2003 Canadian Grand Prix

2003 Canadian Grand Prix
Race 8 of 16 in the 2003 Formula One World Championship ←  Previous race Next race  →
Race details
Date	15 June 2003
Official name	Grand Prix Air Canada 2003
Location	Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Course	Street circuit
Course length	4.361 km (2.710 miles)
Distance	70 laps, 305.270 km (189.686 miles)
Weather	Partly cloudy and mild with temperatures reaching a maximum of 19.3 °C (66.7 °F) Wind speeds up to 12.9 km/h (8.0 mph) [1] Track 32 °C (90 °F) [2]
Attendance	112,000 [3]
Pole position
Driver	Ralf Schumacher	Williams-BMW
Time	1:15.529
Fastest lap
Driver	Fernando Alonso	Renault
Time	1:16.040 on lap 53
Podium
First	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari
Second	Ralf Schumacher	Williams-BMW
Third	Juan Pablo Montoya	Williams-BMW
Lap leaders

The 2003 Canadian Grand Prix (officially known as the Grand Prix Air Canada 2003) ^[4] was a Formula One motor race that took place on 15 June 2003 at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Quebec. It was the eighth round of the 2003 Formula One World Championship.

Ralf Schumacher of BMW Williams took pole position for the race. His brother, World Champion Michael Schumacher, won the race, despite nursing an ailing car, ahead of Ralf and Juan Pablo Montoya in the other Williams.

This was the fourth time that the Schumacher brothers finished 1-2, having become the first siblings to do so at the 2001 Canadian Grand Prix.

Background

The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal hosted the Canadian Grand Prix for the 25th time in the circuit's history, across the weekend of 13-15 June. The Grand Prix was the eighth round of the 2003 Formula One World Championship and the 35th running of the Canadian Grand Prix as a round of the Formula One World Championship.

Championship standings before the race

Going into the weekend, McLaren driver Kimi Räikkönen led the Drivers' Championship with 48 points, ahead of Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher on 44 and Renault's Fernando Alonso on 29 points. In the Constructors' Championship, McLaren were leading with 73 points and Ferrari were second on 71 points, with BMW Williams third on 50 points. ^[5]

Practice

Three free practice sessions were held for the event. ^{[6] [7]} Jaguar driver Antônio Pizzonia set the fastest time in the first session, six tenths of a second quicker than Juan Pablo Montoya and Michael Schumacher, in second and third places respectively. ^{[8] [9]} The second session was topped by Rubens Barrichello in the Ferrari ahead of Michael Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve in the BAR. ^[10] Finally, the Ferraris of Schumacher and Barrichello led the third practice session, ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella in the Jordan. ^{[11] [12]}

Qualifying

Qualiyfing consisted of two one-hour sessions, one on Friday and one on Saturday afternoon. The first session's running order was determined by the Drivers' Championship standings, with the leading driver going first. Each driver was allowed to set one lap time. The result determined the running order in the second session: the fastest driver in the first session was allowed to go last in the second session, which usually provided the benefit of a cleaner track. Drivers were again allowed to set one lap time, which determined the order on the grid for the race on Sunday, with the fastest driver scoring pole position. ^{[6] [13]}

Ralf Schumacher scored his second consecutive pole position, nearly four tenths ahead of teammate Juan Pablo Montoya and Michael Schumacher.

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1 Time	Q2 Time	Gap
1	4	Ralf Schumacher	Williams-BMW	1:38.210	1:15.529
2	3	Juan Pablo Montoya	Williams-BMW	1:37.479	1:15.923	+0.394
3	1	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	1:31.969	1:16.047	+0.518
4	8	Fernando Alonso	Renault	1:35.173	1:16.048	+0.519
5	2	Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari	1:30.925	1:16.143	+0.614
6	14	Mark Webber	Jaguar-Cosworth	1:36.699	1:16.182	+0.653
7	20	Olivier Panis	Toyota	1:37.313	1:16.598	+1.069
8	7	Jarno Trulli	Renault	1:41.413	1:16.718	+1.189
9	21	Cristiano da Matta	Toyota	1:38.244	1:16.826	+1.297
10	10	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Sauber-Petronas	1:35.776	1:16.939	+1.410
11	5	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	1:36.463	1:17.024	+1.495
12	9	Nick Heidfeld	Sauber-Petronas	1:32.778	1:17.086	+1.557
13	15	Antônio Pizzonia	Jaguar-Cosworth	1:38.255	1:17.337	+1.808
14	16	Jacques Villeneuve	BAR-Honda	1:44.702	1:17.347	+1.818
15	19	Jos Verstappen	Minardi-Cosworth	1:37.426	1:18.014	+2.485
16	11	Giancarlo Fisichella	Jordan-Ford	1:38.617	1:18.036	+2.507
17	17	Jenson Button	BAR-Honda	1:38.109	1:18.205	+2.676
18	18	Justin Wilson	Minardi-Cosworth	1:38.088	1:18.560	+3.031
19	12	Ralph Firman	Jordan-Ford	1:34.759	1:18.692	+3.163
20	6	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:35.373	No time 1	+19.844
Sources: [14] [15] [16]

Notes

• ^1 – Kimi Räikkönen spun off at the second corner and did not set a time in Q2.

