The 53-lap race was won by Rubens Barrichello, driving a Ferrari. Teammate Michael Schumacher finished second, 0.25 seconds behind, to complete a Ferrari 1–2 on the team's home soil. Eddie Irvine finished third in a Jaguar-Cosworth, achieving both his and the Jaguar team's last F1 podium finish. It was also the only time in 2002 where a driver from outside the top three teams in the constructors' championship finished on the podium.
This was the first Formula 1 race at Monza with the new podium, built on the pit lane wall and connected to the pits by a walkway, with the drivers and dignitaries being closer to the public (until the previous year, the Monza podium was next to the pits).[5]
After the Belgian Grand Prix on 1 September,[13] ten teams (except Arrows) conducted a four-day test session with their race and test drivers at Monza from 3 to 6 September to test car components and gather data for the upcoming race at the circuit.[14] Michael Schumacher was fastest on the first day, ahead of British American Racing (BAR) test driver Anthony Davidson which was held in wet weather conditions, with intermittent dry spells.[13][15] Williams' Ralf Schumacher lapped faster on the second day where the rain continued into the morning before stopping meaning the track dried up as the session progressed.[16] The first full day of dry weather was held on the third day where Jaguar's Pedro de la Rosa was the fastest driver.[17]Rubens Barrichello was fastest on testing's final day. Williams' Juan Pablo Montoya caused a red flag to be shown when he lost control of his car at the Lesmo corners, and removed his front wing after colliding with the barrier.[18][19] Ferrari test driver Luca Badoer tested Bridgestone tyres and racing setups for three days at the Circuit Paul Ricard in France.[20][21] Badoer then shook down three F2002 cars at the Fiorano Circuit before they were transported to Monza and performed launch control starts.[22][23]
Barrichello said he was looking forward to the race considering the previous year's race took place in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks in the United States, adding, "It is a special place for me and I usually go well here so there is plenty to look forward to."[24] Michael Schumacher said that he would be able to celebrate both championships at Monza after not being able to do so the year before because of the attacks in America.[9] However, he said the running order would be closer than it was in Belgium, adding it would be "presumptuous" to expect Ferrari to achieve a 1–2 finish.[25] Montoya thought Williams could realistically achieve a third-place result at Monza with the equipment his team had.[26] However, following testing, he revised his prediction to a race victory, "I think the best chance we've got this year to win a race is this next one."[27]
For the event, speed bumps were added at the first and second chicanes after it became apparent a driver would be able to gain time by going across the tight opening chicane or by using the flat run-off area adjacent to the apex of both chicanes and driving on without being penalised unless they gained a place by doing so.[28][29] Gaps were built between the speed bumps to enable drivers that had outbraked themselves to manoeuvre between them.[28] The bumps received mixed reviews from the drivers.[29] Barrichello thought them to be very useful because it had been difficult for drivers a year earlier to know if cars running through had either gained or lost time.[29]Renault's Jarno Trulli stated the bumps were excessively high and added some drivers would request their removal to the race organisers as they could damage their vehicles.[29] Montoya claimed running over one of them would put a driver into the wall while McLaren's David Coulthard said they appeared to be overly close together.[28]
