another pit stop go wrong when his fuel rig failed.[4] This left four more Bridgestone drivers – Villeneuve, Heidfeld, Olivier Panis in the second BAR and Giancarlo Fisichella in the Jordan – occupying fourth to seventh.

Michael Schumacher eventually took the chequered flag 14.5 seconds ahead of Barrichello, with Montoya a further 17 seconds back and the last man on the lead lap. Villeneuve and Panis took fourth and fifth, securing BAR's first points of the season, while Heidfeld held off Fisichella for the final point.

This was Schumacher's seventh victory of the season and his 60th in all, and it extended his lead in the Drivers' Championship to 54 points – meaning that he could secure his fifth title at the next race, in France, with six races still to run. Schumacher set the record for most podium finishes with his 107th. Barrichello moved into second in the standings, one point ahead of Montoya and two ahead of Ralf Schumacher.

Race classification

edit
Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 1   Michael Schumacher Ferrari 60 1:31:45.015 3 10
2 2   Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 60 +14.578 2 6
3 6   Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 60 +31.661 1 4
4 11   Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Honda 59 +1 Lap 9 3
5 12   Olivier Panis BAR-Honda 59 +1 Lap 13 2
6 7   Nick Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas 59 +1 Lap 10 1
7 9   Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Honda 59 +1 Lap 17  
8 5   Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW 59 +1 Lap 4  
9 8   Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas 59 +1 Lap 11  
10 3   David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 58 +2 Laps 6  
11 17   Pedro de la Rosa Jaguar-Cosworth 58 +2 Laps 21  
12 15   Jenson Button Renault 54 Wheel 12  
Ret 10   Takuma Sato Jordan-Honda 50 Engine 14  
Ret 4   Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 44 Engine 5  
Ret 14   Jarno Trulli Renault 29 Electronics 7  
Ret 21   Enrique Bernoldi Arrows-Cosworth 28 Driveshaft 18  
Ret 16   Eddie Irvine Jaguar-Cosworth 23 Spin 19  
Ret 20   Heinz-Harald Frentzen Arrows-Cosworth 20 Engine 16  
Ret 24   Mika Salo Toyota 15 Drivetrain 8  
Ret 23   Mark Webber Minardi-Asiatech 9 Clutch 20  
Ret 25   Allan McNish Toyota 0 Clutch 15  
DNQ 22   Alex Yoong Minardi-Asiatech Broke 107% Rule
Sources:[2][6]

Championship standings after the race

edit
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

edit
  1. ^ F1 Racing. August 2002.
  2. ^ a b "Grand Prix of Great Britain". FIA.com. Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. Archived from the original on 18 October 2012. Retrieved 26 December 2015.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Lapwatch: British Grand Prix". BBC Sport. 7 July 2002. Retrieved 14 October 2013.
  4. ^ a b c "British GP 2002 Review". Formula One Rejects. Archived from the original on 16 August 2012. Retrieved 14 October 2013.
  5. ^ "Grand Prix Results: British GP, 2002". Grandprix.com. Retrieved 14 October 2013.
  6. ^ "2002 British Grand Prix". Formula1.com. Formula1.com Limited. Archived from the original on 13 October 2014. Retrieved 26 December 2015.
  7. ^ a b "Britain 2002 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 14 March 2019.


Previous race:
2002 European Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
2002 season
Next race:
2002 French Grand Prix
Previous race:
2001 British Grand Prix
British Grand Prix Next race:
2003 British Grand Prix