The 2003 Monaco Grand Prix (officially known as the Grand Prix de Monaco 2003) was a Formula One motor race that took place on 1 June 2003 at the Circuit de Monaco in Monte Carlo, Monaco. It was the seventh round of the 2003 Formula One World Championship.
Ralf Schumacher of BMW Williams took pole position for the race, but his teammate Juan Pablo Montoya won the race ahead of championship leader Kimi Räikkönen of McLaren and current World Champion Michael Schumacher of Ferrari. It was Williams's first victory in Monaco since Keke Rosberg in 1983.
There were no recorded on-track overtakes during this race, one of the very few occasions in Formula One history where this has occurred. The other three races since 1981 not to feature any on-track overtakes were the controversial 2005 United States and 2021 Belgian Grands Prix, as well as the 2009 European Grand Prix.
Background Across the weekend of 29 May - 1 June, the Circuit de Monaco in Monte Carlo hosted a Formula One Grand Prix for the 50th time in the circuit's history, with it being the 50th Monaco Grand Prix as a round of the Formula One World Championship as well. The Grand Prix was the seventh round of the 2003 Formula One World Championship.
Championship standings before the race Going into the weekend, McLaren driver Kimi Räikkönen led the Drivers' Championship with 40 points, ahead of Ferrari drivers Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello on 38 and 26 points, respectively. In the Constructors' Championship, Ferrari were leading with 64 points and McLaren were second on 63 points, with Renault third on 35 points.
Entrants The Grand Prix was contested by 20 drivers, in ten teams of two. The teams, also known as constructors, were Ferrari, Williams, McLaren, Renault, Sauber, Jordan, Jaguar, BAR, Minardi and Toyota.
Practice Three free practice sessions were held for the event. Jaguar driver Mark Webber set the fastest time in the first session, a tenth of a second quicker than Jenson Button and David Coulthard, in second and third places respectively. Webber was third in the second session, which was topped by Kimi Räikkönen in the McLaren ahead of Juan Pablo Montoya in the BMW Williams. Finally, Coulthard led the third practice session, ahead of Montoya and World Champion Michael Schumacher in the Ferrari.
Jenson Button suffered a heavy crash during Saturday morning practice and his resulting injuries meant that he took no further part in the weekend.
Qualifying Qualiyfing consisted of two one-hour sessions, one on Friday and one on Saturday afternoon. The first session's running order was determined by the Drivers' Championship standings, with the leading driver going first. Each driver was allowed to set one lap time. The result determined the running order in the second session: the fastest driver in the first session was allowed to go last in the second session, which usually provided the benefit of a cleaner track. Drivers were again allowed to set one lap time, which determined the order on the grid for the race on Sunday, with the fastest driver scoring pole position.
Ralf Schumacher scored his first pole position in nearly two years. In contrast, his brother Michael's fifth starting place was his worst qualifying performance at this circuit since he first competed there in 1992.
Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Time Q2 Time Gap Grid 1 4 Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW 1:17.063 1:15.259 1 2 6 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 1:17.926 1:15.295 +0.036 2 3 3 Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 1:17.108 1:15.415 +0.156 3 4 7 Jarno Trulli Renault 1:16.905 1:15.500 +0.241 4 5 1 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:16.305 1:15.644 +0.385 5 6 5 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:17.059 1:15.700 +0.441 6 7 2 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 1:16.636 1:15.820 +0.561 7 8 8 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:18.370 1:15.884 +0.625 8 9 14 Mark Webber Jaguar-Cosworth 1:17.637 1:16.237 +0.978 9 10 21 Cristiano da Matta Toyota 1:20.374 1:16.744 +1.485 10 11 16 Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Honda 1:18.109 1:16.755 +1.496 11 12 11 Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Ford 1:17.080 1:16.967 +1.708 12 13 15 Antônio Pizzonia Jaguar-Cosworth 1:18.967 1:17.103 +1.844 13 14 9 Nick Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas 1:17.912 1:17.176 +1.917 14 15 10 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Petronas No time 1:17.402 +2.143 15 16 12 Ralph Firman Jordan-Ford 1:18.286 1:17.452 +2.193 16 17 20 Olivier Panis Toyota 1:19.903 1:17.464 +2.205 17 18 19 Jos Verstappen Minardi-Cosworth 1:19.421 1:18.706 +3.447 18 19 18 Justin Wilson Minardi-Cosworth 1:19.680 1:20.063 +4.804 19 20 17 Jenson Button BAR-Honda 1:16.685 No time— 20 Sources: Notes – Jenson Button was left without a time in Q2 after a spin in Saturday's practice.
