2003 Canadian Grand Prix

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2003 Canadian Grand Prix
Race 8 of 16 in the 2003 Formula One World Championship
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Race details
Date 15 June 2003
Official name Grand Prix Air Canada 2003
Location Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Course Street circuit
Course length 4.361 km (2.710 miles)
Distance 70 laps, 305.270 km (189.686 miles)
Weather Partly cloudy and mild with temperatures reaching a maximum of 19.3 °C (66.7 °F)
Wind speeds up to 12.9 km/h (8.0 mph)[1]
Track 32 °C (90 °F)[2]
Attendance 112,000[3]
Pole position
Driver
Williams-BMW
Time 1:15.529
Fastest lap
Driver Spain Fernando Alonso Renault
Time 1:16.040 on lap 53
Podium
First
Ferrari
Second
Williams-BMW
Third
Williams-BMW
Lap leaders

The 2003 Canadian Grand Prix (officially known as the Grand Prix Air Canada 2003)[4] 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

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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.[5][6]

Championship standings before the race

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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.[7]

Practice

[edit]

Three free practice sessions were held for the event.[8][9] 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.[10][11] The second session was topped by Rubens Barrichello in the Ferrari ahead of Michael Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve in the BAR.[12] Finally, the Ferraris of Schumacher and Barrichello led the third practice session, ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella in the Jordan.[13][14]

Qualifying

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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.[8][15]

Ralf Schumacher scored his second consecutive pole position, nearly four tenths ahead of teammate Juan Pablo Montoya and Michael Schumacher.[16]

Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Time Q2 Time Gap
1 4 Germany Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW 1:38.210 1:15.529
2 3 Colombia Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 1:37.479 1:15.923 +0.394
3 1 Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:31.969 1:16.047 +0.518
4 8 Spain Fernando Alonso Renault 1:35.173 1:16.048 +0.519
5 2 Brazil Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 1:30.925 1:16.143 +0.614
6 14 Australia Mark Webber Jaguar-Cosworth 1:36.699 1:16.182 +0.653
7 20 France Olivier Panis Toyota 1:37.313 1:16.598 +1.069
8 7 Italy Jarno Trulli Renault 1:41.413 1:16.718 +1.189
9 21 Brazil Cristiano da Matta Toyota 1:38.244 1:16.826 +1.297
10 10 Germany Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Petronas 1:35.776 1:16.939 +1.410
11 5 United Kingdom David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:36.463 1:17.024 +1.495
12 9 Germany Nick Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas 1:32.778 1:17.086 +1.557
13 15 Brazil Antônio Pizzonia Jaguar-Cosworth 1:38.255 1:17.337 +1.808
14 16 Canada Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Honda 1:44.702 1:17.347 +1.818
15 19 Netherlands Jos Verstappen Minardi-Cosworth 1:37.426 1:18.014 +2.485
16 11 Italy Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Ford 1:38.617 1:18.036 +2.507
17 17 United Kingdom Jenson Button BAR-Honda 1:38.109 1:18.205 +2.676
18 18 United Kingdom Justin Wilson Minardi-Cosworth 1:38.088 1:18.560 +3.031
19 12 Republic of Ireland Ralph Firman Jordan-Ford 1:34.759 1:18.692 +3.163
20 6 Finland Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 1:35.373 No time1 +19.844
Sources:[17][18][19]

Notes

  • ^1 – Kimi Räikkönen spun off at the second corner and did not set a time in Q2.[20]

Race

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The race was held on 15 June 2003 and was run for 70 laps.[21][22]

Race report

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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.[20][22][23]

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.[20][22][23]

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 how ever 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.[20][22][23]

