The 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix (formally the Grande Prêmio do Brasil 2003) was a Formula One motor race held on 6 April 2003 at Autódromo José Carlos Pace (Interlagos). It was the third round of the 2003 Formula One World Championship, the 32nd Brazilian Grand Prix and the 700th Formula One World Championship race.
The race was scheduled to run for 71 laps, but was stopped on lap 56 after two major crashes blocked the circuit. Due to confusion about the timing of the red flag, which was initially believed to have been thrown during lap 55, the win was initially awarded to Kimi Räikkönen of McLaren, with Giancarlo Fisichella of Jordan in second and Fernando Alonso of Renault in third. However, following a post-race appeal by the Jordan team, eventually heard in court, it was established that the red flag had been thrown during lap 56 and Fisichella was leading at the end of lap 54 when the race results were declared, and he was awarded the win with Räikkönen demoted to second. Alonso remained in third place; he had missed the podium ceremony at the time as he was receiving medical attention. It was attended by 120,000 spectators.
The race was Fisichella's first Grand Prix victory. It was also Jordan's fourth and final victory, and the team's 200th Grand Prix. This was the first victory for a Ford engine since the 1999 European Grand Prix, and the first victory for an Italian driver since Riccardo Patrese won the 1992 Japanese Grand Prix. Prior to the 2026 Bahrain Grand Prix, this Grand Prix marked the last victory for a Ford-powered car to date. This marked the last time the Brazilian Grand Prix was held during the opening rounds of a Formula One season.
Although he did not win the race, Räikkönen scored more points than Coulthard, increasing his lead to nine points. Alonso improved from fifth to third with a ten point deficit over Räikkönen, while Fisichella's victory gave him his first points of the season in order to make a huge step in the championship by moving from sixteenth to fourth. In the Constructors' Championship, McLaren maintained their lead, while extending it to 16 points over Renault, that claimed second following the failure of both Ferraris to finish. Fisichella's win gave Jordan their first points as well, elevating the Irish team to fifth in the standings, six behind Ferrari and Williams.
Background
The 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix was the third of sixteen scheduled single seater motor races of the 2003 Formula One World Championship, the 32nd edition of the event and the 700th Formula One World Championship round. It took place at the 15-turn Autódromo José Carlos Pace in the Brazilian city of São Paulo on 6 April 2003. The bumpy track placed a large amount of strain and g-force onto a driver. To compensate for cars being driven over its bumpy surface, teams employed a computer programme fed into a chassis to reconstruct every movement under undulation. Under a Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA; Formula One's governing body) regulation mandating Formula One's two tyre suppliers Bridgestone and Michelin to bring a single wet-weather tyre compound to each race to lower operating costs: Michelin brought the full wets and Bridgestone the intermediates.
After winning the Malaysian Grand Prix two weeks earlier, McLaren driver Kimi Räikkönen led the World Drivers' Championship with 16 points, six ahead of his teammate David Coulthard in second. Juan Pablo Montoya of Williams, Ferrari driver Rubens Barrichello and Fernando Alonso for Renault tied for third with eight points each. In the World Constructors' Championship, McLaren led with 26 points; Ferrari and Renault were tied for second position with 16 points. Williams were a further two points behind in fourth and Sauber in fifth had four points. Following the 2002 edition, race organisers invested $1.7 million in resurfacing of track surface in an attempt to reduce its bumpiness, rebuilt its drainage system and introduced run-off areas in the first seven turns.
In preparation for the race, the majority of teams conducted in-season test sessions at the Circuit de Catalunya (now called the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya) in Spain from 25 to 28 March 2003 and worked to alter the aerodynamic performance of their cars. Sauber and Williams evaluated revised chassis components and both teams assessed their selection of tyre compounds from the Malaysian Grand Prix, optimising the setup of their vehicles to better suit it. A lap of 1:17.288 topped the time sheets for the Williams test driver Marc Gené on the first day. Pedro de la Rosa, the McLaren test driver, set the second day's fastest time, a 1:15.506. Williams's Ralf Schumacher set the quickest lap on the third day, lowering the overall best time to a 1:15.352. On the final day (held in heavy rain in the morning and sunshine for most of the afternoon) Ralf Schumacher remained fastest overall with a lap of 1:17.591. Toyota test driver Ricardo Zonta drove a Toyota TF102B for three days at the Circuit Paul Ricard evaluating its tyres.
The defending World Drivers' Champion Michael Schumacher of Ferrari was criticised by the German and Italian press for a sub-par beginning to the season. Schumacher said he expected criticism and thought Ferrari would have an advantage on circuits that suited his team better than others, "The first two races are not too good. Still, we got eight points out of these not very good races for us and our time will come again." Räikkönen, the Drivers Championship leader, said he would approach the race in the same method as he did in the preceding Malaysian Grand Prix, as Giancarlo Fisichella was eager to score for the Jordan team in its 200th Formula One race, "I trained and prepared hard for Sepang but unfortunately I did not get off the mark. So my target for the Brazilian Grand Prix is to take the chequered flag and bring points to the team and looking at the way the car ran strongly with Ralph in Malaysia, I know I can get both jobs done."
