Montoya secures 3rd in Drivers Championship

The final race for the 2002 Formula One season, the Japanese Grand Prix, would see only one BMW WilliamsF1 driver finish the race, with Juan Pablo finishing in fourth. Ralf was well on his way to finishing third only to be let down by an engine failure close to the finish.

After the mornings warm-up it was announced that Toyota driver Allan McNish would not be taking part in the race. He was not allowed to participate by Prof. Sid Watkins. All the cars would take to the formation lap and at the start Michael Schumacher would lead from Barrichello, Coulthard, Ralf, Raikkonen and Montoya.

Jordan's Takuma Sato was seventh, followed by Trulli, Button, and Heidfeld. The Renault drivers came close to colliding in the first corner. After the first lap the order was Michael Schumacher, Barrichello, Coulthard, Ralf, Raikkonen, Montoya, Sato, Trulli, Button, Heidfeld, Fisichella, Salo, Villeneuve, Massa, Irvine, de la Rosa, Panis, Yoong, and Webber.

After two laps Michael was leading by 3 secs. At this stage of the race it was difficult to determine if the Ferraris were on different strategies. Sauber's Felipe Massa would lose his car in the gravel at the Degner corner, crashing into the barrier ending his debut season.

There appeared to be smoke coming from the rear of Raikkonen's car, it may have been oil. After five laps the top ten was Michael Schumacher, Barrichello (3.8), Coulthard (7.8), Ralf Schumacher (9.5), Raikkonen (10.8), Montoya (12.3), Sato (15), Trulli (16), Button (17), and Heidfeld (19).

BAR's Olivier Panis was reporting throttle problems on the radio and would stop in the pits. While this was happening Coulthard would slow with some technical problem and he would retire in the pits. Coulthard would say thank you the McLaren mechanics. With forty one laps to go it was looking like another Ferrari dominated race.

Yoong would spin into retirement in what was most likely his last Formula One race. We would start to see the first pit stops with Trulli and Button stopping. Sato would now be running in sixth. Toyota's Mika Salo would pit stopping for 8.4 secs.

Michael Schumacher would stop for 9.4 secs. He would be followed by Barrichello in for new tyres and fuel, stopping for 9.5 secs. Raikkonen would also go into the pits and he was there for 9.9 secs. Neither BMW WilliamsF1 drivers had stopped.

Ralf would stop for 8.6 secs and came be back on the track ahead of Raikkonen. Juan Pablo would pit on the next lap, stationary for 7.8 secs. After twenty six laps the order was Michael Schumacher, Barrichello (7), Ralf (30), Raikkonen (32), Montoya, Trulli, Button, Sato, Heidfeld, Salo, Fisichella, Villeneuve, Irvine, de la Rosa, and Webber.

The next retirement would be Villeneuve with a blown Honda engine. So with twenty two laps remaining the Renault team would start to prepare for their drivers second pit stops. Button would make his final stop, stopping for 9.8 secs. While this was happening Raikkonen would go off the track at the Degner corner, but he was able to return to the track without losing a position.

So with ten laps left the order was Michael Schumacher, Barrichello (10), Ralf (27), Raikkonen (36), Montoya (42), Sato (85), Button (91), Heidfeld (1 lap), Salo, Irvine, and Webber. Sato's sixth position would mean that Jordan could take over 6th from BAR in the constructor's championship.

But within sight of the finish Ralf would retire with a blown engine, such a disappointing way to finish the season. As a result Raikkonen was running third with Montoya fourth, Sato fifth and Button sixth. Juan Pablo was trying to close the gap to Raikkonen as the final laps counted down. In the end it would be the Ferraris who would start their final lap, the last of this season.

Michael Schumacher would go onto win his eleventh race of the 2002 season, which was another new record for the German in a season full of records. The final top six of 2002 was Michael Schumacher ahead of Barrichello second, Raikkonen third, Montoya fourth, Sato in an excellent fifth, and Button sixth. The Japanese fans were crazy with Sato's fifth.

Now exactly how the BMW WilliamsF1 team would have wanted to see out the season with only one car finishing in fourth and the other suffering an engine failure. But in what has been a very difficult weekend for Juan Pablo he should be happy with his fourth position and his third place in the drivers championship. Ralf would finish the season in fourth place in the drivers championship but early on in the season, when he was winning in Malaysia, he probably thought he would finish much higher.