Race The race was held on 1 June 2003 and was run for 78 laps.
Race report Ralf Schumacher led the pack through the first corner without incidents. His teammate Juan Pablo Montoya was the first to follow, having overtaken Kimi Räikkönen in the McLaren. Behind them came Jarno Trulli, Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso, the Spaniard overtaking two drivers on the getaway. Heinz-Harald Frentzen did not finish the first lap, after going wide over the kerbs at the swimming pool chicane, losing control of his Sauber and crashing it hard into the armco barrier.
After four laps behind the safety car to let the marshals clear the track, the race continued and the top three escaped from the rest of the pack, mainly due to Trulli's cautious pace. Montoya put heavy pressure on his leading teammate, running less than half a second behind when Schumacher made his pit stop. The Colombian made use of the clean air on just one lap. He immediately set the fastest lap time of the race and after his stop, rejoined just in front of his teammate. To make matters worse for the German, Räikkönen also appeared ahead him after the Finn had pitted. Michael Schumacher overtook Trulli through the pit stop phase and David Coulthard got ahead of Alonso.
When Montoya made his second stop, Räikkönen set the fastest lap in an effort to jump his rival, but he rejoined just behind the Williams. Meanwhile, Ralf Schumacher had fallen back to fourth position, behind his brother, and almost crashed at Rascasse corner. Alonso on the other hand, took advantage of an alternative strategy to jump both Coulthard and teammate Trulli in the pit stops.
With fifteen laps to go, Montoya had Räikkönen continuously right behind him and Michael Schumacher closing in by seven tenths per lap, but he held on to take his first victory in nearly two years.
Post-race Räikkönen outscored Michael Schumacher by two points, thus extending his points advantage to four points, while Alonso reclaimed third spot in the standings with 29 points, two ahead of Barrichello and four behind Montoya, who advanced to fifth following his first win of the season. Meanwhile, McLaren reclaimed their lead in the Constructors' Championship, leading Ferrari by two points, whilst Williams overtook Renault to enter the next round in third place with 50 points, 23 behind McLaren.
Race classification Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 3 Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 78 1:42:19.010 3 10 2 6 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 78 + 0.602 2 8 3 1 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 78 + 1.720 5 6 4 4 Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW 78 + 28.518 1 5 5 8 Fernando Alonso Renault 78 + 36.251 8 4 6 7 Jarno Trulli Renault 78 + 40.972 4 3 7 5 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 78 + 41.227 6 2 8 2 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 78 + 53.266 7 1 9 21 Cristiano da Matta Toyota 77 + 1 Lap 10 10 11 Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Ford 77 + 1 Lap 12 11 9 Nick Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas 76 + 2 Laps 14 12 12 Ralph Firman Jordan-Ford 76 + 2 Laps 16 13 20 Olivier Panis Toyota 74 + 4 Laps 17 16 Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Honda 63 Engine 11 18 Justin Wilson Minardi-Cosworth 29 Fuel system 19 19 Jos Verstappen Minardi-Cosworth 28 Fuel system 18 14 Mark Webber Jaguar-Cosworth 16 Hydraulics 9 15 Antônio Pizzonia Jaguar-Cosworth 10 Electrical 13 10 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Petronas 0 Accident 15 17 Jenson Button BAR-Honda — Driver injured —
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings +/– Driver Points 1 Kimi Räikkönen 48 2 Michael Schumacher 44 1 3 Fernando Alonso 29 1 4 Rubens Barrichello 27 2 5 Juan Pablo Montoya 25Source:
Constructors' Championship standings +/– Constructor Points 1 1 McLaren-Mercedes 73 1 2 Ferrari 71 1 3 Williams-BMW 50 1 4 Renault 42 5 Jordan-Ford 11Source:
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
See also 2003 Monaco F3000 round
References