Two weeks before the Grand Prix, the FIA announced drivers would no longer be granted dispensation to compete in Formula One races without wearing a HANS device. It stated any competitor who could not wear a HANS device for medical reasons would be barred from driving in future events. This stance was ratified at a meeting of the FIA World Motor Sport Council in Paris on 2 April. Minardi driver Justin Wilson was passed fit by the FIA medical delegate Sid Watkins to take part in the event. At the previous race, Wilson suffered from pain in his shoulders which was caused by a loose HANS device and seat belt, causing him to move about freely in his car's cockpit and pinching a nerve that paralysed both his arms. Wilson visited the team's headquarters in Faenza, Italy to test a twin seat belt system installed in his car to prevent a similar occurrence. Barrichello, who had a minor hernia and received dispensation from the stewards not to wear a HANS device for medical reasons, was at risk of being dropped for the race in the event a solution to his discomfort was not found. He tested a new HANS device during free practice and reported no discomfort, leaving the services of the Ferrari reserve driver Felipe Massa unneeded.
A total of ten teams (each represented by a different constructor) entered two race drivers each for the race with no changes from the season entry list. Some teams made changes to their vehicles for the event. Williams installed a revised gearbox unit and rear suspension bracket designed specially for the FW25. The team also fitted a revised specification of front wing, modified a terminal section of the car's bodywork and rectified a rear wing issue. The Ferrari and Renault teams introduced new specifications of rear wing: Ferrari's wing changes featured semi-circular holes in the outer part of its main profile to limit vortex and was used solely by Barrichello. Renault adopted a rear wing characterised by a sinuous shape of its profiles, which was stood up sharply in the bulkheads section.
Private test session On Friday morning, a two-hour test session took place for teams who opted for limited testing during the season. In variable weather conditions that saw rain fell 90 minutes in, Renault driver Jarno Trulli set the session's fastest lap, a 1:14.262. Antônio Pizzonia was second in a Jaguar and his teammate Mark Webber third. Alonso, Fisichella, Allan McNish, the Renault test driver, Minardi's Jos Verstappen, Ralph Firman for Jordan and Wilson made up positions four to nine. During the session, Pizzonia drove the spare Jaguar after a mechanical fault stopped his race car at the Subida dos Boxes corner. With 36 minutes remaining, Firman abandoned his car in the pit lane with a drive shaft problem. Alonso subsequently spun on the Reta Oposta straight and was beached in a gravel trap at the Descida do Lago turn. His Renault was undamaged.
Practice and warm-up sessions
There were three practice sessions preceding Sunday's race: one 60-minute session on Friday morning and two 45-minute sessions on Saturday morning. In the first practice session, held in torrential weather conditions and saw four drivers record no lap times, Michael Schumacher was quickest with a lap of 1:28.060, followed by Coulthard, British American Racing (BAR) driver Jenson Button, Trulli, Montoya, Barrichello, the Toyota pair of Olivier Panis and Cristiano da Matta, Fisichella and Heinz-Harald Frentzen of Sauber. Seconds after Räikkönen exited the pit lane, he lost control of his vehicle into the Reta Oposta straight and spun onto some grass. He narrowly avoided a collision with a barrier to his left. With 15 minutes to go, Pizzonia crashed heavily leaving the Curva do Sol turn and struck the barriers on both sides of the circuit on his first timed lap, temporarily stopping the session so that his Jaguar car could be removed from the track. After the session restarted, Alonso slid on the wet track and made minor contact against a wall at the Senna S chicane.
The circuit was sodden for the beginning of the second practice session and dried as it progressed to provide every driver with dry track acclimatisation. Barrichello set the pace with a 1:14.071 lap. Ralf Schumacher, Montoya, Michael Schumacher, Alonso, Räikkönen, Pizzonia, Webber, Coulthard and Heidfeld made up positions two to ten. In warm weather conditions, the final practice session was led by Panis who recorded a time of 1:13.457, ahead of Michael Schumacher, Trulli, Coulthard, Montoya, Räikkönen, Barrichello, Webber, Ralf Schumacher and Alonso. Several competitors spun during the session; none sustained damage to their cars. Räikkönen paced a 15-minute warm-up session that took place before the second qualifying session with a lap of 1:13.886. Barrichello, Michael Schumacher, Coulthard, Montoya, Webber, Button, Ralf Schumacher, Villeneuve and Heidfeld were second to tenth.
Qualifying The torrential rain observed in practice prompted several drivers to express concerns they would lose control of their vehicles and crash. Around 20 minutes before the first qualifying session, Coulthard, a senior member of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association, Trulli and Michael Schumacher wrote a petition mandating the FIA cancel the session if there was no improvement in the track conditions. The petition was signed by a majority of drivers; it was later disregarded after it was unable to be sent to everyone in time and race officials had deemed the circuit safe to drive on after the rain tapered off before qualifying commenced. BAR's Jacques Villeneuve said the petition was detrimental to Formula One, "What would it bring to Formula One for us not to go and qualify? People would think that we are just a bunch of sissies. We can't do that. We are paid a whole lot of money and it would be an insult to the fans."