Despite Ferrari winning last year's Championships in the old faithful F2002, as well as being able to give this car a fitting send off by winning the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola two weeks ago, the season so far can best be described as having a disappointing start. Domination is always a precious commodity and difficult to maintain, but even allowing for the opposition striving hard to catch up, Ferrari has fallen slightly behind their true position and the high expectations of their many loyal supporters.

Spokespeople from the other F 1 teams seem to want to project the impression that the F2003 GA is still a bit fragile, but both Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello appeared to be very confident, assuring an interviewer that the car came out tops in all aspects after completing an exhaustive development and test programme. As Michael summed up, "It's faster!". Either way, the car looked and sounded absolutely terrific, and the new profile is clearly the result of extensive wind tunnel experimentation and testing.

Saturday

Practice started on time, the track was dry, the sky clear, and the new format seems to work very well . It does mean that the early runners in turn get their chance to make their mark on the final grid positions, and it was good to see the triers trying as hard as they did. Poor Pizzonia (Jaguar) had managed to knock over one of his own pit crew during the Friday unofficial practice, and if you couple that with what appears to be a public display of lack of confidence in his ability, then the poor chap clearly did very well to post any time at all to get 16th. on the grid, ahead of Fisichella (Jordan), Wilson (Minardi), Verstappen (Minardi) and the hapless Raikkonen (McLaren), who managed to drop his car into the kitty litter half way through his timed run in a fit of over-enthusiasm.

Villeneuve (BAR) was as brave as ever, but was unhappy with what he claimed to be an imbalance in the car's handling. Button (BAR) seemed to have none of these problems in the other car and posted a very creditable 5th., to secure a position on the third row. Alonso (Renault) was pushing like mad, and was throwing the
gauntlet down very forcefully in the direction of both Ferrari and McLaren, to be rewarded with 3rd. fastest, ahead of his team mate Trulli (Renault), who was trying equally as hard. Rubens Barrichello and Michael Schumacher finished 2nd. and 1st in that order, giving a grid of Ferrari/Ferrari, Renault/Renault, BAR/ Toyota, in which Panis was coming to terms with the new found power and increased handling capability of the Toyota. Coulthard (McLaren) was 8th.

At the end of the session, someone ill advisedly pushed a microphone in the direction of McLaren's Mr. Dennis, making the mistake of asking for an informed comment on the team tactics after the Raikkonen off, and also wondering if he had a view on the performance of the new Ferrari ? Surely even the tiresomely graceless Mr. Dennis must have just one friend somewhere in this world who would be willing to take him quietly on one side and have a word to the effect that our Ron has long been firmly established as the undisputed prince of charmless banality, and for him to keep on endorsing the fact with his endless petulance is just plainly embarrassing.

Sunday

The grid formed up, a very fine day, with perfect track conditions It was good to see our two red cars occupying the front row, and both cars had an excellent start on the green. Alonso (Renault) too started very well indeed and managed to split the Ferraris before the first bend, but was then out shuffled going into the curve proper, to leave Michael ahead of Rubens once the dust had quite literally settled.

It was not so good further back, where Pizzonia (Jaguar) was having a problem with the effectiveness of the car's launch control. He was well and truly rammed from the rear by a charging Raikkonen (McLaren) who's launch control was obviously extremely effective, but was still experiencing the rush of blood which caused him to be at the back in the first place. I have never seen a Grand Prix won by anyone on the sprint away from the line , especially from the back row, but the list of failures on that score just has to be endless.

The pace car was brought out immediately, and stayed there for five laps until the debris and broken cars could be cleared. The race settled down into an orderly display, with positions changing further down the field. It was interesting to see that Wilson (Minardi) had somehow managed to get up to 9th. overall from 18th. on the grid, so he was obviously on a charge. Montoya (Williams) came from 6th. to 5th, with Villeneuve (BAR) up with Button (BAR), after some very brave overtaking.

Michael Schumacher was clearly in dominant mode, but it was Alonso (Renault) who was making it a great race before his partisan home crowd. He was running regularly with less than 10 secs. between himself and Michael Schumacher, with Barrichello a similar distance behind in third place. R. Schumacher (Williams) was running in P 4. at this time. There were the usual up and down variances brought about by traffic congestion, and whilst this occasionally caused the commentators to steam up, Michael seemed to have everything under close control. It was good to see the F2003 GA working so well.

Both the Ferraris were on three stop strategy, and were the Renaults, and the race witnessed changes of lead during these stops, the lead being shared by Michael Schumacher and the hard charging Alonso. The last twenty or so laps were just a bit processional, the gap between first and second runners varying between six and ten seconds, but Michael was demonstrably in total control.

It was a good finish for the Ferrari team, the points scored in both the Driver's and the Manufacturer's Championships closing the existing gap, and promising well for the future. This writer does not get even the slightest bit bored when Ferrari win, and let us hope that the pattern has been set for the rest of the season.

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