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Homem de Gelo
05-17-2003, 07:00 AM
This is probably the last time F1 will race at the A1 Ring and I'll miss it, despite not being the most inspiring track, it is one of the few that encouraged overtaking and that gave us some exciting races. Looks at its most recent history:


1997 - Villeneuve won in a race saw Schumacher running into trouble and charging back through the feild to finish in 6th;
1998 - Hakkinen won and again Schumacher ran into trouble, being forced to charge through the field amd finish in 3rd. In the race, Irvine suffered from misterious brake problems which allowed Schumacher to overtake him for 3rd position;
1999 - Some say it was Irvine's best race ever, I think of it as another one of his few burocratic inherited wins. Coulthard punted Hakkinen off at the first lap and from there on battled with Irvine for the lead. Irvine passed him in the pit stops and fnished ahead of Coulthard and Hakkinen who had to fight his way back through the grid;
2000 - Schumacher is punted off at the first corner and Barrichello is touched from behind and forced to go wide. With Both Ferraris out of contention, Hakkinen lead Coulthard to an easy 1-2 which, at that time, set the championship on fire and made people doubt Schumacher whether Schumacher and Ferrari would crumble under the pressure. Barrichello fought back and finished in 3rd.
2001 - One magnificent battle between Montoya and Schumacher and some contraversy at the last lap when Barrichello allowed Schumacher to pass him for 3rd metres before the finish line. Coulthard won and saw his title hopes rise again;
2002 - One of the most denegrating momments in F1 and in motorracing, Ferrari employed team orders and Barrichello was force to give the win to Schumacher again on the last lap and metres before the finish line. The entire crowd 'boo-hooed' the Ferrari pair on the podium and showed its indignation with Ferrari's tactics. Barrichello won the race, but Schumacher kept the 10 points for it, points which did not make any difference at all in the championship standings.

As you see, there is more to write about regarding the Austrian GP than we have about other tracks, such as Imola and Barcelona. Our only hope is that the Bahrain tracks turns out to be one that encourages spirited racing and gives us some good momments.

Anyhow, lets talk about this year's event...

Homem de Gelo
05-17-2003, 07:03 AM
Austrian Grand Prix 2003 - Saturday Qualifying

Pos No Driver Team Time/Retired

1 1 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:09.150
2 6 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 1:09.189
3 3 Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 1:09.391
4 9 Nick Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas 1:09.725
5 2 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 1:09.784
6 7 Jarno Trulli Renault 1:09.890
7 17 Jenson Button BAR-Honda 1:09.935
8 15 Antonio Pizzonia Jaguar -Cosworth 1:10.045
9 11 Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Ford 1:10.105
10 4 Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW 1:10.279
11 20 Olivier Panis Toyota 1:10.402
12 16 Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Honda 1:10.618
13 21 Cristiano da Matta Toyota 1:10.834
14 5 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:10.893
15 10 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Petronas 1:11.307
16 12 Ralph Firman Jordan-Ford 1:11.505
17 14 Mark Webber Jaguar -Cosworth 1:11.662
18 18 Justin Wilson Minardi-Cosworth 1:14.508
19 8 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:20.113
20 19 Jos Verstappen Minardi-Cosworth

Homem de Gelo
05-17-2003, 07:04 AM
liked to see how Pizzonia beat Webber, which shows Webber is no superman and Pizzonia isn't the slow dog people call him. It will also be exciting to see Schumacher, Raikkonen and Montoya all starting next to each other, maybe we can expect some first corner action from them.

It will also be good to see Alonso and Coulthard charging back through the feild, which will probably let us see some more overtaking and a little bit of fun. And Barrichello sure didn't make the F2003GA look like the the stomper and destryoer people think it is. Maybe he received team orders to deliberately qualify some spots behind Schumacher, just so he won't, under any circumstances, find himself ahead of Schumacher and having to let him get past. Tsk tsk...;)

Nogger
05-17-2003, 06:00 PM
This was a good qualify. The F2003 is obviously not flawless and it was noticable that they had struggled with the set-up.

Homem de Gelo
05-18-2003, 08:45 PM
It was an exciting race, again, and even a bit confusing and crazy. All the aborted stops messed up with some drivers' strategies, but, once the race was on, there was overtaking and wheel to wheel fighting.

Pizzonia drove well and was unlucky with his strategy and how that strange rain affected it. Schumacher and Raikkonen again made the best of their equipment while Barrichello was fast and unlucky with one of his pit stops, as usual...

The biggest disapointment of the race was the engine on Montoya's car, he was driving fast and solid and could have used the podium finish he certainly missed.

Raikkonen still holds the lead, but it's only 2 points now and Ferraari has the lead in the Counstructors' Championship. Monaco is next and I hope to see more close racing and some randomness...

Meluion
05-20-2003, 07:45 AM
My biggest disapointment was that Verstappens car broke down even before the first corner. :(

DasModell
05-20-2003, 07:56 AM
once againg Schumacher well over the others including Barichello ... 1.08.3 va 1.08.9 .... and almoast 1 sec faster the last years fastest lap .. 1.09.2