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2003 German Grand Prix

2003 German Grand Prix
Race 12 of 16 in the 2003 Formula One World Championship
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Race details
Date 3 August 2003
Official name Grosser Mobil 1 Preis von Deutschland 2003
Location Hockenheimring, Hockenheim, Germany
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 4.574 km (2.842 miles)
Distance 67 laps, 306.458 km (190.424 miles)
Weather Sunny and warm, Track: 50 °C (122 °F)
Pole position
Driver
Williams-BMW
Time 1:15.167
Fastest lap
Driver Colombia Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW
Time 1:14.917 on lap 14
Podium
First
Williams-BMW
Second
McLaren-Mercedes
Third
Renault
Lap leaders

The 2003 German Grand Prix (officially known as the Grosser Mobil 1 Preis von Deutschland 2003) was a Formula One motor race that took place on 3 August 2003 at the Hockenheimring in Hockenheim, Germany. It was the twelfth round of the 2003 Formula One World Championship. Juan Pablo Montoya took pole position for the race in the BMW Williams and went on to take the race win, ahead of David Coulthard for McLaren and Jarno Trulli for Renault.

Background

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The event was held at the Hockenheimring in Hockenheim for the 27th time in the circuit's history, across the weekend of 1-3 August. The Grand Prix was the twelfth round of the 2003 Formula One World Championship and the 56th running of the German Grand Prix as part of the Formula One World Championship.[1][2]

Championship standings before the race

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Going into the weekend, Michael Schumacher led the Drivers' Championship with 69 points, 7 points ahead of Kimi Räikkönen in second and 14 ahead of Juan Pablo Montoya in third.[3] Ferrari, with 118 points, led the Constructors' Championship from BMW Williams and McLaren, who were second and third with 108 and 95 points, respectively.[3]

Driver changes

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After a string of disappointing results, Antônio Pizzonia was dropped by the Jaguar team. They hired Minardi driver Justin Wilson to replace him, with the Italian team attracting Formula 3000 driver Nicolas Kiesa to complete their line-up.[4][5] Pizzonia would return to Formula One in 2004 as a test driver for Williams.[6]

Practice

[edit]

Three free practice sessions were held for the event.[7][8] McLaren driver David Coulthard set the fastest time in the first session, ahead of the Renaults of Jarno Trulli and Fernando Alonso, in second and third places respectively.[9][10] The second session was topped by Juan Pablo Montoya in the BMW Williams, ahead of Rubens Barrichello and Ralf Schumacher.[11][12] The same three led the third practice session, but now in the order Schumacher, Barrichello, Montoya.[13][14]

Friday drivers

[edit]

Three teams in the 2003 Constructors' Championship had the right to run a third car during an additional private testing session on Friday. These drivers did not compete in qualifying or the race.[7]

Constructor Nat Driver
Renault United Kingdom Allan McNish
Jordan-Ford Hungary Zsolt Baumgartner
Minardi-Cosworth Italy Gianmaria Bruni

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.[7][15]

Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Time Q2 Time Gap
1 3 Colombia Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 1:14.673 1:15.167 —
2 4 Germany Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW 1:14.427 1:15.185 +0.018
3 2 Brazil Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 1:15.399 1:15.488 +0.321
4 7 Italy Jarno Trulli Renault 1:15.004 1:15.679 +0.512
5 6 Finland Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 1:15.276 1:15.874 +0.707
6 1 Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:15.456 1:15.898 +0.731
7 20 France Olivier Panis Toyota 1:15.471 1:16.034 +0.867
8 8 Spain Fernando Alonso Renault 1:15.214 1:16.483 +1.316
9 21 Brazil Cristiano da Matta Toyota 1:16.450 1:16.550 +1.383
10 5 United Kingdom David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:15.557 1:16.666 +1.499
11 14 Australia Mark Webber Jaguar-Cosworth 1:15.030 1:16.775 +1.608
12 11 Italy Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Ford 1:17.111 1:16.831 +1.664
13 16 Canada Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Honda No time1 1:17.090 +1.923
14 10 Germany Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Petronas 1:15.968 1:17.169 +2.002
15 9 Germany Nick Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas 1:15.985 1:17.557 +2.390
16 15 United Kingdom Justin Wilson Jaguar-Cosworth 1:15.373 1:18.021 +2.854
17 17 United Kingdom Jenson Button BAR-Honda 1:15.754 1:18.085 +2.918
18 12 Republic of Ireland Ralph Firman Jordan-Ford 1:17.044 1:18.341 +3.174
19 19 Netherlands Jos Verstappen Minardi-Cosworth 1:17.702 1:19.023 +3.856
20 18 Denmark Nicolas Kiesa Minardi-Cosworth No time2 1:19.174 +4.007
Sources:[16][17][18]

