Malaysian Grand Prix - Ferrari Owners' Club

GRAND PRIX: Malaysia: The Young Ones

25.3.03

The first victory of Kimi Raikkonen's fledgling career was a thoroughly earned one. It was also the second in succession for the McLaren team. For Fernando Alonso, who dominated the first quarter of the race after starting on pole, third place was a great result in just his 19th race.

Their performance overshadowed that of Rubens Barrichello, whose second place gave Ferrari a podium finish but little compensation for the failure to capitalise on their superior package. One second faster than the McLarens in Friday's first qualifying session, the pace eluded Ferrari when it counted.

Michael Schumacher failed to make the podium for the second race in succession after a clash at the first corner with Jarno Trulli. Two pit stops, one for a new front wing and one for a drive-through penalty, dropped the world champion down to 14th place. His drive back up the order to finish sixth was one of the highlights of the race

But he stays in touch in the championship in joint third place, eight points behind Raikkonen. David Coulthard - who retired on lap three with an electrical problem - still lies second following his win in the first Grand Prix.

The Renaults qualified on the front row of the grid, and went on to disprove the claims made by Ferrari, McLaren and Williams that they had only done so by carrying a light fuel load and would suffer from having to make pit stops too early in the race.

Alonso led early on, with Raikkonen second and Sauber's Nick Heidfeld third. The Spaniard's fuel lasted until lap 14 when he pitted and relinquished the lead to Raikkonen. Barrichello then took over until he, too, pitted, on lap 22.

Barrichello was able to exploit the superiority of the Ferrari over the middle part of the race to get ahead of Alonso after the second round of pit stops. But he could do nothing about the calm, mature performance of Raikkonen.

The generational shift was summed up by Barrichello after the race. "I think both [Raikkonen and Alonso] are future world champions - I just hope I can win it before them," he said.

Jean Todt:

The start was the critical moment, when Michael collided with Trulli and Rubens lost a few places. On lap 3, we called Michael into the pits to replace the front wing, damaged in the incident. This same incident also saw Michael given a penalty and he drove through the pit-lane on lap 9, losing ground even more. All things considered, Michael’s sixth place is significant for the Drivers’ championship. Rubens drove a good race to take second place. Now we have to work to be as well prepared as possible for the next race in Brazil, where we will continue to race the F2002. In the meantime, we will continue with the development of the F2003-GA, which we know is more competitive than the current car.

Rubens Barrichello :

After the start there was a lot of debris from other cars and I was lucky not to hit everything. I found myself behind Heidfeld, but we had good straight line speed and I was able to pass cars. The car set-up was fantastic but having fallen back, I had to catch up and that compromised my race. After the second stop, I had a slight misfire, but I kept pushing until, with 15 laps to go, the team told me to hold position. I must thank the Stewards for allowing me to race without the HANS system. Sid Watkins checked me out and agreed that I should not use it, as I have got a small hernia which is quite painful. I tried all weekend to make the HANS work and for the next race, we will have a solution which should fix the problem.

Michael Schumacher :

It was an unfortunate start. I made a mistake and hit Jarno and I have apologised to him. That was the decisive moment of my race. It came as a big surprise that I was still able to fight for points after I pitted for the drive-through penalty. So, I am happy enough in the circumstances. I have no complaints about my car, which worked very well, thanks to the team. Let’s hope the next race will be better.

RACE RESULTS - MALAYSIAN GP
56 Laps. Weather : dry & hot

Classified:
Pos	Driver	Team		Time
1.	Raikkonen	McLaren	(M)	1h32:22.195
2.	Barrichello	Ferrari	(B)	+ 0:39.286
3.	Alonso	Renault	(M)	+ 1:04.007
4.	R. Schumacher	Williams	(M)	+ 1:28.026
5.	Trulli	Renault	(M)	+ 1 Lap
6.	M. Schumacher	Ferrari	(B)	+ 1 Lap
7.	Button	BAR	(B)	+ 1 Lap
8.	Heidfeld	Sauber	(B)	+ 1 Lap
9.	Frentzen	Sauber	(B)	+ 1 Lap
10.	Firman	Jordan	(B)	+ 1 Lap
11.	de Matta	Toyota	(M)	+ 1 Lap
12.	Montoya	Williams	(M)	+ 3 Laps
13..	Verstappen	Minardi	(B)	+ 4 Laps

World Championship Standing, Round 2 :
Drivers:			Constructors:
1.	Raikkonen	16	1.	McLaren	26
2.	Coulthard	10	2.	Ferrari	16
3.	Montoya	8	3.	Renault	16
4.	Barrichello	8	4.	Williams	14
5.	Alonso	8	5.	Sauber	4
6.	M. Schumacher	8	6.	BAR	2
7.	Trulli	8
8.	R. Schumacher	6
9.	Frentzen	3
10.	Button	2
11.	Heidfeld	1