2003 German Grand Prix

Background

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.

Championship standings before the race

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. Ferrari, with 118 points, led the Constructors' Championship from BMW Williams and McLaren, who were second and third with 108 and 95 points, respectively.

Driver changes

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. Pizzonia would return to Formula One in 2004 as a test driver for Williams.

Practice

Three free practice sessions were held for the event. 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. The second session was topped by Juan Pablo Montoya in the BMW Williams, ahead of Rubens Barrichello and Ralf Schumacher. The same three led the third practice session, but now in the order Schumacher, Barrichello, Montoya.

Friday drivers

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.

Qualifying

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.

Notes

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

Race

The race was held on 3 August 2003 and was run for 67 laps.

Race report

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.

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.

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.

Race classification

Championship standings after the race

Montoya's second win of the season, which turned out to be his fifth consecutive podium, elevated him to second in the championship behind Michael Schumacher, not even a victory of points behind him. Montoya overtook Räikkönen for second, three points clear from him. With four races to go, the top five drivers were covered by only 22 points. Meanwhile, Williams and McLaren were able to decrease their respective points disadvantage towards Ferrari, only being two and seventeen points behind the latter in the championship.

;Drivers' Championship standings

;Constructors' Championship standings

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
• Competitors in bold and marked with an asterisk still had a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.

References

Year_of_race = 2003 | Previous_year's_race = 2002 German Grand Prix | Next_year's_race = 2004 German Grand Prix

References

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