The Chaos of the 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix

okay so picture the scene BN a l the top step of the podium here stands Kimmy renan he's been given his trophy for winning the third round of the Formula 1 World Championship and thanks to this win he now sits comfortably at top the driver standings too the Iceman the flying Finn the I don't know whatever you want to call him was on Cloud9 and rightly so because it wasn't so much about winning a race he was on course to become the world champion too but there was a catch he didn't actually win the race so what's going on here well let's start from the beginning the year is 2003 and the third round of the championship is at the fabulous the brilliant the extremely good and should never be off the calendar inago circuit in sou Balo Brazil 120,000 Spectators had descended upon the circuit to cheer on their Heroes sure you've got household names such as Shima and Montoya but these Brazilians did have hometown boys to cheer for they had Antonio ponia they had Cristiano damata and they also had the man at the very front of the field in the Ferrari and in with the great chance of taking Victory today Ruben's barello David kard lined up second Mark Weber was somehow third in that seriously M jaguar and Kimmy reinan was in fourth place there were some other big names in that top 10 Fernando Alonso was 10th in the Renault while Pablo Montoya was ninth and schumacker was seventh the driver between those two was the Italian John Cara FY Kella in the canary K Jordan and given how far that team had fallen in the last couple of years this was a seriously good effort rain fell upon the circuit that day which meant that everything was wet and that was a problem for 2003 the FIA mandated a rule whereby tire manufacturers can only take one compound of wet Tire to a Grand Prix this meant that the drivers would either have full wit with the tires or semi- slick intermediate tires for for the duration of the weekend this was used as a cost-saving measure although it was more likely down to everyone being obtusely French and with it being an FIA idea it probably wound up being more expensive anyway somehow but this was a choice for the tire manufacturer or rather manufacturers half the gridge ran michelan tires and the other half were running on bridgeston and while michelan brought wit with the tires and were prepared for the monsoon that was ravaging the circuit at this moment Bridgestone backed themselves and brought the intermediates this wouldn't have provided as much grip as the full weight with the tires in these conditions but for now it didn't matter because the race would not be getting underway race director Charlie Whiting delayed the start to allow for the makeshift rivers that formed around the racetrack to go away this also allowed Apple time for teams to change settings on their cars to make them a little less deadly when racing in water after a grand total of 16 minutes the race would get underway orbe it under safety car they went around and around and around while the water just sat there and refused to drain away the drainage system around the circuit just totally inadequate for what was needed the tracker the drying power of an asmatic blowing through a straw some drivers decided to alleviate the bordedom by getting some of their put stops out of the way fala was one of them but now he would effectively be starting the race at the very back of the grid eventually after eight laps the FIA realized that people weren't all that interested in watching cars chle around behind the safety car forever so once the rain descended into a drizzle the safety car was brought in Marell didn't want to lose his lead on the rolling start and so bunched up the pack to ward off any potential attack and this worked for oo must have been 50 yards kard was now leading in the McLaren and started to walk away as Hometown hero Barella was being hounded by Weber and renan it was an exciting start to the race but Nick hefel salba felt left out of all of this and immediately blew itself to smother thein by now all the Bridgestone shot cars were starting to struggle those that bore the michelan ties were feeling pretty good amongst them was renan who passed barello and made it a McLaren one two at the front Montoya passed barello too as you may have guessed the Ferraris were not on michelan rber reaffirming the curse placed upon Rabino that he can never win his home Grand Prix that it just isn't meant to be renan took the lead from Kad and what was a very nice move Montoya became overall with jealousy and one up that move with one of his own taken as Williams around the outside at that corner in these conditions you see that was what one Pablo Montoya was all about sheer bravery and pure skill that's why he was a crowd favorite that was who he was his teammate meanwhile was proving who he was that he wasn't his brother who by the way was starting to make his way forward Michael Schumaker anticipated that it would be raining for the race and so opted for a wet weather setup on his car it made it relatively slow and qualifying but it was now starting to pay dividends he passed Weber for fourth place and then Montoya for third things weren't going quite as well for Justin Wilson in The manard this car was too slow to keep up with anything else out there but just fast enough to put him into a spin and throw him out of the race Olivier Pan's day meanwhile was going from bad to worse already struggling that weekend against teammate ja vov he enjoyed the slightly horrific sight of Ralph Ferman spearing toward him into turn one collecting him and taking them both out of the race suspension failure had just taken out one Jordan and very nearly took out the other but alas janala fala survived for now with half of furman's car still on the road the safety car was brought out this was music to the ears of Schumacher because this safety car was set to ruin renan strategy and with Kart overdue for some bad luck along with the rapid pace of the Ferrari things were looking pretty good for the reigning world champion alanso was also on the March but in all their excitement Reno put slicks onto his car while the track was still very much damp all on its own this race was already turning out to be a banger with it being Kimmy versus shumi and McLaren versus Ferrari the excitement was heighten when Montoya spun off and slammed into the barriers Antonio ponia kept him company and crashed into almost the exact same place that heated this wasn't really a case of boneh hited driving that turn Three Corner had become treacherous the rivers running across that track made it almost impossible to keep on the asphalt even with full wit with the tires on and it was about to claim it's biggest scalp Michael schumak was out of the race after having looked good