Notes

  • ^1 – Jacques Villeneuve was left without time in Q1 after spinning off the track and abandoning the attempt.[19]
  • ^2 – Nicolas Kiesa was left without a time in Q1, due to an anti-stall system issue in the car.[19]

Race

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The race was held on 3 August 2003 and was run for 67 laps.[1][20]

Race report

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Kimi Räikkönen and Ralph Firman were among the six drivers that retired on the first lap.
Juan Pablo Montoya wins the Grand Prix.

At the start, Juan Pablo Montoya kept his lead but teammate Ralf Schumacher with a bad start was under threat from Rubens Barrichello and Kimi Räikkönen. The German moved to the left and, knowingly or not, squeezed his rivals. The two collided and crashed out of the race, before Schumacher retired at the end of the lap with damage to his sidepod. In a reaction to the frontrunners braking, Heinz-Harald Frentzen was hit from behind by Ralph Firman and Jacques Villeneuve was spun by Justin Wilson. Wilson and Firman then collided to complete the mayhem.[19][21][22]

The safety car was deployed to clear the track and after four laps the race resumed. Montoya was leading the Renaults of Jarno Trulli and Fernando Alonso. After the first round of pit stops, Montoya had stretched his lead to over twelve seconds, despite experiencing issues with his throttle. Michael Schumacher overtook Alonso on lap 30, but the pack was now more than 20 seconds behind the leader. After two more rounds of pit stops, Schumacher also passed Trulli, but with four laps to go, his rear left tyre burst and he retreated to the pits for a replacement. Montoya won the race, over a minute ahead of tenth-starting David Coulthard in second and Trulli in third. The Italian was treated by the doctors for suffering a heat stroke.[23][24]

This was Montoya's second win, Coulthard's second podium and Trulli's first podium of the season. With Olivier Panis and Cristiano da Matta finishing fifth and sixth, respectively, this was Toyota's first double points finish. Finally, it was Michael Schumacher's worst race since his retirement in Brazil, decreasing his lead in the Drivers' Championship to just six points over Montoya.[19][22]

Race classification

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Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 3 Colombia Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 67 1:28:48.769 1 10
2 5 United Kingdom David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 67 +1:05.459 10 8
3 7 Italy Jarno Trulli Renault 67 +1:09.060 4 6
4 8 Spain Fernando Alonso Renault 67 +1:09.344 8 5
5 20 France Olivier Panis Toyota 66 +1 Lap 7 4
6 21 Brazil Cristiano da Matta Toyota 66 +1 Lap 9 3
7 1 Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari 66 +1 Lap 6 2
8 17 United Kingdom Jenson Button BAR-Honda 66 +1 Lap 17 1
9 16 Canada Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Honda 65 +2 Laps 13  
10 9 Germany Nick Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas 65 +2 Laps 15  
11 14 Australia Mark Webber Jaguar-Cosworth 64 Accident 11  
12 18 Denmark Nicolas Kiesa Minardi-Cosworth 62 +5 Laps 20  
13 11 Italy Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Ford 60 Engine 12  
Ret 19 Netherlands Jos Verstappen Minardi-Cosworth 23 Hydraulics 19  
Ret 15 United Kingdom Justin Wilson Jaguar-Cosworth 6 Gearbox 16  
Ret 4 Germany Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW 1 Collision damage 2  
Ret 10 Germany Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Petronas 1 Collision damage 14  
Ret 2 Brazil Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 0 Collision 3  
Ret 6 Finland Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 0 Collision 5  
Ret 12 Republic of Ireland Ralph Firman Jordan-Ford 0 Collision 18  
Source:[25]