Race

The race was held on 15 June 2003 and was run for 70 laps. ^{[17] [18]}

Race report

At the start, Ralf Schumacher got away well and kept the lead. Michael Schumacher managed to come alongside of Juan Pablo Montoya, but the Colombian left his braking late and held on along the outside of the corner. Rubens Barrichello in fifth hit the back of Fernando Alonso before Antônio Pizzonia ran into the other Renault of Jarno Trulli. Barrichello and Pizzonia visited the pits for new front wings. At the end of the second lap, Montoya suddenly spun coming out of the final corner. He fell back to fifth position and after the race, admitted it was his own fault. ^{[19] [18] [20]}

Montoya recovered quickly by passing Webber and Alonso, before the Williams driver opened the first round of regular pit stops on lap 19. Ralf Schumacher pitted on lap 20, leaving Michael in free air, who immediately set the fastest lap and managed to rejoin the track in what would be the lead after Alonso's stop on lap 26.

After the second round of pit stops, Michael Schumacher slowed down to save his tyres and brakes, which allowed Montoya to close up to him and Ralf, before Alonso joined the leading pack with five laps to go. Barrichello and Räikkönen had come up through the field and were fighting for fifth place. But how ever close the cars seemed to be, none of them managed to make a move and Michael Schumacher scored his fourth victory of the year, ahead of Ralf Schumacher, scoring just his first podium this season, and Juan Pablo Montoya.

Race classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	1	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	70	1:31:13.591	3	10
2	4	Ralf Schumacher	Williams-BMW	70	+0.784	1	8
3	3	Juan Pablo Montoya	Williams-BMW	70	+1.355	2	6
4	8	Fernando Alonso	Renault	70	+4.481	4	5
5	2	Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari	70	+1:04.261	5	4
6	6	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes	70	+1:10.502	PL 2	3
7	14	Mark Webber	Jaguar-Cosworth	69	+1 Lap	6	2
8	20	Olivier Panis	Toyota	69	+1 Lap	7	1
9	19	Jos Verstappen	Minardi-Cosworth	68	+2 Laps	15
10	15	Antônio Pizzonia	Jaguar-Cosworth	66	Brakes	13
11	21	Cristiano da Matta	Toyota	64	Suspension	9
Ret	18	Justin Wilson	Minardi-Cosworth	60	Gearbox	18
Ret	17	Jenson Button	BAR-Honda	51	Gearbox	17
Ret	5	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	47	Gearbox	11
Ret	9	Nick Heidfeld	Sauber-Petronas	47	Engine	12
Ret	7	Jarno Trulli	Renault	22	Collision damage	8
Ret	11	Giancarlo Fisichella	Jordan-Ford	20	Gearbox	16
Ret	12	Ralph Firman	Jordan-Ford	20	Engine	PL 2
Ret	16	Jacques Villeneuve	BAR-Honda	14	Brakes	14
Ret	10	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Sauber-Petronas	6	Electronics	10
Source: [21]

Notes

• ^2 – Kimi Räikkönen and Ralph Firman started from the pit lane.

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings +/– Pos Driver Points 1 1 Michael Schumacher 54 1 2 Kimi Räikkönen 51 3 Fernando Alonso 34 3 4 Ralf Schumacher 33 5 Juan Pablo Montoya 31 Source: [22]

Constructors' Championship standings +/– Pos Constructor Points 1 1 Ferrari 85 1 2 McLaren-Mercedes 76 3 Williams-BMW 64 4 Renault 47 5 Jordan-Ford 11 Source: [22]

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

1. "Weather information for the "2003 Canadian Grand Prix"". The Old Farmers' Almanac. Retrieved 2018-09-06.
2. F1 Racing . July 2003.
3. F1 Racing . July 2003.
4. "Canada". Formula1.com. Retrieved 28 July 2025.
5. "Drivers' and Constructors' Provisional Standings". Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. Archived from the original on 2 June 2002. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
6. Domenjoz, Luc, ed. (2003). "Sporting regulations". Formula 1 Yearbook 2003–04 . Bath, Somerset: Parragon. pp. 220–221. ISBN   978-1-4054-2089-1 – via Internet Archive.
7. "2003 Canadian Grand Prix - Results and Reports". NewsOnF1.com. Retrieved 1 August 2025.
8. "2003 Canadian Grand Prix - Friday Practice Session Results". NewsOnF1.com. Retrieved 1 August 2025.
9. "GRAND PRIX AIR CANADA 2003 - PRACTICE 1". Formula1.com. Retrieved 1 August 2025.
10. "2003 Canadian Grand Prix - First Saturday Practice Session Results". NewsOnF1.com. Retrieved 1 August 2025.
11. "2003 Canadian Grand Prix - Second Saturday Practice Session Results". NewsOnF1.com. Retrieved 1 August 2025.
12. "GRAND PRIX AIR CANADA 2003 - PRACTICE 2". Formula1.com. Retrieved 1 August 2025.
13. "Deciding the grid - A history of F1 qualifying formats". formula1.com. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
14. "2003 Canadian GP – 1st Qualification". ChicaneF1. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
15. "2003 Canadian GP – 2nd Qualification". ChicaneF1. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
16. "2003 Canadian Grand Prix Classification Grid". Motorsport Stats. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
17. "2003 Canadian Grand Prix". MotorsportMagazine. Retrieved 1 August 2025.
18. "8. Canada 2003". StatsF1.com. Retrieved 1 August 2025.
19. Elizalde, Pablo (18 June 2003). "The 2003 Canadian GP Review". AtlasF1.com. Spain. Retrieved 1 August 2025.
20. Petric, Darjan (15 June 2022). "2003 Canadian GP – Michael beats faster Williams drivers, first fastest lap for Alonso". MaxF1. Retrieved 1 August 2025.
21. "2003 Canadian Grand Prix". Formula1.com. Formula1.com Limited. Retrieved 11 August 2018.
22. "Canada 2003 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 14 March 2019.

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