2003 Monaco Grand Prix

2003 Monaco Grand Prix
Race 7 of 16 in the 2003 Formula One World Championship ←  Previous race Next race  →
Race details
Date	1 June 2003
Official name	Grand Prix de Monaco 2003
Location	Circuit de Monaco, Monaco
Course	Street circuit
Course length	3.34 km (2.075 miles)
Distance	78 laps, 260.52 km (161.85 miles)
Weather	Sunny at start, cloudy later
Pole position
Driver	Ralf Schumacher	Williams-BMW
Time	1:15.259
Fastest lap
Driver	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes
Time	1:14.545 on lap 49
Podium
First	Juan Pablo Montoya	Williams-BMW
Second	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes
Third	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari
Lap leaders

The 2003 Monaco Grand Prix (officially known as the Grand Prix de Monaco 2003) ^[1] was a Formula One motor race that took place on 1 June 2003 at the Circuit de Monaco in Monte Carlo, Monaco. It was the seventh round of the 2003 Formula One World Championship.

Ralf Schumacher of BMW Williams took pole position for the race, but his teammate Juan Pablo Montoya won the race ahead of championship leader Kimi Räikkönen of McLaren and current World Champion Michael Schumacher of Ferrari. It was Williams's first victory in Monaco since Keke Rosberg in 1983.

There were no recorded on-track overtakes during this race, one of the very few occasions in Formula One history where this has occurred. The other three races since 1981 not to feature any on-track overtakes were the controversial 2005 United States and 2021 Belgian Grands Prix, as well as the 2009 European Grand Prix. ^[2]

Background

Across the weekend of 29 May - 1 June, the Circuit de Monaco in Monte Carlo hosted a Formula One Grand Prix for the 50th time in the circuit's history, with it being the 50th Monaco Grand Prix as a round of the Formula One World Championship as well. The Grand Prix was the seventh round of the 2003 Formula One World Championship. ^{[3] [4]}

Championship standings before the race

Going into the weekend, McLaren driver Kimi Räikkönen led the Drivers' Championship with 40 points, ahead of Ferrari drivers Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello on 38 and 26 points, respectively. In the Constructors' Championship, Ferrari were leading with 64 points and McLaren were second on 63 points, with Renault third on 35 points. ^[5]

Entrants

The Grand Prix was contested by 20 drivers, in ten teams of two. The teams, also known as constructors, were Ferrari, Williams, McLaren, Renault, Sauber, Jordan, Jaguar, BAR, Minardi and Toyota. ^[6]

Practice

Three free practice sessions were held for the event. ^{[7] [8]} Jaguar driver Mark Webber set the fastest time in the first session, a tenth of a second quicker than Jenson Button and David Coulthard, in second and third places respectively. ^{[9] [10] [11]} Webber was third in the second session, which was topped by Kimi Räikkönen in the McLaren ahead of Juan Pablo Montoya in the BMW Williams. ^[12] Finally, Coulthard led the third practice session, ahead of Montoya and World Champion Michael Schumacher in the Ferrari. ^{[13] [14]}

Jenson Button suffered a heavy crash during Saturday morning practice and his resulting injuries meant that he took no further part in the weekend. ^{[15] [16]}

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. ^{[7] [17]}

Ralf Schumacher scored his first pole position in nearly two years. In contrast, his brother Michael's fifth starting place was his worst qualifying performance at this circuit since he first competed there in 1992. ^[18]

