By Greig Murray
April 29 2002

Ferrari had a disappointing day in Malaysia with Rubens Barrichello dropping out from a certain 2nd place and Michael Schumacher coming home in 3rd place. A lap 1 tangle between MS and JPM set the tone for the race.

The weather was hot and sticky in Malaysia as the race got underway, the forecasters however are predicting that rain may fall about 1 hour into the race, and this could throw some added drama into the action. Starting from 1st and 3rd Ferrari are in a great position to secure a good result today, but they will need a good start to keep the fast starting Williams boys at bay going down the long run into turn 1. All 22 cars got away under the formation lap and pole sitter Michael Schumacher led them round to reform on the grid. And then it was time for action and when the red lights went green both Ferrari's got off to a decent start, but Schumacher was worried enough to take a defensive swipe at Montoya and then disaster for the German as he tangles with Montoya around turn 1 losing his front wing, Montoya loses ground but appears to have no car problems and continues on his way. All this leaves Rubens Barrichello in the lead of the race. 12.5 seconds in the pits and Schumacher is back on track and in 21st place, and he is blisteringly quick with a clear track.

Lap 5 and Rubens Barrichello is making good use of his race lead as he pulls out a lead of over 3 seconds ahead of R Schumacher in 2nd place. The two McLaren's make up 3rd and 4th, with Michael Schumacher setting the fastest lap of the race he is up to 19th place and some 40 seconds behind the leader. Montoya appears to have come under investigation and has received a drive-through penalty, it is not clear if this is for his part in the incident with Schumacher at turn 1 but at the moment the reason for the penalty seems very unclear. Montoya takes his penalty and it appears that Schumacher suffered more than a lost wing in the incident as his pace begins to slow a little and he loses more ground on the race leaders, however the German continues on and is now up to 12th place.

By lap 16 Michael is continuing to make up ground and Villeneuve and Massa have been passed by the no1 F2001, it was then the turn for the Arrows of Bernoldi who was passed by Michael going into turn 1 but then amazingly he re-took Schumacher, but he could not keep that 9th place for long and Schumacher was to pass him cleanly again and pull away with his eyes on race points. Now the fuel levels are coming down Rubens has over 5 seconds of a lead but he is going to have to work as the Williams duo really pick up some pace and begin trading fastest laps.

Lap 20 and Michael Schumacher is into the pits once again for what appears to be a routine stop, it looks as if he was on a two stop strategy and now his race has really been compromised as he drops back down the order once again. The next lap and Barrichello is in for his first stop, and a fantastically quick stop of 6.6 seconds had the Brazilian back on track and in 3rd place behind Raikkonen in the much slower McLaren. Rubens continues to press Kimi and it was only a matter of laps before the Mercedes engine was smoking allowing Rubens into 2nd place, both McLaren's are now out of the race and scoring nil points! Barrichello is 24 seconds behind Ralf who has yet to make a pitstop. Michael is back into a points scoring position in 6th place and chasing down the Sauber of Nick Heidfeld. The race leader is in for his stop and the race lead is back in the hands of Barrichello but with him expected to make another stop then his work is going to be cut out to take the race win.

Barrichello's lead was only to last a few laps before he was back in the pits for fresh tyres and fuel and as Rubens leaves the pitlane in 2nd place Michael Schumacher pulls a move on Heidfeld going into turn 1 and moves into 5th place, with a stop still to be made. 16 laps to go and Barrichello looks comfortable in 2nd position ahead of Montoya but it looks unlikely that he can do anything about R Schumacher who is about 20 seconds up the road and looking safe for the race win. Then DISASTER for Ferrari and Barrichello as a very rare engine problem ends his race, what a shame for Rubens who had driven so well. Michael Schumacher is back in for his third and final stop of the race and he re-joins the track in 4th place.

"It's very unfortunate, it was hard work out there and it was doing the best I could. The tyres held up well against the Williams pace, but its unfortunate to drop out of the race." Says a disappointed Rubens as he arrives back in the pits.

Schumacher looks settled for 4th place as now the Williams lead the race 1-2 and its not been a good day at the races for Ferrari, a good start to the weekend turned bad in the opening lap with Schumacher effectively out of the chances of winning and then Rubens taking the fight but the 2 stop strategy was not good enough to keep him ahead of the Williams of Ralf who one stopped, then the rare engine problem cost him and the team 6 points.

But Schumacher keeps lapping well and he is rewarded with this by taking 3rd place on the final lap of the race, and makes this defeat a little bit less hard to take. So onto Brazil, and this result has given the team a bit of a shake, and we shall now expect to see the new F2002 in Interlagos because the F2001 has now done all it can in the season's opening two races.

1 R. Schumacher Germany Williams 1.34.12.912
2 J.P. Montoya Colombia Williams + 39.699
3 M. Schumacher Germany Ferrari + 1.01.794
4 J. Button England Renault + 1.09.766
5 N. Heidfeld Germany Sauber + 1
6 F. Massa Brazil Sauber + 1
7 A. McNish Scotland Toyota + 1
8 J. Villeneuve Canada BAR + 1
9 T. Sato Japan Jordan + 2
10 P. De la Rosa Spain Jaguar + 2
11 H. Frentzen Germany Arrows + 2
12 M. Salo Finland Toyota + 3
13 G. Fisichella Italy Jordan + 3
Did not finish
14 R. Barrichello Brazil Ferrari + 16
15 M. Webber Australian Minardi + 22
16 E. Irvine Northern Ireland Jaguar + 24
17 A. Yoong Malaysia Minardi + 25
18 K. Räikkönen Finland McLaren + 32
19 E. Bernoldi Brazil Arrows + 35
20 D. Coulthard Scotland McLaren + 42
21 J. Trulli Italy Renault + 46
22 O. Panis France BAR + 46