for a win this afternoon and off the back of two very poor results in Melbourne and Spang and with his main Championship rival out in front this was a dark moment for the four time reigning world champion this would likely spell Doom for his championship charge just thankfully he didn't slam into the recovery vehicle the safety car was at again and when he went back in Ralph Schumer pass barello around the outside but Rabino would not be vanquished yosa steppen would be vanquished though and was was out of the race oh no anyway Jensen Buon spun-off in sympathy adding to the six-car strong parking lot that have formed down at CV Desa it was a big off with debris needing to be cleared and barriers in need of repair y all know what this meant once the safety car went away renam began to charge now back on an even killing strategy wise he began to make moves to the inside to the outside to the window to the wall freaking everywhere mans was on a move as was for Cella who for some reason was starting to become rapid in his Jordan as two was Weber although he was very close to throwing his Jaguar into the Boneyard at turn three luckily he saved it and recovered to resume the race ahead of Fernando bonso who just received a drive-through penalty for the dastardly Act of trying to overtake someone the driver everyone was watching though was Ruben barello the hometown hero had been racing in Formula 1 for 11 years but he had never won his home race before he hadn't even been on the podium here before and had only finished it once a fourth place ing back in 1994 it did seem as though he was cursed but today could be the day that his curse of the billy goat would be gone he was right on the gearbox of the McLaren and he was in a very fast car yeah he'd likely have to stop again but so would Kart all he cared about now was waiting for the right opportunity and it [Music] came the crowd roared in celebration as the boy who grew up two streets away from this track was now leading the race he began to storm away from the McLaren Duo the track condition now favoring the Bridgestone Runners with the rate that Barella was pulling away and with how the Bridgestone ties were holding up versus the michelan this race was firmly in Bar's grasp but the racing guards decided that that couldn't be right in one of the more cruel things to happen in Motor Racing barell began to slow to a craw pulled off the side of the road and was out of the race the reason he was out of fuel a faulty reading made it seem as though the car had 12 more leaders than it did but now it was Zero now he was out now this left kard in the lead for about 5 minutes for he was back in the pits again for a new set of tides and a chug of fuel this gave the lead back to renan but it wasn't all plain sailing for the Iceman because now he was being hounded by FY Cala for a little while Kimmy held off the Italian but on the approach to Mulo he ran wide and FY K took the lead of the race in a Jordan a a freaking Jordan though it does need to be said while it might have been a bad car they were on Bridgestone tires and at this moment the bridestones were really really fast and FY was a master of driving tractors they couldn't get too ahead of themselves however there was still a waste to go in this race we were on lap 53 the race is scheduled for 71 laps thing is we would never get there Mark Weber slammed his Jag into the barriers at frightening speed tearing off both the front and rear of the car but thankfully relieving the Ford Motor Company of any wrongful death lawsuits this spread an enormous amount of debris around the circuit the safety car was out and the yellow flags were being waved but for some it wasn't enough for whatever reason the lord of the eyebrows became colorblind going up the hill neglected to slow down hit one of Weber's erand tires and pitched his car head on into the wall with a crash that registered 60g this upgraded the situation from safety car to Red Flag because 75% of the race had been covered the extensive damage on track and the fact that were virtually no cars left in the race when that red flag came out it stayed out the race was over the safety car LED them around to park F and as alono gathered his breath the Jordan team began to celebrate as it appeared that FY CA was the winner of the race the excitement levels in the Jordan Camp were off the chart even for the car which which helped itself to a spot of spontaneous combustion as soon as the race was run hell of a way for four to celebrate their last win as an ninja manufacturer at least for now this was a momentous occasion for FY color after years of driving around in crap cars well this was crap as well but he was finally getting the accolades that he deserved this was a win to cherish the celebrations however were short lived because thanks to some timekeeping Hocus Pocus it was believed that FY Kella had not started a new lap as the leader and going by the rule book combined with a eke keeping error when the results were backdated it made it appear that renan was in fact the winner and that alono was third despite the notable handicap of his car being smashed to pieces this marked a ran a day for Renault it wasn't made much better when Yano truly got lost on his way back to the pit Lane in the other car back on the podium renan hoisted the trophy high with FY K on the second step and alono not on the third step due to the fact that him going to the hospital on a stretcher made it slightly difficult for him to ad pretend on the bright side he did Escape major injury a half empty Podium with the wrong man appointed the winner while the actual Winner's car was burning itself to ashes down beneath his feet eventually the FIA realized that ah crap FY Keller actually won that and after having flown back to Europe renan handed the trophy over to FY Kella at a makeshift ceremony at emila thus officially giving FY Kella his first ever win in Formula 1 and as it would turn out Jordan's last div win in Formula 1 it was truly one of the more bizarre races in the sports history and in the main it was a pretty good race not because of the crashing but because of the battles that were going on throughout the field and the David V Goliath storyline with FY Kella taking victory over the might of McLaren but what do you expect inos on its own is one of the best racetracks in the entire world give it some water and it could put on some of the best races that you'd ever see in your [Music] lifetime [Music] [Music]

Channel: Josh Revell

Views: 253,232

Keywords: f1, formula 1, f1 2003, formula 1 2003, brazil gp, brazilian grand prix, brazil gp 2003, brazilian grand prix 2003, interlagos, interlagos 2003, fisichella interlagos 2003, 2003 brazilian grand prix

Id: dr2itnTfscs

Length: 13min 18sec (798 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 02 2023