WilliamsF1 takes home points in Spain

With the race run under warm 26 degrees weather the start of the Spanish Grand Prix would see contact between Raikkonen and Pizzonia. Trulli was also involved in an incident with David Coulthard. There also appeared to be contact between the two Ferraris. This incident would see the safety car come out.

At the start Jaguar driver Pizzonia was to stall his car on the grid and Raikkonen could not avoid hitting his car. But cars were damaged but both drivers were able to get out of their cars. The start would also see Renault's Fernando make a great start. Barrichello would also get his car onto the grass forcing Alonso wide. Trulli would also retire.

For David Coulthard he would pit will under the safety car to have his car looked at and he would rejoin the race. So after four laps we had the Ferrari's leading the race with Michael Schumacher leading Rubens Barrichello. Ralf and Juan Pablo were in fourth and sixth. Alonso was in third. Nick Heidfeld would pit on lap three.

The safety car would pull into the pits on lap five and Juan Pablo would pass Button into fifth. Ralf would be three seconds behind the leaders. Alonso would close in on Barrichello. By lap ten Juan Pablo had dropped back to be nearly eight seconds behind the leader. Michael Schumacher was setting the pace at the front. Lap eleven and Minardi's Justin Wilson was still holding down ninth place but he was under pressure.

In sixth and seventh were the two BAR's of Button and Villeneuve. Alonso had closed to be right behind Barrichello. Lap thirteen and Villeneuve would pit with an engine problem, retiring in his pit. Button would make a quick stop on lap fourteen. With these changes da Matta would move into the top six. Wilson would continue to perform well fighting with Fisichella, Webber, and Coulthard in eleventh. Lap seventeen and there was a Very quick stop for Alonso, probably on a 3-stop strategy.

Coulthard would go off the track after he made contact with Button. On lap eighteen Ralf would stop, with it been a longer stop making it look probably like a 2-stop strategy. Team-mate Juan Pablo would stop the next lap, joined by Mark Webber. Michael Schumacher would also stop . Barrichello would pit, with no problems. he would come back out behind Alonso.

Lap twenty two and Jordan's Giancarlo Fisichella would make his first stop, but trouble with his refuelling rig would see him lose time. Jordan team-mate Ralph Firman would pit on lap twenty five. Ralf and Juan Pablo were fourth and fifth fifteen and twenty two seconds behind the leader. Alonso was trying to keep up with Michael in front, but he would have to pick his way through the back markers; Wilson, Verstappen, Fisichella and Firman. Barrichello would have to pass the same backmarkers.

Despite his best efforts Michael Schumacher would pull away from Alonso. Lap thirty three and Nick Heidfeld would make his third stop. By lap thirty four Alonso was able to set faster lap times and close slowly to the Ferrari in front. Lap thirty five and Michael would make a very short pit stop, indicating that they are on a three stop race. This top puts the Renault of Alonso in the lead much to the delight of the Spanish crowd. Michael would come out behind Ralf while Rubens would make his next stop on lap thirty six. Leader Alonso would pit the next lap and after a quick stop would make up some ground on Michael, who would pass Ralf on lap thirty eight.

At this stage of the race Ralf was running in second with Alonso behind while Juan Pablo was in fourth. Both Ralf and Juan Pablo were on what was most likely a two stop strategy. But Ralf's race would be ruined when he would make a mistake running wide and going off onto the grass, returning to the track with no apparent damage. Ralf would make his next stop on lap forty one.

The next lap and Juan Pablo would make his routine stop. By lap forty four Juan Pablo was in fourth and Ralf sixth. Toyota's Cristiano da Matta was fifth while team-mate Panis would pull off the track and retire with gearbox problems. Michael Schumacher was 6.7 seconds ahead of Alonso.

Lap forty five and Fisichella would retire with a smoking Jordan in his pit. The next lap would see Heidfeld and Button make another pit stop. With both WilliamsF1 cars so far behind the leaders that even when they make their third and final stop neither Ralf or Juan Pablo would have any chance of getting near the front. Juan Pablo would pass Ralf in a great move and he would start to pull away. Alonso was five seconds behind Michael driving hard to catch up the difference. Michael would make his final stop and both Alonso and Barrichello would pass him while he was stopped. Da Matta would also make his last stop.

Lap fifty, with fifteen laps left to run, Alonso would stop, joined by Barrichello. Both would return to the track. Juan Pablo and Ralf were fourth and fifth. Alonso was second and closing the gap to Michael in the lead. With ten laps left to run Alonso was 7.9 seconds behind, a gap that was most likely to big to reduce.

da Matta was in an excellent sixth, while Webber was seventh. In the closing stages of the race Ralf would come under pressure from da Matta with the Toyota driver. Ralf was having problems with his car. Michael Schumacher was coming up to lap both of them and in the process Michael would lose a small amount of time, not enough to give Alonso any real hope. Ralf was fighting hard for his fifth place. Ralf would lock up his brakes frequently, possibly indicating that he was having a brake problem.

As the final five laps counted down da Matta was trying hard to pass Ralf but Ralf held his place. As Alonso lapped Ralf, waving at the German to show his annoyance, he would lose some time but in the end it would not have made any difference. So on the final lap it would be Michael who would cross the line to win his second race this year, the first win for the new F2003-GA. Alonso was second and Barrichello would make up the top three.

In a race that would see three drivers score their first points da Matta would finish in sixth, Webber seventh, and Firman eighth. For the McLaren team the race was a disaster with neither driver scoring points.

P. No Driver Team - Engine Tyres Gaps/Laps Average Stops

1. 1 M. SCHUMACHER Ferrari B 1h33'46"933 Km/h 3
2. 8 ALONSO Renault M + 0'05"716 196.420 Km/h 3
3. 2 BARRICHELLO Ferrari B + 0'18"001 195.993 Km/h 3
4. 3 MONTOYA Williams BMW M + 1'02"022 194.476 Km/h 2
5. 4 R. SCHUMACHER Williams BMW M 1 lap(s) 2
6. 21 DA MATTA Toyota M 1 lap(s) 3
7. 14 WEBBER Jaguar Cosworth M 1 lap(s) 2
8. 12 FIRMAN Jordan Ford B 2 lap(s) 3
9. 17 BUTTON BAR Honda B 2 lap(s) 3
10. 9 HEIDFELD Sauber Petronas B 2 lap(s) 4
11. 18 WILSON Minardi Cosworth B 2 lap(s) 2
12. 19 VERSTAPPEN Minardi Cosworth B 3 lap(s) 3
13. 11 FISICHELLA Jordan Ford B 22 lap(s) 2
14. 20 PANIS Toyota M 24 lap(s) 2
15. 10 FRENTZEN Sauber Petronas B 27 lap(s) 3
16. 5 COULTHARD McLaren Mercedes M 48 lap(s) 1
17. 16 VILLENEUVE BAR Honda B 53 lap(s) 1
18. 7 TRULLI Renault M 65 lap(s) 0
19. 15 PIZZONIA Jaguar Cosworth M 65 lap(s) 0
20. 6 RAIKKONEN McLaren Mercedes M 65 lap(s) 0