The 2003 Italian Grand Prix (officially known as the Gran Premio Vodafone d'Italia 2003) was a Formula One motor race that took place on 14 September 2003 at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza in Monza, Italy. It was the fourteenth round of the 2003 Formula One World Championship. Michael Schumacher took pole position for the race in the Ferrari and went on to take the race win, ahead of Juan Pablo Montoya for Williams and Rubens Barrichello in the other Ferrari.
With an average speed of , this race stood as the fastest-ever Formula One race for 22 years, until the 2025 Italian Grand Prix at Monza.
Background The event was held at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza for the 53rd time in the circuit's history, across the weekend of 12–14 September. The Grand Prix was the fourteenth round of the 2003 Formula One World Championship and the 54th running of the Italian Grand Prix as part of the Formula One World Championship.
Championship standings before the race Going into the weekend, Michael Schumacher led the Drivers' Championship with 72 points, 1 point ahead of Juan Pablo Montoya in second and 2 ahead of Kimi Räikkönen in third. Williams, with 129 points, led the Constructors' Championship for the first time since their title in 1997, from Ferrari and McLaren, who were second and third with 121 and 115 points, respectively.
Practice
Three free practice sessions were held for the event. Ferrari driver Rubens Barrichello set the fastest time in the first session, ahead of teammate Michael Schumacher and McLaren's Kimi Räikkönen, in second and third places respectively. In the second session, Schumacher was ahead of Barrichello, and David Coulthard was the McLaren in third. Juan Pablo Montoya led the third practice session in his Williams, ahead of Michael Schumacher and stand-in teammate Marc Gené.
Friday drivers Three teams in the 2003 Constructors' Championship had the right to run a third car on Friday's additional testing. These drivers did not compete in qualifying or the race.
Constructor Nat Driver Renault Allan McNish Jordan-Ford - Minardi-Cosworth Gianmaria Bruni
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.
Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Time Q2 Time Gap Grid 1 1 Michael Schumacher Ferrari1:21.268 1:20.963 1 2 3 Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW1:20.656 1:21.014 +0.051 2 3 2 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari1:20.784 1:21.242 +0.279 3 4 6 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes1:21.966 1:21.466 +0.503 4 5 4 Marc Gené Williams-BMW- 1:21.834 +0.871 5 6 7 Jarno Trulli Renault1:22.034 1:21.944 +0.981 6 7 17 Jenson Button BAR-Honda1:22.495 1:22.301 +1.338 7 8 5 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes1:23.154 1:22.471 +1.508 8 9 20 Olivier Panis Toyota1:22.372 1:22.488 +1.525 9 10 16 Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Honda1:22.858 1:22.717 +1.754 10 11 14 Mark Webber Jaguar-Cosworth1:21.966 1:22.754 +1.791 11 12 21 Cristiano da Matta Toyota1:21.829 1:22.914 +1.951 12 13 11 Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Ford1:24.179 1:22.992 +2.029 13 14 10 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Petronas1:22.203 1:23.216 +2.253 14 15 15 Justin Wilson Jaguar-Cosworth1:23.609 1:23.484 +2.521 15 16 9 Nick Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas1:22.547 1:23.803 +2.840 16 17 19 Jos Verstappen Minardi-CosworthNo Time 1:25.078 +4.115 17 18 12 Zsolt Baumgartner Jordan-Ford1:24.872 1:25.881 +4.918 18 19 18 Nicolas Kiesa Minardi-Cosworth1:26.299 1:26.778 +5.815 19 20 8 Fernando Alonso Renault1:22.103 1:40.405 +19.442 204 Ralf SchumacherWilliams-BMWNo time- Sources:
Notes - Earlier in September, Ralf Schumacher had crashed during a private test session at Monza. He was cleared by Formula One's race doctor Sid Watkins and participated in Friday testing and qualifying, but together with his team, the German decided to step back and let third driver Marc Gené stand in, ahead of the sessions on Saturday. - Jos Verstappen did not set a time in Q1 due to engine problems. - Fernando Alonso spun coming out of the first corner due to a problem with his traction control. - Ralf Schumacher initially set a lap time in Q1 (1:21.965), but his time was removed after cutting the first chicane on his flying lap.
