The 2003 Canadian Grand Prix (officially known as the Grand Prix Air Canada 2003) was a Formula One motor race that took place on 15 June 2003 at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Quebec. It was the eighth round of the 2003 Formula One World Championship.

Ralf Schumacher of BMW Williams took pole position for the race. His brother, World Champion Michael Schumacher, won the race, despite nursing an ailing car, ahead of Ralf and Juan Pablo Montoya in the other Williams.

This was the fourth time that the Schumacher brothers finished 1-2, having become the first siblings to do so at the 2001 Canadian Grand Prix.

Background The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal hosted the Canadian Grand Prix for the 25th time in the circuit's history, across the weekend of 13–15 June. The Grand Prix was the eighth round of the 2003 Formula One World Championship and the 35th running of the Canadian Grand Prix as a round of the Formula One World Championship.

Championship standings before the race Going into the weekend, McLaren driver Kimi Räikkönen led the Drivers' Championship with 48 points, ahead of Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher on 44 and Renault's Fernando Alonso on 29 points. In the Constructors' Championship, McLaren were leading with 73 points and Ferrari were second on 71 points, with BMW Williams third on 50 points.

Practice Three free practice sessions were held for the event. Jaguar driver Antônio Pizzonia set the fastest time in the first session, six tenths of a second quicker than Juan Pablo Montoya and Michael Schumacher, in second and third places respectively. The second session was topped by Rubens Barrichello in the Ferrari ahead of Michael Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve in the BAR. Finally, the Ferraris of Schumacher and Barrichello led the third practice session, ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella in the Jordan.

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 second consecutive pole position, nearly four tenths ahead of teammate Juan Pablo Montoya and Michael Schumacher.

Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Time Q2 Time Gap Grid 1 4 Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW 1:38.210 1:15.529 1 2 3 Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 1:37.479 1:15.923 +0.394 2 3 1 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:31.969 1:16.047 +0.518 3 4 8 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:35.173 1:16.048 +0.519 4 5 2 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 1:30.925 1:16.143 +0.614 5 6 14 Mark Webber Jaguar-Cosworth 1:36.699 1:16.182 +0.653 6 7 20 Olivier Panis Toyota 1:37.313 1:16.598 +1.069 7 8 7 Jarno Trulli Renault 1:41.413 1:16.718 +1.189 8 9 21 Cristiano da Matta Toyota 1:38.244 1:16.826 +1.297 9 10 10 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Petronas 1:35.776 1:16.939 +1.410 10 11 5 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:36.463 1:17.024 +1.495 11 12 9 Nick Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas 1:32.778 1:17.086 +1.557 12 13 15 Antônio Pizzonia Jaguar-Cosworth 1:38.255 1:17.337 +1.808 13 14 16 Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Honda 1:44.702 1:17.347 +1.818 14 15 19 Jos Verstappen Minardi-Cosworth 1:37.426 1:18.014 +2.485 15 16 11 Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Ford 1:38.617 1:18.036 +2.507 16 17 17 Jenson Button BAR-Honda 1:38.109 1:18.205 +2.676 17 18 18 Justin Wilson Minardi-Cosworth 1:38.088 1:18.560 +3.031 18 19 12 Ralph Firman Jordan-Ford 1:34.759 1:18.692 +3.163 19 20 6 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 1:35.373 No time +19.844 20 Sources: Notes – Kimi Räikkönen spun off at the second corner and did not set a time in Q2.

Race The race was held on 15 June 2003 and was run for 70 laps.

Race report At the start, Ralf Schumacher got away well and kept the lead. Michael Schumacher managed to come alongside of Juan Pablo Montoya, but the Colombian left his braking late and held on along the outside of the corner. Rubens Barrichello in fifth hit the back of Fernando Alonso before Antônio Pizzonia ran into the other Renault of Jarno Trulli. Barrichello and Pizzonia visited the pits for new front wings. At the end of the second lap, Montoya suddenly spun coming out of the final corner. He fell back to fifth position and after the race, admitted it was his own fault.

Montoya recovered quickly by passing Webber and Alonso, before the Williams driver opened the first round of regular pit stops on lap 19. Ralf Schumacher pitted on lap 20, leaving Michael in free air, who immediately set the fastest lap and managed to rejoin the track in what would be the lead after Alonso's stop on lap 26.

After the second round of pit stops, Michael Schumacher slowed down to save his tyres and brakes, which allowed Montoya to close up to him and Ralf, before Alonso joined the leading pack with five laps to go. Barrichello and Räikkönen had come up through the field and were fighting for fifth place. But however close the cars seemed to be, none of them managed to make a move and Michael Schumacher scored his fourth victory of the year, ahead of Ralf Schumacher, scoring just his first podium this season, and Juan Pablo Montoya.

Post-race Michael Schumacher's fourth win in the last five races elevated him to the lead of the World Drivers' Championship for the first time this season, distancing Räikkönen by three points who fell to second. While Alonso remained third with 34 points, Ralf Schumacher's podium finish enabled him to improve from seventh to fourth in the championship ahead of teammate Montoya, just one behind Alonso. In the World Constructors' Championship, another change of lead occurred in favour of Ferrari, nine clear of McLaren, while Williams remained in third with a 21-point-deficit towards Ferrari.

Race classification Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 1 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 70 1:31:13.591 3 10 2 4 Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW 70 +0.784 1 8 3 3 Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 70 +1.355 2 6 4 8 Fernando Alonso Renault 70 +4.481 4 5 5 2 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 70 +1:04.261 5 4 6 6 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 70 +1:10.502 3 7 14 Mark Webber Jaguar-Cosworth 69 +1 Lap 6 2 8 20 Olivier Panis Toyota 69 +1 Lap 7 1 9 19 Jos Verstappen Minardi-Cosworth 68 +2 Laps 15   10 15 Antônio Pizzonia Jaguar-Cosworth 66 Brakes 13   11 21 Cristiano da Matta Toyota 64 Suspension 9   18 Justin Wilson Minardi-Cosworth 60 Gearbox 18   17 Jenson Button BAR-Honda 51 Gearbox 17   5 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 47 Gearbox 11   9 Nick Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas 47 Engine 12   7 Jarno Trulli Renault 22 Collision damage 8   11 Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Ford 20 Gearbox 16   12 Ralph Firman Jordan-Ford 20 Engine   16 Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Honda 14 Brakes 14   10 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Petronas 6 Electronics 10   Notes – Kimi Räikkönen and Ralph Firman started from the pit lane.

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings +/– Driver Points 1 1 Michael Schumacher 54 1 2 Kimi Räikkönen 51 3 Fernando Alonso 34 3 4 Ralf Schumacher 33 5 Juan Pablo Montoya 31Source:

Constructors' Championship standings +/– Constructor Points 1 1 Ferrari 85 1 2 McLaren-Mercedes 76 3 Williams-BMW 64 4 Renault 47 5 Jordan-Ford 11Source:

Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References