Race classification

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Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 1 Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari 70 1:31:13.591 3 10
2 4 Germany Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW 70 +0.784 1 8
3 3 Colombia Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 70 +1.355 2 6
4 8 Spain Fernando Alonso Renault 70 +4.481 4 5
5 2 Brazil Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 70 +1:04.261 5 4
6 6 Finland Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 70 +1:10.502 PL2 3
7 14 Australia Mark Webber Jaguar-Cosworth 69 +1 Lap 6 2
8 20 France Olivier Panis Toyota 69 +1 Lap 7 1
9 19 Netherlands Jos Verstappen Minardi-Cosworth 68 +2 Laps 15  
10 15 Brazil Antônio Pizzonia Jaguar-Cosworth 66 Brakes 13  
11 21 Brazil Cristiano da Matta Toyota 64 Suspension 9  
Ret 18 United Kingdom Justin Wilson Minardi-Cosworth 60 Gearbox 18  
Ret 17 United Kingdom Jenson Button BAR-Honda 51 Gearbox 17  
Ret 5 United Kingdom David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 47 Gearbox 11  
Ret 9 Germany Nick Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas 47 Engine 12  
Ret 7 Italy Jarno Trulli Renault 22 Collision damage 8  
Ret 11 Italy Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Ford 20 Gearbox 16  
Ret 12 Republic of Ireland Ralph Firman Jordan-Ford 20 Engine PL2  
Ret 16 Canada Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Honda 14 Brakes 14  
Ret 10 Germany Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Petronas 6 Electronics 10  
Source:[24]

Notes

Championship standings after the race

[edit]
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Weather information for the "2003 Canadian Grand Prix"". The Old Farmers' Almanac. Retrieved 2018-09-06.
  2. ^ F1 Racing. July 2003.
  3. ^ F1 Racing. July 2003.
  4. ^ "Canada". Formula1.com. Retrieved 28 July 2025.
  5. ^ "Grands Prix Spain". StatsF1. Retrieved 2 August 2025.
  6. ^ "2003 F1 calendar". BBC Sport. 14 January 2003. Retrieved 2 August 2025.
  7. ^ "Drivers' and Constructors' Provisional Standings". Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. Archived from the original on 2 June 2002. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
  8. ^ a b Domenjoz, Luc, ed. (2003). "Sporting regulations". Formula 1 Yearbook 2003–04. Bath, Somerset: Parragon. pp. 220–221. ISBN 978-1-4054-2089-1 – via Internet Archive.
  9. ^ "2003 Canadian Grand Prix - Results and Reports". NewsOnF1.com. Retrieved 1 August 2025.
  10. ^ "2003 Canadian Grand Prix - Friday Practice Session Results". NewsOnF1.com. Retrieved 1 August 2025.
  11. ^ "GRAND PRIX AIR CANADA 2003 - PRACTICE 1". Formula1.com. Retrieved 1 August 2025.
  12. ^ "2003 Canadian Grand Prix - First Saturday Practice Session Results". NewsOnF1.com. Retrieved 1 August 2025.
  13. ^ "2003 Canadian Grand Prix - Second Saturday Practice Session Results". NewsOnF1.com. Retrieved 1 August 2025.
  14. ^ "GRAND PRIX AIR CANADA 2003 - PRACTICE 2". Formula1.com. Retrieved 1 August 2025.
  15. ^ "Deciding the grid - A history of F1 qualifying formats". formula1.com. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  16. ^ "Ralf claims Canadian GP pole". ABC News. 14 June 2003. Retrieved 2 August 2025.
  17. ^ "2003 Canadian GP – 1st Qualification". ChicaneF1. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
  18. ^ "2003 Canadian GP – 2nd Qualification". ChicaneF1. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
  19. ^ "2003 Canadian Grand Prix Classification Grid". Motorsport Stats. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
  20. ^ a b c d e Elizalde, Pablo (18 June 2003). "The 2003 Canadian GP Review". AtlasF1.com. Spain. Retrieved 1 August 2025.
  21. ^ "2003 Canadian Grand Prix". MotorsportMagazine. Retrieved 1 August 2025.
  22. ^ a b c d "8. Canada 2003". StatsF1.com. Retrieved 1 August 2025.
  23. ^ a b c Petric, Darjan (15 June 2022). "2003 Canadian GP – Michael beats faster Williams drivers, first fastest lap for Alonso". MaxF1. Retrieved 1 August 2025.
  24. ^ "2003 Canadian Grand Prix". Formula1.com. Formula1.com Limited. Retrieved 11 August 2018.
  25. ^ a b "Canada 2003 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 14 March 2019.


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