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1 Time	Q2 Time	Gap
1	4	Ralf Schumacher	Williams-BMW	1:17.063	1:15.259
2	6	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:17.926	1:15.295	+0.036
3	3	Juan Pablo Montoya	Williams-BMW	1:17.108	1:15.415	+0.156
4	7	Jarno Trulli	Renault	1:16.905	1:15.500	+0.241
5	1	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	1:16.305	1:15.644	+0.385
6	5	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	1:17.059	1:15.700	+0.441
7	2	Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari	1:16.636	1:15.820	+0.561
8	8	Fernando Alonso	Renault	1:18.370	1:15.884	+0.625
9	14	Mark Webber	Jaguar-Cosworth	1:17.637	1:16.237	+0.978
10	21	Cristiano da Matta	Toyota	1:20.374	1:16.744	+1.485
11	16	Jacques Villeneuve	BAR-Honda	1:18.109	1:16.755	+1.496
12	11	Giancarlo Fisichella	Jordan-Ford	1:17.080	1:16.967	+1.708
13	15	Antônio Pizzonia	Jaguar-Cosworth	1:18.967	1:17.103	+1.844
14	9	Nick Heidfeld	Sauber-Petronas	1:17.912	1:17.176	+1.917
15	10	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Sauber-Petronas	No time	1:17.402	+2.143
16	12	Ralph Firman	Jordan-Ford	1:18.286	1:17.452	+2.193
17	20	Olivier Panis	Toyota	1:19.903	1:17.464	+2.205
18	19	Jos Verstappen	Minardi-Cosworth	1:19.421	1:18.706	+3.447
19	18	Justin Wilson	Minardi-Cosworth	1:19.680	1:20.063	+4.804
20	17	Jenson Button	BAR-Honda	1:16.685	No time 1	—
Sources: [19] [20] [21]

Notes

• ^1 – Jenson Button was left without a time in Q2 after a spin in Saturday's practice.

Race

The race was held on 1 June 2003 and was run for 78 laps. ^[22]

Race report

Ralf Schumacher led the pack through the first corner without incidents. His teammate Juan Pablo Montoya was the first to follow, having overtaken Kimi Räikkönen in the McLaren. Behind them came Jarno Trulli, Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso, the Spaniard overtaking two drivers on the getaway. Heinz-Harald Frentzen did not finish the first lap, after going wide over the kerbs at the swimming pool chicane, losing control of his Sauber and crashing it hard into the armco barrier. ^{[18] [23]}

After four laps behind the safety car to let the marshals clear the track, the race continued and the top three escaped from the rest of the pack, mainly due to Trulli's cautious pace. Montoya put heavy pressure on his leading teammate, running less than half a second behind when Schumacher made his pit stop. The Colombian made use of the clean air on just one lap. He immediately set the fastest lap time of the race and after his stop, rejoined just in front of his teammate. To make matters worse for the German, Räikkönen also appeared ahead him after the Finn had pitted. Michael Schumacher overtook Trulli through the pit stop phase and David Coulthard got ahead of Alonso. ^{[18] [23]}

When Montoya made his second stop, Räikkönen set the fastest lap in an effort to jump his rival, but he rejoined just behind the Williams. Meanwhile, Ralf Schumacher had fallen back to fourth position, behind his brother, and almost crashed at Rascasse corner. Alonso on the other hand, took advantage of an alternative strategy to jump both Coulthard and teammate Trulli in the pit stops. ^{[18] [23]}

With fifteen laps to go, Montoya had Räikkönen continuously right behind him and Michael Schumacher closing in by seven tenths per lap, but he held on to take his first victory in nearly two years. ^{[18] [23]}