Ten constructors represented by a racing team entered two drivers each for the event.[30]Alex Yoong returned to his race seat at Minardi after being replaced by Davidson for the previous two races because he had failed to qualify for three events earlier in the season.[31] Arrows continued to be affected by financial trouble as chairman Tom Walkinshaw attempted to negotiate the sale of the team, which also owned money to four creditors.[32] The team did not present their cars before the preliminary scrutineering deadline on Thursday afternoon and missed the Grand Prix.[33]Sauber were the first team to test the HANS device at a Formula One race with drivers Nick Heidfeld and Felipe Massa.[34] Teams focused on locating a set-up with a very low aerodynamic load produce the minimum amount of downforce possible that would not penalise the cars too much in the heavy braking that characterises the Monza circuit. Each team brought rear wings with reduced profiles and some teams such as Renault introduced new front wing specification.[35] Ferrari introduced a new qualifying-specification engine but the team installed a previous engine specification for the race on Sunday.[36] Williams and BAR introduced revised engine specifications for qualifying.[37][38]
Practice
Preceding the race were two one-hour practice sessions on Friday and two 45-minute sessions on Saturday.[39] The first practice session on Friday morning was held in overcast conditions with the circuit damp in places early in the session following overnight rain, meaning some drivers used intermediate tyres. The track later dried up and lap times got faster.[40][41] Michael Schumacher was fastest with a time of 1:22.869, almost eight-tenths of a second quicker than Montoya. Ralf Schumacher, De La Rosa, Trulli, Jaguar's Eddie Irvine, Massa, the McLaren duo of Coulthard and Kimi Räikkönen and BAR's Olivier Panis followed in the top ten.[42][43] There were no major incidents during the session,[40] although some drivers ran off the circuit,[10] including Irvine who twice ran into the gravel traps.[43] Barrichello had a soft brake pedal and the system had to be bled by mechanics in order to allow him to continue.[37][40]
The second practice session held later in the afternoon took place in cloudy weather.[44][45] Michael Schumacher lapped four-tenths of a second quicker than in the first session and was fastest with a 1:22.433 lap. He was 0.225 seconds faster than his teammate Barrichello in second. Räikkönen, Irvine, Montoya, Toyota's Mika Salo, Ralf Schumacher, De La Rosa, Trulli and his teammate Jenson Button rounded out the top ten.[46][47] Some drivers ran off the circuit during the session.[45] Five minutes into the session, Coulthard spun off into the tyre barrier at the Curva del Serraglio corner after putting a wheel onto the grass.[46][47] Yoong spun his car at the exit to the Ascari chicane midway through the session and hit the tyre wall with his car's rear.[10][44][45] He abandoned his car there.[37] The Toyota of Allan McNish stopped at the end of the pit lane when it got stuck in first gear and pushed the car back into the garage.[37][46]
In the third practice session, held in sunny weather on Saturday morning,[48] Michael Schumacher was again quickest with a lap time of 1:22.110, 0.025 seconds faster than Montoya.[49] The McLaren duo of Coulthard and Räikkönen, Ralf Schumacher, the Jaguar pairing of Irvine and De La Rosa, Massa, McNish and BAR's Jacques Villeneuve completed the top ten.[50] The session was stopped halfway through when Barrichello's car began billowing smoke because of an engine failure at the exit of the Curva Grande turn.[48][51]Marshals moved the Ferrari off the circuit and cleaned oil laid on the asphalt track before practice could resume.[10][49] Barrichello's team installed a new engine in his Ferrari.[52]
The final practice session took place later in the morning.[53] Montoya set the fastest time of 1:21.319 late in the session that was well inside the 2001 pole lap, 0.009 seconds quicker than Michael Schumacher.[52] Positions three through ten were occupied by Barrichello, Ralf Schumacher, the McLaren pairing of Räikkönen and Coulthard. the Jaguar duo of De La Rosa and Irvine, McNish and Villeneuve.[54] More drivers spun their cars during the session.[10] Button lost control of his Renault at high-speed at the Parabolica corner, ending his running early in the gravel trap.[53][54]
Qualifying