Championship standings after the race

[edit]
  • Bold text and an asterisk indicates who still has a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "2003 German Grand Prix". MotorsportMagazine. Retrieved 6 August 2025.
  2. ^ "Grands Prix Germany". StatsF1. Retrieved 10 August 2025.
  3. ^ a b Jones, Bruce (2004). "Final Tables 2003". The Official ITV Sport Guide: 2004 FIA Formula One World Championship. Carlton Books. pp. 100–101. ISBN 1-84442-811-7 – via Internet Archive.
  4. ^ "Wilson moves to Jaguar". BBC Sport. 21 July 2003. Archived from the original on 3 June 2004. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  5. ^ Rowlinson, Anthony (31 July 2003). "Wilson now a big cat after night prowl". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 21 October 2019. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
  6. ^ "Pizzonia confirmed at Williams". Autosport. 10 February 2004. Retrieved 10 August 2025.
  7. ^ a b c 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.
  8. ^ "2003 German Grand Prix - Results and Reports". NewsOnF1.com. Retrieved 6 August 2025.
  9. ^ "2003 German Grand Prix - Friday Practice Session Results". NewsOnF1.com. Retrieved 6 August 2025.
  10. ^ "GROSSER MOBIL 1 PREIS VON DEUTSCHLAND 2003 - PRACTICE 1". Formula1.com. Retrieved 6 August 2025.
  11. ^ "2003 German Grand Prix - First Saturday Practice Session Results". NewsOnF1.com. Retrieved 6 August 2025.
  12. ^ "GROSSER MOBIL 1 PREIS VON DEUTSCHLAND 2003 - PRACTICE 2". Formula1.com. Retrieved 6 August 2025.
  13. ^ "2003 German Grand Prix - Second Saturday Practice Session Results". NewsOnF1.com. Retrieved 6 August 2025.
  14. ^ "GROSSER MOBIL 1 PREIS VON DEUTSCHLAND 2003 - PRACTICE 3". Formula1.com. Retrieved 6 August 2025.
  15. ^ "Deciding the grid - A history of F1 qualifying formats". formula1.com. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  16. ^ "Grosser Mobil 1 Preis von Deutschland 2003 – Qualifying 1". Formula1.com. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
  17. ^ "Grosser Mobil 1 Preis von Deutschland 2003 – Qualifying 2". Formula1.com. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
  18. ^ "2003 German Grand Prix Classification Grid". Motorsport Stats. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
  19. ^ a b c d Elizalde, Pablo (6 August 2003). "The 2003 German GP Review". AtlasF1. Retrieved 6 August 2025.
  20. ^ "10. Germany 2003". StatsF1. Retrieved 6 August 2025.
  21. ^ "2003 German GP Sunday". Autosport.com. 12 March 2011. Retrieved 6 August 2025.
  22. ^ a b "Race Notes - Montoya dominates German GP". GrandPrix.com. 3 August 2003. Retrieved 6 August 2025.
  23. ^ "GROSSER MOBIL 1 PREIS VON DEUTSCHLAND 2003 - RACE RESULT". formula1.com. Retrieved 6 August 2025.
  24. ^ "2003 German Grand Prix Race Results". NewsOnF1.com. Retrieved 6 August 2025.
  25. ^ "2003 German Grand Prix". Formula1.com. Formula1.com Limited. Archived from the original on 26 December 2014. Retrieved 26 December 2015.
  26. ^ a b "Germany 2003 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 18 March 2019.


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49°19′40″N 8°33′57″E / 49.32778°N 8.56583°E / 49.32778; 8.56583