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Round 18 - BRAZIL, Interlagos - Race Results
Conditions: damp start, then dry; Temperatures: track 27°C, air 24°C
| Position |
Driver |
Car (Tyres) |
Time/Retirement |
Laps |
Pitstops |
| 1 |
Juan Pablo MONTOYA |
Williams BMW (M) |
1h 28m 01.451s |
71 |
3 |
| 2 |
Kimi RAIKKONEN |
McLaren Mercedes (M) |
+ 1.000s |
71 |
3 |
| 3 |
Rubens BARRICHELLO |
Ferrari (B) |
+ 24.099s |
71 |
3 |
| 4 |
Fernando ALONSO |
Renault (M) |
+ 48.908s |
71 |
2 |
| 5 |
Ralf SCHUMACHER |
Williams BMW (M) |
+ 49.740s |
71 |
3 |
| 6 |
Takuma SATO |
BAR Honda (M) |
+ 50.248s |
71 |
3 |
| 7 |
Michael SCHUMACHER |
Ferrari (B) |
+ 50.626s |
71 |
3 |
| 8 |
Felipe MASSA |
Sauber Petronas (B) |
+ 1m 02.310s |
71 |
3 |
| 9 |
Giancarlo FISICHELLA |
Sauber Petronas (B) |
+ 1m 03.842s |
71 |
3 |
| 10 |
Jacques VILLENEUVE |
Renault (M) |
+ 1 lap |
70 |
2 |
| 11 |
David COULTHARD |
McLaren Mercedes (M) |
+ 1 lap |
70 |
2 |
| 12 |
Jarno TRULLI |
Toyota (M) |
+ 1 lap |
70 |
3 |
| 13 |
Ricardo ZONTA |
Toyota (M) |
+ 1 lap |
70 |
3 |
| 14 |
Christian KLIEN |
Jaguar Cosworth (M) |
+ 2 laps |
69 |
3 |
| 15 |
Timo GLOCK |
Jordan Ford (B) |
+ 2 laps |
69 |
3 |
| 16 |
Zsolt BAUMGARTNER |
Minardi Cosworth (B) |
+ 4 laps |
67 |
3 |
| 17 |
Gianmaria BRUNI |
Minardi Cosworth (B) |
+ 4 laps |
67 |
3 |
| Not classified |
| Ret |
Mark WEBBER |
Jaguar Cosworth (M) |
Accident |
23 |
1 |
| Ret |
Nick HEIDFELD |
Jordan Ford (B) |
Transmission failure |
15 |
1 |
| Ret |
Jenson BUTTON |
BAR Honda (M) |
Engine |
3 |
0 |
Notes:
M Schumacher, Bruni and Baumgartner all awarded penalties for engine changes and start 18th, 19th and 20th respectively (not that it makes any difference to the Minardis!). Bruni elects to start from the pitlane, and Baumgartner joins him there at the end of the parade lap.
A lot of smoke is seen coming from the rear of Button's car on the grid, Honda are reported to have "turned the wick up" on the engines for the final race ... perhaps a notch too far!
A fairly clean get away on a greasy track and all clear through Turns 1 and 2, but Raikkonen gets the jump on Barrichello down the back straight to take the lead. M Schumacher up to 12th by the end of lap 1. Button is up to 3rd by the end of lap 2, then back to 5th on the next lap, retakes Massa for 4th but appears to have a problem.
M Schumacher tangles with Klien at Turn 2 fighting for 11th and spins, losing much of the ground he's gained. BAR are clearing space for Button in the garage. Barrichello retakes the lead as the majority of drivers who started on intermediate tyres start to contemplate switching to dries as track conditions improve.
Button stops at the side of the track, with an apparent engine failure. Raikkonen and Montoya leave the pitlane side by side but Montoya manages to take the place. As Barrichello pits for tyres, Massa takes the lead but still needs to stop. When he does Alonso, one of only 3 drivers who started the race on dry tyres, takes the lead, ahead of Montoya, Raikkonen and Heidfeld (the latter yet to stop).
Massa stayed out long enough on his inters to reach his first fuel-stop window, but did he leave it too long? Heidfeld is out on lap 16 with transmission failure. Montoya takes the lead as Alonso stops for fuel.
Alonso slots back into 6th and seems to be well-placed behind drivers yet to take their first fuel stop. Webber clashes with team-mate Klien at Turn 1 and retires from the race on lap 24. Klien recovers to the pits for a new nose - a sad end for Jaguar Racing.
As the fuel-stops start around lap 25, Montoya manages to retain the lead from Raikkonen. It starts to rain again on lap 29 - not good news for those who have just stopped - but although it slows lap speeds for a short time, it soon clears again. Before it does, Sato runs wide on the greasy track at Turn 1, letting Barrichello through to 5th.
As the final round of pitstops plays out, Raikkonen stays out several laps longer than Montoya, trying to close the 5 sec gap and take the lead ... he can't do enough but the lead is reduced to 1.4 sec and a battle to the finish is on between next year's McLaren team-mates.
After the final stops, Barrichello is up to 3rd, Sato pushing Alonso hard for 4th with the Schumacher brothers close behind (Ralf ahead of Michael). Sato presumably pushed too hard and lost ground (I say presumably because the TV director missed it), letting Ralf through to 5th. Montoya held on to win his first GP of the season and his last for Williams, exactly 1 sec ahead of Raikkonen. Massa took the final points finish in 8th.
With significant technical changes for next year, this is the fastest we are likely to see the F1 cars going for some time. The lap record was smashed by over 3 seconds in Brazil, and in qualifying Baumgartner's 2004 time would have got him the pole in 2003. Here's hoping the technical changes don't take the essence out of F1 ... I want to see more races like this in 2005.
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