WilliamsF1 3rd & 4th in Austrian GP

The 2002 Austrian Grand Prix would see the BMW WilliamsF1 team finish in third and fourth with Juan Pablo securing the third placed podium position. Basically one could describe the results of the race as WilliamsF1 been the best of the rest on a day when the Ferrari team would again dominate.

But the Ferrari team would come in for much criticism as we would see Rubens Barrichello having to give way to his team leader Michael Schumacher on the last lap, a repeat of 2001. Both Ferrari drivers accepted the results and the reasons why but the crowd were no so supportive of the race result with the crowd booing the Ferrari team and Michael.

The start of the Austrian Grand Prix would see both Ferrari's out in front with Barrichello leading. At the start Villeneuve and Frentzen would collide and Frentzen would go through the gravel at the second corner. De la Rosa would slow and retire.

Jacques Villeneuve would overtake team-mate Panis, while McLaren's David Coulthard would overtake Raikkonen. Barrichello would pull out a 1.1 second lead ahead of Michael, with Ralf 5.7 behind, and Montoya 7.3. Villeneuve would pass Trulli, but the Italian was able to repass going into the Castrol corner. The Ferrari's would lead by seven secs after only four laps. We would see a massive engine failure for Raikkonen and he was out of the race. Villeneuve was driving a superb race, moving up in twelfth. He would start to attack Toyota's Allan McNish.

Villeneuve would soon pass McNish at the first corner, while Massa would retire in the pits. Ralf Schumacher would be 13.3secs behind the leading Ferrari's after eight laps. Villeneuve continued to move forward passing Fisichella and into ninth. Villeneuve would close in behind Button putting him under a lot of pressure. Barrichello would set a fastest lap of 1m:10.016.

So after twelve laps the order was Barrichello, Michael Schumacher, Ralf Schumacher (20), Montoya (29), Heidfeld (36), Coulthard (38), Salo, Button, Villeneuve, Fisichella (46). Barrichello was leading by about 2 seconds as he started to lap the tail enders. Villeneuve up in eighth as he passed Button at the Goesser corner, with Villeneuve been on a lighter fuel load.

Frentzen would spin on the finish straight. Barrichello would lose some of his lead lapping backmarkers. Ralf Schumacher was thirty seconds behind the lead, Montoya forty. Heidfeld was in fifth, twelve seconds behind Montoya two seconds ahead of David Coulthard.

Another fastest lap by Rubens Barrichello, with a lap of 1m:09.896. Alex Yoong would have an off at the final corner. On lap twenty three Panis would have an accident on the finish straight bringing out the safety car, as his car was in a very dangerous position. Panis was uninjured. With the safety car on the track Barrichello would pit. Michael Schumacher would also pit, but Barrichello was in first and that meant Michael had to wait.

Barrichello would come back out leading Ralf and Michael, but the Williams had not yet been in the pits. It looked like like Ferrari's were on two stops, while Williams was on a one stop strategy. After four laps the safety car would return to the pitlane but the race would see the safety car come out once again with a huge crash between Heidfeld and Sato. Heidfeld’s Sauber got sideways under braking, taking to the grass and slamming into the side of Takuma Sato’s Jordan Honda who was rounding the Remus Kurve. Montoya was lucky not to be involved as Heidfeld's car only missed hitting Juan Pablo's car by mere fractions..

Heidfeld was not injured although he looked visible upset by the accident. Sato was still in his car as the medical team arrived. Sato was conscious as his hands could be seen moving, but it appeared that he was injured. Sato was finally removed from his car, but at that stage we did not know about the degree of his injuries. Sato would be brought to the track hospital. The safety car period would come to and end with thirty eight laps remaining and the WilliamsF1 cars still had yet to pit.

After thirty six laps the order was Barrichello, Ralf Schumacher, Michael Schumacher, Montoya, Coulthard, Fisichella, Villeneuve, Trulli, Button, Irvine, Salo, McNish, Webber, Yoong, and Frentzen.

Irvine would retire with technical problems in the garage. Barrichello would pull away a little bit as Michael Schumacher could not overtake his brother. Villeneuve was sixth and was pushing David Coulthard. He would move eventually move into fifth. As for the WilliamsF1 cars they were carrying a lot of fuel and were still out with everyone wondering when their pit stops would occur.

Eddie Jordan would be seen talking to FIA medical chief Prof. Sid Watkins about Takuma Sato. Alex Yoong would retire with some technical problem while Trulli would also retire and Mark Webber would get a drive through penalty for ignoring blue flags.

Ralf Schumacher would finally pit, stopping for 8.8 secs. He would come back out on the track ahead of Fisichella, in fifth position. Michael was now four seconds behind Barrichello, and with a Ralf 's stop having a clear road ahead of him. A report regarding Sato was released and according to Prof. Watkins Sato had no broken legs, although he was in some pain.

Montoya would finally pit, stationary for 7.2 secs but he would not change his tyres. He would come back out on the track ahead of his team-mate. Jacques Villeneuve was running in third, thirteen seconds ahead of Montoya. But Villeneuve would also pit for his only stop. He is stationary for seven seconds and would come back out on the circuit in eighth.

With a lap of 1m:19.4 Michael Schumacher would set the fastest lap, and was now only 3.4 secs behind Barrichello. Barrichello would respond with his own fastest lap of 1m:19.3. 1.9 seconds would separate the two WilliamsF1 cars in third and fourth. But with the Ferraris leading by about forty secs and with their next pit stops likely to take well under forty seconds things were looking good for them. Barrichello would be the first to pit stopping for 6.2 seconds. The next lap Michael would pit stopping for 6.4 seconds but he would come back out behind Rubens with only nine laps left to run. The gap between them was 4.1 seconds.

With six laps remaining the order was Barrichello, Michael Schumacher (4), Montoya (19), Ralf Schumacher (21), Fisichella (41), Coulthard (42), Button (43), Villeneuve (44), Salo (56), McNish (58), Frentzen (1 lap), Webber (2 laps). Ralf Schumacher would close up to Montoya, only 1.2 seconds behind.

Michael Schumacher would continue to close and would set another new lap record. With three laps to go and it started to become apparent that Ferrari were going to force Barrichello to let Michael past and win the race. This was just like 2001 except this time Rubens would have to give away a race win not just a points scoring position. Montoya was still in third with Ralf fourth and Fisichella fifth, and the final point scoring position taken up by Coulthard in sixth.

The final lap would see Barrichello still leading, but Michael was very close behind him. As the pair entered the last corner Rubens would slow to allow  Michael to pass him just before the finish line and win the Austrian Grand Prix. Montoya would finish third, Ralf fourth, Fisichella fifth, and Coulthard sixth.

Jenson Button would hold off Villeneuve, who would retire on the final lap with a major engine failure after an impressive drive and must have been disappointed not to score BAR-Honda’s first points of the season. Fifth position fell to Giancarlo Fisichella, who brought something to smile about to Eddie Jordan after what had been a very difficult weekend. It was a fine drive from the Italian and a result that was so desperately needed by Honda and the team.

Like last year it was Rubens Barrichello who was the moral victor but once again he had to hand the race to the number one Ferrari driver after instruction from the Ferrari pit box with four laps remaining. "It’s just a disgrace," commented former Grand Prix driver John Watson. In the post race interviews both Ferrari drivers played down the fact that Rubens was forced to let Michael win but it certainly will bring the whole issue of managed results back into question.