The 2003 European Grand Prix (formally the 2003 Allianz Grand Prix of Europe) was a Formula One motor race held on 29 June 2003 at the Nürburgring, Nürburg, Germany. It was the ninth race of the 2003 Formula One season. The 60-lap race was won Ralf Schumacher driving in a Williams car. Juan Pablo Montoya, also driving for Williams finished second, with Rubens Barrichello third in a Ferrari.

Race report

Approximately 123,000 people attended the race. For 25 laps of the European Grand Prix, Kimi Räikkönen looked set to win from his first pole position and regain his championship lead. Then his McLaren’s Mercedes engine broke down and instead it was Ralf Schumacher who came through to score his first win of the year.

Having taken pole, Räikkönen soon built a lead over Ralf Schumacher. He was nine seconds clear when he made his first refuelling stop on the 16th lap, with Michael Schumacher another ten seconds further back. Ralf led briefly for Williams and ran until lap 21 before pitting, but this was still insufficient to keep Räikkönen out of the lead. Ralf Schumacher was still 4.8 seconds behind when Räikkönen's Mercedes engine blew up, making him the first retirement of the race.

On the 43rd lap Juan Pablo Montoya and Michael Schumacher collided while fighting for second place. Montoya had gradually reeled in Schumacher until they were side-by-side on the rundown to the Dunlop Kurve. Schumacher ran up the kerb and tagged Montoya’s Williams as it passed the German's Ferrari for second place. As Schumacher spun and sat stranded, his Ferrari’s rear wheels spinning in the gravel, Montoya continued. By the time three marshals and fireman pushed the Ferrari from its dangerous spot on the corner’s apex, Schumacher was down to sixth.

“Michael was quick on the straights, but in the corners he was very slow,” said Montoya. “He was on the inside and I was on the outside. I thought I gave him plenty of room. I wasn’t going to give him all the track, but I thought it was all right.”

Schumacher agreed that Montoya had given him enough room and after a stewards’ enquiry, no action was taken. Ferrari’s Ross Brawn was not content with the situation, but Williams technical director Patrick Head remarked that, had Montoya been penalised, it would effectively have been a declaration that overtaking was no longer allowed in Formula One racing.

Then, on the 57th lap, McLaren's David Coulthard suddenly had to swerve around Fernando Alonso approaching the chicane, and spun into retirement. “Alonso braked ten metres earlier than he had the lap before,” said Coulthard. “He was dealing inconsistently with problems, as his rear tyres looked completely worn out. But I just got caught out.” The Spaniard continued, and was very nearly caught on the final lap by the recovering world champion. The stewards investigated the incident after a report was filed to them by the FIA race director Charlie Whiting. They spoke to both Alonso and Coulthard and members of their respective teams. After a review of telemetry and video data, no driver was imposed a penalty.

Classification

Qualifying Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Time Q2 Time Gap Grid 1 6 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 1:29.989 1:31.523 1 2 1 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:30.353 1:31.555 +0.032 2 3 4 Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW 1:30.522 1:31.619 +0.096 3 4 3 Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 1:30.378 1:31.765 +0.242 4 5 2 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 1:30.842 1:31.780 +0.257 5 6 7 Jarno Trulli Renault 1:31.143 1:31.976 +0.453 6 7 20 Olivier Panis Toyota 1:57.327 1:32.350 +0.827 7 8 8 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:31.533 1:32.424 +0.901 8 9 5 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:30.903 1:32.742 +1.219 9 10 21 Cristiano da Matta Toyota No time 1:32.949 +1.426 10 11 14 Mark Webber Jaguar-Cosworth 1:35.972 1:33.066 +1.543 11 12 17 Jenson Button BAR-Honda 1:32.479 1:33.395 +1.872 12 13 11 Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Ford 1:32.196 1:33.553 +2.030 13 14 12 Ralph Firman Jordan-Ford 1:53.893 1:33.827 +2.304 14 15 10 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Petronas 1:32.201 1:34.000 +2.477 15 16 15 Antônio Pizzonia Jaguar-Cosworth 1:57.435 1:34.159 +2.636 16 17 16 Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Honda No time 1:34.596 +3.073 17 18 19 Jos Verstappen Minardi-Cosworth 1:55.921 1:36.318 +4.795 18 19 18 Justin Wilson Minardi-Cosworth 1:54.546 1:36.485 +4.962 19 20 9 Nick Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas 1:52.300 No time 20Sources: Notes – Cristiano da Matta was left without time in Q1 after spinning off the track and abandoning the attempt. – Jacques Villeneuve was left without a time in Q1 after driving off the track. – Nick Heidfeld was left without a time in Q2 after spinning in the first corner.

Race Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 4 Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW 60 1:34:43.622 3 10 2 3 Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 60 +16.821 4 8 3 2 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 60 +39.673 5 6 4 8 Fernando Alonso Renault 60 +1:05.731 8 5 5 1 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 60 +1:06.162 2 4 6 14 Mark Webber Jaguar-Cosworth 59 +1 Lap 11 3 7 17 Jenson Button BAR-Honda 59 +1 Lap 12 2 8 9 Nick Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas 59 +1 Lap 1 9 10 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Petronas 59 +1 Lap 15   10 15 Antônio Pizzonia Jaguar-Cosworth 59 +1 Lap 16   11 12 Ralph Firman Jordan-Ford 58 +2 Laps 14   12 11 Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Ford 58 +2 Laps 13   13 18 Justin Wilson Minardi-Cosworth 58 +2 Laps 19   14 19 Jos Verstappen Minardi-Cosworth 57 +3 Laps 18   15 5 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 56 Spun off 9   21 Cristiano da Matta Toyota 53 Engine 10   16 Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Honda 51 Gearbox 17   7 Jarno Trulli Renault 37 Fuel pressure 6   20 Olivier Panis Toyota 37 Brakes 7   6 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 25 Engine 1   Notes – Nick Heidfeld started the race from the pitlane.

Championship standings after the race It was the first time this season that the top two in the World Championship would fail to score a podium in the same race. However, Michael Schumacher was still able to increase his points advantage towards Räikkönen to seven points following the latter's retirement. Both Ralf Schumacher and Montoya were able to leapfrog Alonso in the standings by advancing one position each, trailing championship leader Michael Schumacher by fifteen and nineteen points, respectively. Williams’ haul of points from a race in which McLaren went home with none moved them up into second place in the constructors’ championship. Sir Frank Williams was careful to play down talk of a championship challenge for his team. But with Ferrari only 13 points ahead, everyone within the team believed that they had a chance of challenging before the season was over.

Drivers' Championship standings +/– Driver Points 1 Michael Schumacher 58 2 Kimi Räikkönen 51 1 3 Ralf Schumacher 43 1 4 Juan Pablo Montoya 39 2 5 Fernando Alonso 39Source:

Constructors' Championship standings +/– Constructor Points 1 Ferrari 95 1 2 Williams-BMW 82 1 3 McLaren-Mercedes 76 4 Renault 52 1 5 BAR-Honda 13Source:

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

References