| For the
BMW WilliamsF1 team the Spanish Grand Prix would produce a result which was
about the best the team could have expected in what has been a difficult
weekend. Juan Pablo would finish fourth while Ralf was fifth. Both drivers
would have fairly uneventful races, except for a minor off from Ralf. To
come away with points was probably what the team expected.
With
the race run under warm 26 degrees weather the start of the Spanish Grand
Prix would see contact between Raikkonen and Pizzonia. Trulli was also
involved in an incident with David Coulthard. There also appeared to be
contact between the two Ferraris. This incident would see the safety car
come out.
At the start Jaguar driver Pizzonia was to stall his car on the grid and
Raikkonen could not avoid hitting his car. But cars were damaged but both
drivers were able to get out of their cars. The start would also see
Renault's Fernando make a great start. Barrichello would also get his car
onto the grass forcing Alonso wide. Trulli would also retire.
For David Coulthard he would pit will under the safety car to have his car
looked at and he would rejoin the race. So after four laps we had the
Ferrari's leading the race with Michael Schumacher leading Rubens
Barrichello. Ralf and Juan Pablo were in fourth and sixth. Alonso was in
third. Nick Heidfeld would pit on lap three.
The safety car would pull into the pits on lap five and Juan Pablo would
pass Button into fifth. Ralf would be three seconds behind the leaders.
Alonso would close in on Barrichello. By lap ten Juan Pablo had dropped back
to be nearly eight seconds behind the leader. Michael Schumacher was setting
the pace at the front. Lap eleven and Minardi's Justin Wilson was still
holding down ninth place but he was under pressure.
In
sixth and seventh were the two BAR's of Button and Villeneuve. Alonso had
closed to be right behind Barrichello. Lap thirteen and Villeneuve would pit
with an engine problem, retiring in his pit. Button would make a quick stop
on lap fourteen. With these changes da Matta would move into the top six.
Wilson would continue to perform well fighting with Fisichella, Webber, and
Coulthard in eleventh. Lap seventeen and there was a Very quick stop for
Alonso, probably on a 3-stop strategy.
Coulthard would go off the
track after he made contact with Button. On lap eighteen Ralf would stop,
with it been a longer stop making it look probably like a 2-stop strategy.
Team-mate Juan Pablo would stop the next lap, joined by Mark Webber. Michael
Schumacher would also stop . Barrichello would pit, with no problems. he
would come back out behind Alonso.
Lap twenty two and Jordan's Giancarlo Fisichella would make his first stop,
but trouble with his refuelling rig would see him lose time. Jordan
team-mate Ralph Firman would pit on lap twenty five. Ralf and Juan Pablo
were fourth and fifth fifteen and twenty two seconds behind the leader.
Alonso was trying to keep up with Michael in front, but he would have to
pick his way through the back markers; Wilson, Verstappen, Fisichella and
Firman. Barrichello would have to pass the same backmarkers.
Despite
his best efforts Michael Schumacher would pull away from Alonso. Lap thirty
three and Nick Heidfeld would make his third stop. By lap thirty four Alonso
was able to set faster lap times and close slowly to the Ferrari in front.
Lap thirty five and Michael would make a very short pit stop, indicating
that they are on a three stop race. This top puts the Renault of Alonso in
the lead much to the delight of the Spanish crowd. Michael would come out
behind Ralf while Rubens would make his next stop on lap thirty six. Leader
Alonso would pit the next lap and after a quick stop would make up some
ground on Michael, who would pass Ralf on lap thirty eight.
At this stage of the race
Ralf was running in second with Alonso behind while Juan Pablo was in
fourth. Both Ralf and Juan Pablo were on what was most likely a two stop
strategy. But Ralf's race would be ruined when he would make a mistake
running wide and going off onto the grass, returning to the track with no
apparent damage. Ralf would make his next stop on lap forty one.
The next lap and Juan Pablo
would make his routine stop. By lap forty four Juan Pablo was in fourth and
Ralf sixth. Toyota's Cristiano da Matta was fifth while team-mate Panis
would pull off the track and retire with gearbox problems. Michael
Schumacher was 6.7 seconds ahead of Alonso.
Lap
forty five and Fisichella would retire with a smoking Jordan in his pit. The
next lap would see Heidfeld and Button make another pit stop. With both
WilliamsF1 cars so far behind the leaders that even when they make their
third and final stop neither Ralf or Juan Pablo would have any chance of
getting near the front. Juan Pablo would pass Ralf in a great move and he
would start to pull away. Alonso was five seconds behind Michael driving
hard to catch up the difference. Michael would make his final stop and both
Alonso and Barrichello would pass him while he was stopped. Da Matta would
also make his last stop.
Lap fifty, with fifteen laps
left to run, Alonso would stop, joined by Barrichello. Both would return to
the track. Juan Pablo and Ralf were fourth and fifth. Alonso was second and
closing the gap to Michael in the lead. With ten laps left to run Alonso was
7.9 seconds behind, a gap that was most likely to big to reduce.
da
Matta was in an excellent sixth, while Webber was seventh. In the closing
stages of the race Ralf would come under pressure from da Matta with the
Toyota driver. Ralf was having problems with his car. Michael Schumacher was
coming up to lap both of them and in the process Michael would lose a small
amount of time, not enough to give Alonso any real hope. Ralf was fighting
hard for his fifth place. Ralf would lock up his brakes frequently, possibly
indicating that he was having a brake problem.
As the final five laps counted down da Matta was trying hard to pass Ralf
but Ralf held his place. As Alonso lapped Ralf, waving at the German to show
his annoyance, he would lose some time but in the end it would not have made
any difference. So on the final lap it would be Michael who would cross the
line to win his second race this year, the first win for the new F2003-GA.
Alonso was second and Barrichello would make up the top three.
In a race that would see
three drivers score their first points da Matta would finish in sixth,
Webber seventh, and Firman eighth. For the McLaren team the race was a
disaster with neither driver scoring points. |