Race The race was held on 13 September 2003 and was run for 53 laps.
Race report At the start, Michael Schumacher almost braked too late for the first chicane but was just able to make the first corner and hold on to his lead, ahead of Juan Pablo Montoya and Jarno Trulli, who had made a very fast start from sixth on the grid. The other Renault of Fernando Alonso hit the back of Justin Wilson, who had stalled on the grid. He lost his front wing but was able to continue after making a pit stop. Attempting a pass around the outside into the second chicane, Montoya got alongside and even momentarily ahead of Schumacher, but he was slower exiting the corner and came under pressure from Trulli behind him. The Renault, however, suddenly lost hydraulic pressure and Trulli was out of the race before the first lap was over.
Montoya remained close to Schumacher but never close enough to launch an attack. When Schumacher rejoined after his second pit stop, however, he saw a Williams going past. The Ferrari team, as well as the TV commentators, thought Schumacher had lost the lead, until they realized that it was the Williams of Marc Gené, who still had to pit. In the second half of the race, Montoya lost time due to backmarkers and finished more than five seconds behind Schumacher. Rubens Barrichello and Kimi Räikkönen had been fighting over third place, with the Ferrari driver holding on to take the last podium place. Gené by finishing 5th secured his first points finish since the 1999 European Grand Prix.
Post-race Michael Schumacher's first win since Canada saw him increasing his gap to Montoya to three points. Räikkönen was seven points behind in third. Ralf Schumacher's withdrawal from the race, coupled with the result, ended his chances of winning his first drivers' title as he was officially eliminated from championship contention alongside Barrichello and Alonso. Ferrari reduced the gap to Williams to four points in the Constructors' Championship; McLaren remained third with a 21-points-deficit to overcome heading into the last two races of the season.
Race classification Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 1 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 53 1:14:19.838 1 10 2 3 Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 53 +5.294 2 8 3 2 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 53 +11.835 3 6 4 6 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 53 +12.834 4 5 5 4 Marc Gené Williams-BMW 53 +27.891 5 4 6 16 Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Honda 52 +1 Lap 10 3 7 14 Mark Webber Jaguar-Cosworth 52 +1 Lap 11 2 8 8 Fernando Alonso Renault 52 +1 Lap 20 1 9 9 Nick Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas 52 +1 Lap 16 10 11 Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Ford 52 +1 Lap PL 11 12 Zsolt Baumgartner Jordan-Ford 51 +2 Laps 18 12 18 Nicolas Kiesa Minardi-Cosworth 51 +2 Laps 19 13 10 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Petronas 50 Transmission 14 5 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 45 Fuel pressure 8 20 Olivier Panis Toyota 35 Brakes 9 19 Jos Verstappen Minardi-Cosworth 27 Oil leak 17 17 Jenson Button BAR-Honda 24 Gearbox 7 21 Cristiano da Matta Toyota 3 Tyre/Spun off 12 15 Justin Wilson Jaguar-Cosworth 2 Gearbox 15 7 Jarno Trulli Renault 0 Hydraulics 6 Notes - Giancarlo Fisichella started the race from the pitlane.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings +/– Driver Points 1 Michael Schumacher* 82 2 Juan Pablo Montoya* 79 3 Kimi Räikkönen* 75 4 Ralf Schumacher 58 1 5 Rubens Barrichello 55Source:
Constructors' Championship standings +/– Constructor Points 1 Williams-BMW* 141 2 Ferrari* 137 3 McLaren-Mercedes* 120 4 Renault 79 5 BAR-Honda 18Source:
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Competitors in bold and marked with an asterisk still had a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.
References