Each driver was allowed twelve laps during Saturday's one-hour qualifying session, with starting positions determined by the drivers' quickest laps. During this session, the 107% rule was in effect, requiring each driver to remain within 107% of the quickest lap time in order to qualify for the race.[39] Qualifying took place in clear and sunny weather conditions.[55] The Williams and Ferrari teams opted to experiment with tyre set-ups by using hard compound tyres with the aim of gaining better race performance.[56] On his third run.[57] Montoya took his seventh pole position of the season and 10th of his career with a time of 1:20.264.[58][59] In doing so, he set the fastest recorded average qualifying lap speed at 259.827km/h (161.449mph),[10] surpassing Keke Rosberg's run set during qualifying for the 1985 British Grand Prix.[58][59] Montoya gained a large amount of time through the Lesmo corners, giving him a fast second sector time.[60] Michael Schumacher was second, 0.257 seconds behind after overdriving through the two Lesmo turns;[55][61] he set a quick lap followed by one to cool the tyres and then another fast timed lap despite it taking multiple laps to generate heat into his tyres.[38][60] Ralf Schumacher was the early pace setter but dropped to third at the conclusion of qualifying after making an error at the Lesmo corner that saw him mount the kerbing during his third run, preventing him from improving his time.[38][60][62] Barrichello set his best time on his second run to qualify fourth after braking too late for the first chicane.[55][63] With five minutes to go,[64] and during his warming up for his final quick lap,[65] Räikkönen put Jordan's Takuma Sato off the circuit after and onto the grass under braking for the Variante della Roggia chicane after failing to notice him, causing Sato to lose control of his car.[38][55] Sato's front left-wheel struck the rear of Räikkonen's car,[64] sending both drivers into the gravel trap and Sato hit the tyre barrier.[55][66] Both drivers were unhurt,[67] but qualifying was stopped for seven minutes.[55] Räikkönen was provisionally fifth.[56]
Irvine, sixth, had his opening two runs affected by a gear change glitch, made an error on his third run and was baulked by traffic on his fourth. Coulthard was frustrated as his tyres were taking time to generate heat and lost a large amount of time sliding over the second chicane kerbing on his first run.[38] His last run was aborted because of the stoppage, leaving him seventh.[63] De La Rosa drove the spare Jaguar for qualifying and took eighth, suffering a differential fault and a misfire on some of his runs.[38] Villeneuve made some driver errors under braking for Ascari chicane and the final turn during his second run and was ninth.[59][63] Salo completed the top ten qualifiers through the Toyota's quick straightline speed.[58][68] Trulli improved on each of his runs and slipstreamed his teammate Button on his final run to secure 11th but lost time heading into Parabolica corner. Jordan's Giancarlo Fisichella in 12th after running a strategy to do two runs but his second quick run was affected by the stoppage. McNish's crew used a four-lap strategy after discovering Toyota could run faster on the second run but traffic on his second run meant he was 13th.[38][63] The Sauber duo of Massa and Heidfeld were 14th and 15th.[58] Massa ran scrubbed tyres to give him more frontal grip for his first run but had excess understeer on a new set of tyres during his second run. He added downforce to his car for his last run that proved to be his fastest lap. Heidfeld ran wide exiting the second Lesmo corner and failed to improve on his fastest lap time from his first run.[38][63] Panis was unhappy with his car's handling balance and was 16th. Button was unhappy with the Renault's balance and came 17th.[38] Sato was unable to complete an entire flying lap due to driver errors and the collision with Räikkönen and qualified 18th.[63] The two Minardi drivers completed the starting order in 19th and 20th.[62]Mark Webber had his aerodynamic setup changed for qualifying while his teammate Yoong had his final run affected by the stoppage, losing him his final two timed laps despite dialling out excess understeer from his car.[38][63]
Post-qualifying
Sato confronted McLaren CEO Ron Dennis in the garage over the collision between himself and Räikkönen, who was clutching an ice pack onto his left elbow.[66] Both Räikkönen and Sato were summoned by the race stewards to solicit their perceptions of the incident.[69] The stewards judged Räikkönen to be at fault for the collision and decided to cancel his fastest qualifying lap time. This demoted Räikkönen to sixth and promoted Irvine to fifth.[62][70]
^1 – Kimi Räikkönen's fastest time (1:21.163) was cancelled following a collision with Takuma Sato during qualifying, this dropped him one place from fifth to sixth.[72]
Warm-up