Race classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Tyre	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	3	Juan Pablo Montoya	Williams-BMW	M	78	1:42:19.010	3	10
2	6	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes	M	78	+ 0.602	2	8
3	1	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	B	78	+ 1.720	5	6
4	4	Ralf Schumacher	Williams-BMW	M	78	+ 28.518	1	5
5	8	Fernando Alonso	Renault	M	78	+ 36.251	8	4
6	7	Jarno Trulli	Renault	M	78	+ 40.972	4	3
7	5	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	M	78	+ 41.227	6	2
8	2	Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari	B	78	+ 53.266	7	1
9	21	Cristiano da Matta	Toyota	M	77	+ 1 Lap	10
10	11	Giancarlo Fisichella	Jordan-Ford	B	77	+ 1 Lap	12
11	9	Nick Heidfeld	Sauber-Petronas	B	76	+ 2 Laps	14
12	12	Ralph Firman	Jordan-Ford	B	76	+ 2 Laps	16
13	20	Olivier Panis	Toyota	M	74	+ 4 Laps	17
Ret	16	Jacques Villeneuve	BAR-Honda	B	63	Engine	11
Ret	18	Justin Wilson	Minardi-Cosworth	B	29	Fuel system	19
Ret	19	Jos Verstappen	Minardi-Cosworth	B	28	Fuel system	18
Ret	14	Mark Webber	Jaguar-Cosworth	M	16	Hydraulics	9
Ret	15	Antônio Pizzonia	Jaguar-Cosworth	M	10	Electrical	13
Ret	10	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Sauber-Petronas	B	0	Accident	15
DNS	17	Jenson Button	BAR-Honda	B		Driver injured	20
Source: [24]

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings +/– Pos Driver Points 1 Kimi Räikkönen 48 2 Michael Schumacher 44 1 3 Fernando Alonso 29 1 4 Rubens Barrichello 27 2 5 Juan Pablo Montoya 25 Source: [25]

Constructors' Championship standings +/– Pos Constructor Points 1 1 McLaren-Mercedes 73 1 2 Ferrari 71 1 3 Williams-BMW 50 1 4 Renault 42 5 Jordan-Ford 11 Source: [25]

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

See also

• 2003 Monaco F3000 round

References

1. "Grand Prix de Monaco 2003" . Retrieved 8 March 2023.
2. "Formula One Overtaking Database". Archived from the original on 17 October 2012. Retrieved 26 October 2012.
3. "Grands Prix Monaco". StatsF1. Retrieved 2 August 2025.
4. "2003 F1 calendar". BBC Sport. 14 January 2003. Retrieved 2 August 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. "2003 Entry List". Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. Archived from the original on 2 June 2002. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
7. 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.
8. "2003 Monaco Grand Prix - Results and Reports". NewsOnF1.com. Retrieved 1 August 2025.
9. "Webber flies in Monaco GP first practice". motorsport.com. Motorsport.com, Inc. 29 May 2003. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
10. "2003 Monaco Grand Prix - Thursday Practice Session Results". NewsOnF1.com. Retrieved 1 August 2025.
11. "GRAND PRIX DE MONACO 2003 - PRACTICE 1". Formula1.com. Retrieved 1 August 2025.
12. "2003 Monaco Grand Prix - First Saturday Practice Session Results". NewsOnF1.com. Retrieved 1 August 2025.
13. "2003 Monaco Grand Prix - Second Saturday Practice Session Results". NewsOnF1.com. Retrieved 1 August 2025.
14. "GRAND PRIX DE MONACO 2003 - PRACTICE 2". Formula1.com. Retrieved 1 August 2025.
15. "Jenson Button - 2003". Daily Mirror . 24 May 2013. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
16. "Button suffers 180mph crash". BBC Sport. 31 May 2003. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
17. "Deciding the grid - A history of F1 qualifying formats". formula1.com. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
18. Elizalde, Pablo (4 June 2003). "The 2003 Monaco GP Review". AtlasF1.com. Spain. Retrieved 1 August 2025.
19. "2003 Monaco GP – 1st Qualification". ChicaneF1. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
20. "2003 Monaco GP – 2nd Qualification". ChicaneF1. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
21. "2003 Monaco Grand Prix Classification Grid". Motorsport Stats. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
22. "2003 Monaco Grand Prix". MotorsportMagazine. Retrieved 1 August 2025.
23. "Monaco GP 2003 - Race Report - Monty's python". GrandPrix.com. 2 June 2003. Retrieved 1 August 2025.
24. "2003 Monaco Grand Prix". Formula1.com. Formula1.com Limited. Archived from the original on 26 December 2014. Retrieved 26 December 2015.
25. "Monaco 2003 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 19 March 2019.

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