2003 Monaco Grand Prix

Background

Across the weekend of 29 May - 1 June, the Circuit de Monaco in Monte Carlo hosted a Formula One Grand Prix for the 50th time in the circuit's history, with it being the 50th Monaco Grand Prix as a round of the Formula One World Championship as well. The Grand Prix was the seventh round of the 2003 Formula One World Championship.

Championship standings before the race

Going into the weekend, McLaren driver Kimi Räikkönen led the Drivers' Championship with 40 points, ahead of Ferrari drivers Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello on 38 and 26 points, respectively. In the Constructors' Championship, Ferrari were leading with 64 points and McLaren were second on 63 points, with Renault third on 35 points.

Entrants

The Grand Prix was contested by 20 drivers, in ten teams of two. The teams, also known as constructors, were Ferrari, Williams, McLaren, Renault, Sauber, Jordan, Jaguar, BAR, Minardi and Toyota.

Practice

Three free practice sessions were held for the event. Jaguar driver Mark Webber set the fastest time in the first session, a tenth of a second quicker than Jenson Button and David Coulthard, in second and third places respectively. Webber was third in the second session, which was topped by Kimi Räikkönen in the McLaren ahead of Juan Pablo Montoya in the BMW Williams. Finally, Coulthard led the third practice session, ahead of Montoya and World Champion Michael Schumacher in the Ferrari.

Jenson Button suffered a heavy crash during Saturday morning practice and his resulting injuries meant that he took no further part in the weekend.

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.

Ralf Schumacher scored his first pole position in nearly two years. In contrast, his brother Michael's fifth starting place was his worst qualifying performance at this circuit since he first competed there in 1992.

;Notes

• – Jenson Button was left without a time in Q2 after a spin in Saturday's practice.

Race

The race was held on 1 June 2003 and was run for 78 laps.

Race report

Ralf Schumacher led the pack through the first corner without incidents. His teammate Juan Pablo Montoya was the first to follow, having overtaken Kimi Räikkönen in the McLaren. Behind them came Jarno Trulli, Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso, the Spaniard overtaking two drivers on the getaway. Heinz-Harald Frentzen did not finish the first lap, after going wide over the kerbs at the swimming pool chicane, losing control of his Sauber and crashing it hard into the armco barrier.

After four laps behind the safety car to let the marshals clear the track, the race continued and the top three escaped from the rest of the pack, mainly due to Trulli's cautious pace. Montoya put heavy pressure on his leading teammate, running less than half a second behind when Schumacher made his pit stop. The Colombian made use of the clean air on just one lap. He immediately set the fastest lap time of the race and after his stop, rejoined just in front of his teammate. To make matters worse for the German, Räikkönen also appeared ahead him after the Finn had pitted. Michael Schumacher overtook Trulli through the pit stop phase and David Coulthard got ahead of Alonso.

When Montoya made his second stop, Räikkönen set the fastest lap in an effort to jump his rival, but he rejoined just behind the Williams. Meanwhile, Ralf Schumacher had fallen back to fourth position, behind his brother, and almost crashed at Rascasse corner. Alonso on the other hand, took advantage of an alternative strategy to jump both Coulthard and teammate Trulli in the pit stops.

With fifteen laps to go, Montoya had Räikkönen continuously right behind him and Michael Schumacher closing in by seven tenths per lap, but he held on to take his first victory in nearly two years.

Race classification

Championship standings after the race

Räikkönen outscored his nearest rival Schumacher by two points, thus extending his points advantage to four points, while Alonso reclaimed third spot in the standings with 29 points, two ahead of Barrichello and four behind Montoya, who advanced to fifth following his first win of the season. Meanwhile, McLaren reclaimed their lead in the Constructors' Championship, leading Ferrari by two points, whilst Williams overtook Renault to enter the next round in third place with 50 points, 23 behind McLaren.

;Drivers' Championship standings

;Constructors' Championship standings

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

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

References

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