A half-hour warm-up session was held on the morning of the race in warm and sunny conditions.[73][74] Ralf Schumacher set the pace during the session with a lap time of 1:24.480. He was followed by Barrichello, Montoya, Michael Schumacher, Räikkönen, Panis, Massa, Coulthard, Salo and Heidfeld in positions two to ten.[75] There were no major incidents during the session.[73] Sato made a minor driver error and went off the circuit at Parabolica corner while Barrichello outbraked himself and ran into the gravel trap at Curva del Vialone turn.[75] Villeneuve stalled after leaving the pit lane that necessitated him pushing his car into the pit lane to allow his mechanics to retrieve it and Salo had a possible gearbox issue.[74]
Race
The race started before a crowd of 60,000 spectators at 14:00 local time.[10][76] The weather conditions at the circuit were dry and sunny;[77] the air temperature was from 24 to 26°C (75 to 79°F) and the asphalt temperature was between 33 and 35°C (91 and 95°F).[10][78] Ralf Schumacher switched to the spare Williams car for the race because the team detected a fuel pressure supply issue in his race car.[10][79][80] On the dummy grid, Trulli failed to launch because he had difficulty selecting first gear for the formation lap but he avoided running personnel from other teams when he did start.[80][81] This meant he was required to begin the race from the back of the grid.[10]
When the lights went out to begin the race,[82] Montoya made a slow start and steered to the right to block Michael Schumacher from overtaking him in an effort to keep the race lead.[83][84] This allowed Ralf Schumacher to run alongside him on the inside line driving towards the Rettifilo chicane.[84][85] Michael Schumacher had been impeded by the two Williams car and had to slow with his teammate Barrichello alongside.[82][83] Ralf Schumacher was on the inside at the second apex to the first chicane,[81] and braked too late for the turn as he and teammate Montoya almost avoided a collision with each other.[84][85] He cut across the chicane and avoided the speed bumps designed to slow cars down and took the lead illegally.[79][85] Barrichello had passed Michael Schumacher on the inside for third.[84] Williams contacted FIA race director Charlie Whiting who replied that Ralf Schumacher had to give the lead back to Montoya to avoid an official sanction because he was adjudged to have passed off the circuit.[77][82] Coulthard ran into the rear of teammate Räikkönen's McLaren because he was slow to react to his teammate slowing to avoid a car ahead of him after the first chicane, removing his front wing and requiring a pit stop for a replacement nose cone.[84] McNish made the best start in the field, moving from 13th to seventh by the end of the first lap, while Panis made up four positions over the same distance.[84] At the end of the first lap, Ralf Schumacher led Montoya by half-a-second, followed by Barrichello, Michael Schumacher, Räikkönen and Irvine.[10]
Ralf Schumacher began to pull away slowly from Montoya.[84] Further down the field, Villeneuve passed Heidfeld for tenth, while Button passed Massa to move into 13th position and Yoong overtook teammate Webber for 18th. Ralf Schumacher set a new fastest lap, a 1:26.230 on lap three, but was later eclipsed by Barrichello. Villeneuve was overtaken by Trulli on the same lap and Webber reclaimed 18th from Yoong.[78] Williams received a reply from the stewards to order Ralf Schumacher to cede first position to Montoya which was relayed to Schumacher by Sam Michael, the Senior Operations Engineer of Williams, at the end of lap four.[79][82][83] Afterwards, Ralf Schumacher was about to let his teammate past at the exit of Parabolica corner in order to comply with the instruction before he pulled over to the side of the track at the Rettifilo chicane with smoke billowing from his engine as a result of a loss of pressure in the engine's pneumatic valve system failure on the start/finish straight and became the race's first retirement at the start of lap five.[10][80][84] His teammate Montoya thus temporarily inherited the lead but had lost momentum and was blinded by the smoke, allowing Barrichello to move into the inside line, and after running in Montoya's slipstream, he passed the Williams driver for the lead under braking heading towards the Rettifilo chicane.[82][86]
