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 Australian GP: Race Report

SCHUMACHER TAKES DRAMATIC WIN

Michael Schumacher started the Australian Grand Prix from second on the grid in overcast but dry conditions and went on to take his 54th career win at the Albert Park circuit. However, while the result may indicate an easy win for the four-times World Champion, it was far from a stroll in the park for the German.

Schumacher, Montoya and Raikkonen enjoy the podium celebrations

Even before the start there was a small degree of panic and drama as Juan Pablo Montoya was busy wandering around while he should have been strapped into the Williams, but at least he was ready when it counted unlike both Arrows Cosworth’s of Frentzen and Bernoldi who were stranded on the dummy grid.

Frentzen, attempting to start his first race for Arrows, was foiled when his car stalled and he was wheeled off on to the grass. He restarted his race some laps late while Bernoldi was also wheeled out of the way to take the spare A23. For a team that has showed potential in pre-season tests, this was a disaster that would later result in both cars being disqualified for contravening the rules on restarting the race.

The event began with Barrichello leading from Pole Position but it all went wrong almost immediately. The start was a mess, when Ralf Schumacher, who made a strong start from third on the grid, smashed into the back of Rubens Barrichello who weaved and bobbed defending his position. Schumacher seemed to miss his breaking point, striking the back of the Ferrari and launching himself into the air and out of the race.

There will be the usual debate about who was at blame for the incident, but it was clear Barrichello was weaving to defend his position while Schumacher missed his braking point and was travelling excessively fast to take turn one safely. Ironically, prior to the start, Michael Schumacher was busy telling his fellow drivers to take it easy into turn one, and it was his team-mate Barrichello and brother Ralf who set up a chaotic course of events that took out seven other vehicles.

The move that gave the World Champion the lead of the Australian GP

"Rubens changed direction twice and he was braking too early and that's what caused the accident," Ralf Schumacher said afterwards. "He tried to defend his position without thinking what he was doing and I tried to overtake him. It felt frightening, I can tell you… Going airborne in an aircraft is nicer than in any Formula One car."

Naturally enough, Rubens Barrichello didn’t see the incident in the same light as his German rival. "If he wanted to overtake on the outside he should have moved over a lot further," the Brazilian snapped.

David Coulthard took the lead after the carnage while the Mercedes-Benz safety car joined in on the action to pick up the McLaren driver and the rest of the pack including Jarno Trulli, Michael Schumacher, Juan-Pablo Montoya, Eddie Irvine, and his team-mate Pedro de la Rosa completing the top six. Quite why the Race Director did not put the race under a red flag to ensure the circuit was completely clear of debris was just another area of debate.

The race began four laps later when the safety car peeled off into the pits but soon after Montoya ran wide heading to turn three after trying to pass Jarno Trulli’s Renault F1 machine, which in turn enabled Michael Schumacher to pass. Schumacher was moved to be somewhat critical of the Italian after he had taken the chequered flag, stating that the ‘slower car’ was holding his line and that his actions were ‘fair but inappropriate.’

Irvine took advantage of the first corner accident to finish in fourth place

By lap seven, Coulthard was busy pulling put a lead until Trulli lost his Renault under acceleration at turn two whilst under extreme pressure from Schumacher. For Coulthard, his 6.6-second lead was nullified as the safety car was deployed for the second time because of the dangerous position of Trulli’s stricken Renault.

Just before the restart David Coulthard threw away his lead after locking his brakes and running off the track just before turn 16. Michael Schumacher took the green flag, but Montoya sensationally out-braked the German into turn one to take the lead.

Coulthard resumed in fourth position while Schumacher and Montoya battled hard out front with the Ferrari driver clearly faster through the turns and the BMW power holding the challenge back on the long straights.

With Montoya and Schumacher busy fighting for position, Kimi Raikkonen swiftly moved in to join the battle, but the next 14 laps saw Schumacher force Montoya too deep into turn one and ducked back inside the Colombian to take the lead.

Schumacher was able to lap a second faster than anyone else as he benefited from clear air and built up an unbeatable lead while Montoya came under pressure from Raikkonen. Meanwhile, David Coulthard repeated his earlier manoeuvre by running off track exiting turn 15 indicating a bizarre technical problem that would eventually end the former Australian Grand Prix winner’s race.

Forget about Schuey - it was Mark Webber's day after he finished fifth for Minardi

Arrows’ awful race continued with Heinz-Harald Frentzen getting the black flag and disqualification for exiting the pitlane under a red light. Enrique Bernoldi soon also received the black flag for taking the spare Arrows after the start of the race. Tom Walkinshaw’s group clearly need to read the regulations on their long flight back to base.

With 33-laps remaining the depleted field saw Michael Schumacher leading by 17-seconds from Montoya, Raikkonen, Irvine, Mark Webber and the struggling David Coulthard.

BAR suffered another major setback with 29 laps remaining when an exact repeat of the 1999 incident occurred when Jacques Villeneuve’s rear wing flew off the BAR Honda on the entry to turn-11, causing a sizeable spin and retirement. Team-mate Olivier Panis was one of many eliminated on the first lap.

David Coulthard’s race came to an end with 23 laps remaining as he stopped on track with his mechanical problem rendering the MP4-17 useless but quite why Coulthard failed to drive the car off-track to retire is not clear, but an unhappy weekend was complete for the Scot.

With two thirds of the race complete, the top three completed their one and only pit stop, with Kimi Raikkonen gaining second position from Montoya before running off-track at turn one and undoing his hard work and allowing Montoya back into second position.

And so the race played out, with Michael Schumacher bringing his Ferrari home in first position ahead of Juan Pablo Montoya in the BMW Williams and Kimi Raikkonen who must be wondering what the result would have been had he not had to stop for a new nose-cone and to remove debris from his seat. Still, a podium position was a superb result for his first race with the McLaren Mercedes squad.

Much to the delight of the Aussie crowd Salo spun while chasing down Webber, but he still took a point for Toyota on their debut

Fourth position fell to Eddie Irvine, a surprising result given that the 1999 Australian Grand Prix winner qualified in 19th position. For Jaguar, it was a case of bringing the car home and securing a points-paying finish after a hopeless lead-up of practice and qualifying.

Mark Webber was delighted to bring home his KL Minardi Asiatech in fifth position; the team’s first points paying finish since the European Grand Prix of 1999. For the Australian former Benetton test-driver, it was a dream debut in the series, as he held off Mika Salo in the Toyota for the position in the closing laps. The position was settled in Webber’s favour when Salo spun trying to pass the Minardi, but still it was a superb debut from Toyota and a superb debut for Mark Webber which was greeted in grand style by the Melbourne crowd.

The first race of the season underlined the fact that Ferrari are still the class of the field, but rather than Schumacher’s 54th career win, the race will be remembered for Ralf Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello’s first corner accident that wiped out most of the field.

The teams now pack up and head to Sepang and the second round of the championship in Malaysia in a fortnight.

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