September 2002

29 September 2002 M. Schumacher took the lead from pole position and dominated the US GP until the very end, when team mate Barrichello came alongside him for the finishing line publicity photograph. The two drivers miscalculated the position of the finishing line and the Brazilian was recorded as having crossed it one hundredth of a second before his team mate. Was it a tragicomic error, or was it a plan to return the Austria favour to Barrichello? in the post race press conference the two Ferrari drivers were non-committal, but Ross Brawn seemed genuinly surprised (and amused) by the outcome of the race. The jury is still out. Coulthard was the driver of the race and steered his McLaren to finsih in third place, never losing sight of the dominant duo, while his team mate Räikkönen retired with a blown engine. R. Schumacher took himself out of the race on lap two, when he span while trying to avoid being overtaken by team mate Montoya and lost his rear wing, falling down two laps. Montoya took fourth place ahead of Trulli and Villeneuve.

The US GP finishing times:

1. BARRICHELLO Ferrari B in 1h31'07"934 2. M. SCHUMACHER Ferrari B +0'00"011 3. COULTHARD McLaren Mercedes M +7"799 4. MONTOYA Williams BMW M +9"911 5. TRULLI Renault M +56"847 6. VILLENEUVE BAR Honda B +58"211 7. FISICHELLA Jordan Honda B +1 lap 8. BUTTON Renault M +1 lap 9. HEIDFELD Sauber Ferrari B +1 lap 10. IRVINE Jaguar Cosworth M +1 lap 11. SATO Jordan Honda B +1 lap 12. PANIS BAR Honda B +1 lap 13. FRENTZEN Sauber Ferrari B +2 laps 14. SALO Toyota M +2 laps 15. MCNISH Toyota M +2 laps 16. R. SCHUMACHER Williams BMW M +2 laps

28 September 2002 No surprise in the US GP qualifying session. Ferrari dominated as expected and they will share the front row of the grid tomorrow. Coulthard outpaced his team mate and placed himself in third place, alongside Montoya who lapped only one hundredth of a second slower than the Scot. R. Schumacher clocked the fifth fastest lap time and Räikkönen the sixth.

The US GP qualifying times:

1 M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari 1m10.790s 2 BARRICHELLO Ferrari 1m11.058s 3 COULTHARD McLaren Mercedes 1m11.413s 4 MONTOYA Williams BMW 1m11.414s 5 R.SCHUMACHER Williams BMW 1m11.587s 6 RAIKKONEN McLaren Mercedes 1m11.633s 7 VILLENEUVE BAR Honda 1m11.738s 8 TRULLI Renault 1m11.888s 9 FISICHELLA Jordan Honda 1m11.902s 10 HEIDFELD Sauber Petronas 1m11.953s 11 FRENTZEN Sauber Petronas 1m12.083s 12 PANIS BAR Honda 1m12.161s 13 IRVINE Jaguar Cosworth 1m12.282s 14 BUTTON Renault 1m12.401s 15 SATO Jordan Honda 1m12.647s 16 MCNISH Toyota 1m12.723s 17 DE LA ROSA Jaguar Cosworth 1m12.739s 18 WEBBER Minardi Asiatech 1m13.128s 19 SALO Toyota 1m13.213s 20 YOONG Minardi Asiatech 1m13.809s

Last updated on by Federica Massagrande