On lap five, in an attempt to catch Barrichello,[86] Montoya ran wide and across the Variante della Roggia chicane.[10][84] This allowed Michael Schumacher to close up and passed Montoya on the outside down the start/finish straight for second at the beginning of lap six.[85][86][87] Two laps later, Salo ran wide at the second Lesmo turn, allowing Panis to overtake him for seventh. Barrichello began increasing his lead over his teammate Michael Schumacher, who went wide at the Lesmo corners on lap eight.[10] The Ferrari drivers were running different strategies – Barrichello was on a two-stop strategy and Michael Schumacher was on a one-stop strategy;[82][85] this gave Barrichello a lighter car early in the race and him starting fourth required Ferrari to consider an attack.[10][88] The one-stopping McNish was running in sixth place following Ralf Schumacher's retirement and was battling Panis for the position.[83][84] His Toyota's handling had become unpredictable and feared a slow puncture or suspension failure[80] McNish entered the pit lane on lap 13 for checks to his front suspension and was stationary for 25.9 seconds.[84][87] He returned to the garage on lap 15 to retire with a broken front-right suspension.[78][85]
On the following lap, De La Rosa cut the first chicane and overtook Massa for 12th.[78][82] Massa repassed the Jaguar into the Ascari chicane on lap 17 but De La Rosa's front-left and Massa's right-rear made contact under braking.[85] The collision caused damage to De La Rosa's front-left suspension and wheel that caused him to retire while Massa suffered a right-rear puncture, possibly because of the contact and that sent him through the gravel trap on lap 18 and had to retire.[77][81][85] The first round of pit stops began on lap 18.[77] Barrichello had set a series of fastest laps to pull 16.7 seconds clear of teammate Michael Schumacher when he made his first pit stop for fuel and tyres on the following lap.[81][86] His stop lasted 8.4 seconds and he rejoined the circuit in second, ahead of Montoya.[10][87] On lap 22, Webber retired at the side of the track at the Variante della Roggia chicane with no power in his car because of an engine control unit failure.[10][78][80] Barrichello was gaining on race leader Michael Schumacher and was 8.4 seconds behind by lap 25.[77] Michael Schumacher made his one and only pit stop on lap 28.[80] His stop took 10.8 seconds to complete and he fell to third, behind Barrichello and Montoya.[10]
Räikkönen retired during the 31st lap due to a major V10 engine failure that caused smoke to billow from the rear of his McLaren on the drive to Parabolica corner.[78][80] His retirement promoted Salo to fourth, Irvine to fifth and Panis to sixth.[10] On the same lap, Montoya made his first and only pit stop from second position.[77][86] He rejoined the Grand Prix in third after an 11.4-second stop.[10] Salo made his only pit stop of the Grand Prix on lap 31 and crossed the white line separating the pit lane exit from the race track.[78][83] On lap 33, Montoya cut the first chicane and ran through the gravel trap and damaged the bodywork on a barge board before understeering over the rumble strips at the next chicane.[80] He entered the pit lane with the front right wheel lifted up in the air because he had mounted the kerbing and retired from the race.[76][85] Montoya's retirement moved Irvine to third and Panis to fourth.[84] That same lap saw Salo be imposed with a drive-through penalty for crossing the white line at the pit lane exit.[78] Salo took the penalty on lap 35, ending his chances of achieving a points-scoring finish.[10][78]
Barrichello made his second pit stop from the race lead on lap 37.[89] His stop lasted 8.4 seconds and he rejoined the circuit just ahead of his teammate Michael Schumacher, whose pace was almost two seconds slower than on his previous laps and who would continue to reduce his pace significantly on the next laps.[10][84] Fisichella and Coulthard made their pit stops on the following lap.[78] On lap 40, Irvine allowed the yet-to-stop Panis to pass him for third place at the Parabolica chicane after Panis got a good run heading towards the corner.[84][87] Panis made his second scheduled pit stop two laps later, returning Irvine to third.[78][86] He returned to the track in sixth, behind the Renault pairing of Trulli and Button.[84] Running on newer tyres,[80] Coulthard overtook Villeneuve for eighth on lap 43 and caught up to Fisichella by the 47th lap.[78][87] On lap 48, Coulthard overtook Fisichella for seventh but ran wide across the Variante chicane and had to allow Fisichella to reclaim the position in order to avoid a penalty.[10][78] He tried again at the first chicane on lap 52 and was successful that time round.[78][87]
