The 2003 French Grand Prix (officially known as the Mobil 1 Grand Prix de France 2003) was a Formula One motor race that took place on 6 July 2003 at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours. It was the tenth round of the 2003 Formula One World Championship.
Ralf Schumacher of BMW Williams took pole position for the race and went on to take the race win. His teammate Juan Pablo Montoya finished second and his brother Michael Schumacher, driving for Ferrari, was third.
This was Ralf's second consecutive victory but it would turn out to be his last in Formula One. As of , this is also the last 1–2 finish for Williams.
Background The event was held at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours in Magny-Cours, France for the 13th time in the circuit's history, across the weekend of 4–6 July 2003. The Grand Prix was the tenth round of the 2003 Formula One World Championship and the 53rd running of the French Grand Prix as a round of the Formula One World Championship.
Circuit changes
Earlier in the year, the circuit was upgraded. Château d'Eau a sharper right hand corner and the Lycée section were completely modified, now featuring a sharp right hand turn after the back straight, which then leads to a difficult final chicane next to the pit entrance. The pit lane was significantly shortened as a result of the upgrades.
Championship standings before the race Going into the weekend, Michael Schumacher led the Drivers' Championship with 58 points, seven points ahead of Kimi Räikkönen in second and fifteen ahead of his brother Ralf Schumacher in third. Ferrari, with 95 points, led the Constructors' Championship from BMW Williams and McLaren, who were second and third with 82 and 76, respectively.
Practice Three free practice sessions were held for the event. Jaguar driver Mark Webber set the fastest time in the first session, more than a second quicker than Ralf Schumacher and Fernando Alonso, in second and third places respectively. The second session was topped by Alonso in the Renault ahead of Rubens Barrichello and Ralf Schumacher. Finally, the Williamses of Ralf Schumacher and Juan-Pablo Montoya led the third practice session, ahead of David Coulthard in third.
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.
Qualifying report Courtesy of a drying track, Jos Verstappen ended up quickest in the first qualifying session, almost three seconds ahead of anyone else. This was the only time a Minardi topped the timesheets at a race weekend. His teammate Justin Wilson had set the second-fastest time but it was deleted after scrutineering found his car was underweight.
Normal service resumed in second qualifying on a dry track, in which Williams teammates Ralf Schumacher and Juan-Pablo Montoya clinched the first row on the grid. It was Schumacher's third pole position in four races.
Qualifying classification Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Time Q2 Time Gap Grid 1 4 Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW 1:29.327 1:15.019 1 2 3 Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 1:28.988 1:15.136 +0.117 2 3 1 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:27.929 1:15.480 +0.461 3 4 6 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 1:29.120 1:15.533 +0.514 4 5 5 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:28.937 1:15.628 +0.609 5 6 7 Jarno Trulli Renault 1:29.024 1:15.967 +0.948 6 7 8 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:29.455 1:16.087 +1.068 7 8 2 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 1:27.095 1:16.166 +1.147 8 9 14 Mark Webber Jaguar-Cosworth 1:25.178 1:16.308 +1.289 9 10 20 Olivier Panis Toyota 1:24.175 1:16.345 +1.326 10 11 15 Antônio Pizzonia Jaguar-Cosworth 1:24.642 1:16.965 +1.946 11 12 16 Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Honda 1:24.651 1:16.990 +1.971 12 13 21 Cristiano da Matta Toyota 1:26.975 1:17.068 +2.049 13 14 17 Jenson Button BAR-Honda 1:30.371 1:17.077 +2.058 14 15 9 Nick Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas 1:24.042 1:17.445 +2.426 15 16 10 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Petronas 1:26.151 1:17.562 +2.543 16 17 11 Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Ford 1:28.502 1:18.431 +3.412 17 18 12 Ralph Firman Jordan-Ford 1:23.496 1:18.514 +3.495 18 19 19 Jos Verstappen Minardi-Cosworth 1:20.817 1:18.709 +3.690 19 20 18 Justin Wilson Minardi-Cosworth 1:20.968 1:19.619 +4.600 20 Sources: Notes – Justin Wilson drove a time of 1:20.968 but his time was removed because his car was underweight.
Race The race was held on 6 July 2003 and was run for 70 laps.
Race report At the start, the Williamses of Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya kept their places in front, while Kimi Räikkönen managed to get by Michael Schumacher for third position. The German was also challenged by the second McLaren of David Coulthard but stood his ground. His teammate Rubens Barrichello was running eighth at the end of the first lap when he spun his Ferrari coming out of the newly designed final corner.
Ralf Schumacher took full advantage of running in clear air and stretched his lead to four seconds in ten laps. After the first round of pit stops, this was up to seven seconds. Coulthard had stopped earlier than his rivals and managed to jump Michael Schumacher. There were little changes in position up to and including the second round of pit stops. Afterwards, however, both the Renaults suddenly retired. Fernando Alonso's engine expired in a big cloud of smoke on lap 43 and Jarno Trulli pulled off with engine failure three laps later.
During the third round of stops, Ralf Schumacher was held up by backmarkers, but still rejoined ahead of his teammate and then steadily extended his lead to up to ten seconds at the finish. Coulthard left his box when the fuel hose was still attached to his McLaren. He left no one injured but lost a lot of time. This left third place open to Michael Schumacher, who passed Räikkönen when the Finn was suffering from issues with his rear brakes.
Post-race Michael Schumacher's lead in the World Drivers' Championship slightly increased to eight points, while his brother Ralf remained third, reducing his deficit to just eleven points. Fourth-placed Montoya was only 17 points behind Schumacher. Following their second consecutive one–two finish, Williams narrowed the gap to Ferrari to three points, while McLaren was another 18 points behind Ferrari in third.
Race classification Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 4 Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW 70 1:30:49.213 1 10 2 3 Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 70 +13.813 2 8 3 1 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 70 +19.568 3 6 4 6 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 70 +38.047 4 5 5 5 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 70 +40.289 5 4 6 14 Mark Webber Jaguar-Cosworth 70 +1:06.380 9 3 7 2 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 69 +1 lap 8 2 8 20 Olivier Panis Toyota 69 +1 lap 10 1 9 16 Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Honda 69 +1 lap 12 10 15 Antônio Pizzonia Jaguar-Cosworth 69 +1 lap 11 11 21 Cristiano da Matta Toyota 69 +1 lap 13 12 10 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Petronas 68 +2 laps 16 13 9 Nick Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas 68 +2 laps 15 14 18 Justin Wilson Minardi-Cosworth 67 +3 laps 20 15 12 Ralph Firman Jordan-Ford 67 +3 laps 18 16 19 Jos Verstappen Minardi-Cosworth 66 +4 laps 19 7 Jarno Trulli Renault 45 Engine 6 8 Fernando Alonso Renault 43 Engine 7 11 Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Ford 42 Engine 17 17 Jenson Button BAR-Honda 21 Out of fuel 14
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings +/– Driver Points 1 Michael Schumacher 64 2 Kimi Räikkönen 56 3 Ralf Schumacher 53 4 Juan Pablo Montoya 47 1 5 Rubens Barrichello 39Source:
Constructors' Championship standings +/– Constructor Points 1 Ferrari 103 2 Williams-BMW 100 3 McLaren-Mercedes 85 4 Renault 52 5 BAR-Honda 13Source:
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References
External links
Comments on 2003 French GP