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 Brazilian GP: Race Report

SCHUMACHER AND FERRARI TAKE BRAZIL!

Michael Schumacher held off a late race charge from brother Ralf Schumacher today at Interlagos, to take his second win from the first three races of the season.

Schuey gets the jump on JPM at the start while behind the Renaults also get away well

For Ferrari, running their Bridgestone shod Ferrari F2002 for the first time, the result was a perfect reminder that they are still the combination to beat. It was a far from easy win however, as Ralf Schumacher pushed his brother all the way before the Ferrari star acknowledged soccer legend Pele waving the chequered flag.

"It was really fantastic, really fantastic," exclaimed Michael Schumacher during his slow down lap back to the pits. Indeed it was.

With the drama of the morning warmup-session behind them, all 22-drivers lined up for the start of the 71-lap Brazilian Grand Prix and once the lights went out it was the usual scramble as the drivers fought for position heading down to the left handed turn one.

As has become the normal in 2002 there was a first lap incident but this time it was Juan Pablo Montoya who ran into the back of Michael Schumacher as he took a dive to retake the lead lost through the Senna-S immediately after the start.

Montoya lost his front wing and Michael Schumacher was able to continue in the lead. This effectively eliminated the Colombian from the race for the win and handed the battle to the two Schumacher brothers.

Barrichello would take the lead of the race before his Interlagos curse hit him again

Ralf Schumacher allowed Michael to pull out a six-second gap early on in the race, but then managed to lap at a similar pace to the leader for a majority of the Grand Prix. The damage was already done however, giving Michael Schumacher that slight cushion to control the race to the chequered flag despite the Malaysian GP winner’s best efforts to close the gap during the final third of the event.

Over at McLaren Mercedes, both David Coulthard and Kimi Raikkonen spent the first half of the race directly behind the Renault's of Jarno Trulli and Jenson Button respectively, seemingly unable to find away past.

Kimi Raikkonen was the first of the two to make a move well over half distance past Button for position. Coulthard managed to get the move completed during his sole pit stop and once the stops were complete, the Scot found himself in third position ahead of Raikkonen, a position Coulthard would retain until the end of the race.

Kimi Raikkonen made it within three-laps of the chequered flag before spinning out of fourth position at the fourth turn and it was a sad end to what had been a solid drive from the Finn.

Ralf Schumacher fought his elder brother all the way to the line

For McLaren Mercedes, it may not have been a sparkling performance as they finished one minute behind the two Schumacher brothers, but for Coulthard at least he brought the car home for the first time this year and scored a podium position in the process.

Fourth position fell to Jenson Button for the second successive race, with the British driver picking up two positions in the closing stages thanks to the retirements of team-mate Jarno Trulli and Kimi Raikkonen.

While Button will be pleased with his second haul of points, there was heartbreak for Trulli who retired with a blown engine with just ten laps remaining after a strong drive.

After his first lap incident with Michael Schumacher, Juan Pablo Montoya moved back up through the field to finish in fifth position in what was another frustrating Grand Prix for the Colombian. Montoya chased the fourth placed Button valiantly, but having caught the British driver with just three-laps remaining, simply ran out of time and crossed the line less than a second behind the Renault driver.

Salo blasts out of the Toyota pits on his way to scoring another point for the new team

Mika Salo enjoyed a good run in his Toyota to bring the fledging outfit their second point from three races, despite a moment exiting the pits when he failed to spot Michael Schumacher trying to dive down the inside. In contrast to Salo, Allan McNish’s rotten weekend continued as he spun his Toyota at turn four and stalled after running near to the tail of the field.

Despite some worrying tell-tale wisps of blue-smoke coming from his Cosworth V10 late in the race, Eddie Irvine managed to finish in seventh position ahead of team-mate Pedro de la Rosa in the second Jaguar.

Takuma Sato finished in ninth place, the first time the erratic, but undoubtedly talented, Japanese driver had completed the distance. Giancarlo Fisichella’s good run in recent years at the Interlagos circuit came to a premature end with a Honda engine failure after just seven laps. Sato’s finish was significant in that it is the first time this year that a Honda powered car has gone the race distance.

Jacques Villeneuve was classified in tenth position, but was forced to pull his BAR Honda to the side of the track as he began what should have been his final lap of the race, while Mark Webber finished in 11th place in the Minardi Asiatech, despite a brush with Felipe Massa early on in the race while battling for 14th position. Alex Yoong finished four laps adrift following at least three spins in what was a poor showing from the Malaysian driver.

Jordan were quicker than BAR but both the Honda teams were well off the pace

Kimi Raikkonen was eventually classified in 12th position, but for Rubens Barrichello at his home event, there was yet more disappointment as his Ferrari let him down once again, this time while he was in the lead.

Barrichello made a good start from eighth position on the grid taking full advantage of his light fuel load to move up through the field and come the 13th lap the Brazilian breezed past Michael Schumacher to take the lead much to the delight of the Brazilian fans. However, Barrichello’s dream came to an abrupt end after 16-laps, as he pulled off the racing line to tour to mechanical retirement. For the Brazilian, it was his third straight non-finish of the season and his eighth successive failure to finish at his home event.

With Juan Pablo Montoya suffering his drama at the start of the race, Michael Schumacher was able to extend his championship lead from the Colombian, while Ralf Schumacher’s second place finish today in Brazil moves him up into second position in the drivers’ championship battle.

The Formula One circus now packs up and begins preparation for testing this week before moving on to Imola and the San Marino Grand Prix in two weeks time.

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