Barrichello had been leading by 17 seconds but slowed in the final laps in order to have the two Ferraris to achieve a formation finish and Michael Schumacher was behind his teammate by the last lap.[81][84] He maintained the lead for the rest of the race and took his third victory of the season and fourth of his career.[89] Michael Schumacher finished in second, 0.255 seconds behind.[88][90] Although he was told not to use launch control for fear of issues,[80] Irvine took his and Jaguar's first podium finish since the 2001 Monaco Grand Prix in third and was the first driver not for Ferrari, McLaren and Williams to achieve a podium result.[89][91] Renault had their first double points finish of the season.[89] Trulli recovered from starting at the back of the grid to finish in fourth.[76] Button finished fifth after Renault imposed a team order instructing him to let Trulli past following the pit stop cycle.[82][88] Panis was the final points-scorer in sixth,[92] his second championship points score of the season.[89] Coulthard was seventh, with Fisichella eighth after a launch control issue and his car carrying a large amount of fuel at the start. Villeneuve's one-stop strategy with additional wing did not result in him overtaking drivers or stop himself from being passed, leaving him in ninth. Heidfeld claimed tenth with a two-stop strategy.[80] Salo in 11th had blistered tyres early on.[76] Sato spun during the race and was 12th.[82] Yoong was the final finisher after a long pit stop brought on by the engine cutting out because of an anti-stall issue that had to be remedied in the Minardi garage.[79][80] A total of 13 out of the 20 starters finished the Grand Prix.[92]
Post-race
The top three drivers appeared on the podium to collect their trophies and spoke to the media in the subsequent press conference.[39] Barrichello thanked the Ferrari test team for their work the week before that enabled the team to select the correct Bridgestone tyres, "I have no words for them because it was really the tyre to have. It was unbelievable. From the test last week to now it was just the tyre to have."[93] Michael Schumacher commented on finishing in second, "I did enjoy it because this was the ideal result we dreamed of. I didn't want to go that far and wish myself such a result because we've had so much luck this year and so many good results that I thought whatever comes is going to be fine but this is obviously a dream result."[93] Irvine contrasted the difference of scoring frequent podium results at Ferrari with taking infrequent ones with Jaguar, "it must be great to be back but to be on the podium here, when you've been away for so long, you know, whenever I was at Ferrari it was like podium, podium, podium. There's nothing like being away for a while."[93]
Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn stated it was not for him to talk about the importance of Ferrari's victory at Monza but did say, "It was the perfect answer to those who ask if we are fed up with winning."[94] Jaguar team principal Niki Lauda praised Irvine's performance in the Grand Prix, "He did a perfect job, didn't make any mistakes, and it was a great weekend for the team. We have all been working for a long time to achieve this."[95] Trulli said that he had believed he had "lost everything at the start" when first gear failed to engage at the start of the formation lap but added that finishing in fourth was "pretty unexpected!"[96] His teammate Button stated finishing in fifth was a "pretty unexpected result" and that Renault finishing fourth and fifth reminded him of the 2001 German Grand Prix when the team's predecessor Benetton achieved a double points finish on a circuit that did not suit them.[96] Panis heralded his sixth-place result, "I'm absolutely delighted to finish 6th today. To get a point after starting 16th on the grid is fantastic for us. It was a tough race with plenty of action but I took the risk of a two-stop strategy and it worked for me."[97]
In accordance with the new regulations that season, Massa became the first driver to receive a ten-place grid penalty for causing a collision.[98]
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Rubens Barrichello 
