Formula 1 Championship Results

Championship Review

 FERRARI AND SCHUMACHER ACHIEVE THE UNTHINKABLE

The exciting 2003 season found its champion in the final round. Three drivers had a chance to the title with three races to go. These events opened the way to the imagination, and the speculation that Ferrari and its "Red Baron" dominance was about to end. We will see that it was not.

The FIA was right in his decisions regarding the new regulations. A new points system was plus, and the implementation of a single lap for qualifying, without the opportunity to adjust the car but only the race has started. Also, the elimination of start control, which aided the pilot's to avoid getting stuck or spin, and now the engines had to last all weekend. If an engine was changed before qualifying, the driver would lose 10 seats, and if it occurred during qualifying, the start would be from last.

The novelty before the start of the championship was the inclusion of two new GPs in Bahrain and China, at the expense of the GP of Austria. The first poised to be extremely interesting given the area's environmental ignorance, its sandy hot surroundings, and that it was located in the Middle East. In Shanghai, a very interesting track was built. Hermann Tilke was again in charge of the circuit development that had complex turns (remembering a little bit of Hungaroring) and it was adorned with fancy structures that tried project much Chinese economic growth.

Overall, the four biggest teams had no changes in their lineup. Schumacher and Barrichello stayed at Ferrari, McLaren kept Raikkonen and Coulthard, and Williams returned with Colombian Montoya along with Ralf Schumacher. Two teams looked in sharp rise, Renault, with its new hope in Fernando Alonso, and the constant Jarno Trulli, while BAR-Honda presented the always promising Jenson Button and the quick Takuma Sato.
The middle of the pack teams brought few changes though. Sauber acquired the talents of Felipe Massa and Giancarlo Fisichella, while Jordan brought Nick Heidfeld and Giorgio Pantano.

ONE WORD: UNMATCHABLE

The prevailing high expectations for the season were quickly eliminated in view of the brutal dominance exhibited by Ferrari. Never before, achievements of this kind seemed so unattainable to match. True, McLaren enjoyed at the hands of Senna and Prost an unprecedented superiority in 1988. Also, it is true that Schumacher has never had serious competition in terms of driving skills, much less within the same team as in the cited case of the '88 couple, but this time, there is no possible comparison.

The "Red Baron" started rolling with five wins in five starts, and his teammate Barrichello was his escort in three of them. In Monaco Jarno Trulli brought Schumacher's streak to a stop. The Italian started first with Button on his side, while Schumacher did from fourth behind Alonso. Many things happened in the race, and Schumacher had to say goodbye to his, after Montoya slightly rammed him in the tunnel after the safety car was taken to the track following an accident from Alonso. Meanwhile, Trulli kept leading and at times he looked unstoppable, and in spite of the enormous effort by Button to catch him who hunted throughout the test. In the end, the Italian prevailed by a .497 seconds margin. The Italian broke the rule and won from pole, the most likely outcome regardless of Schumacher’s incident, since at that time he was 4th and had a tyre change pending when everybody had done theirs.

This break of not seeing a red overall on the podium did not last long. Schumacher then amazed an impressive streak of seven wins, of which he was followed four times by his teammate, who then became the only one with the number of points to snatch the title. But not for long.
With five races to the end of the season, the next appointment would be at Spa-Francorchamps, where the German did not look like he wanted to wait, and won his seventh crown by finishing 2nd behind a determined Raikkonen.

With its fifth consecutive crown, and seventh of his career, Schumacher relaxed a little. After Belgium he was second again in Italy where Barrichello won as he also did in China. A Japanese victory would seal the most incredible seasons in terms of records: 13 wins for Schumacher, 15 for Ferrari, which accumulated almost more points than the rest of the teams combined.

No doubt that the sport suffered a bit. Some fans were lost (despite the increase in "tifosi") and interest was reduced a little given the predictability of season. Certainly Ferrari cannot be blamed for the consequences of their achievements; it is part of the organization and teams to look for new ideas to enrich the experience.

But not everything was so monotonous. Jenson Button had an excellent season, finishing third and occupying the podium in 10 opportunities, giving the thought that there was some champion material on him. Similar development was seen in Fernando Alonso, who despite having five withdrawals finished fourth in the championship. Of the 13 races that he concluded, in 10 of them he did it in 5th place or better.