2003 British Grand Prix
2003 British Grand Prix | |||||
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Race 11 of 16 in the 2003 Formula One World Championship
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![]() Silverstone Circuit in its 2003 configuration | |||||
Race details | |||||
Date | 20 July 2003 | ||||
Official name | LVI Foster's British Grand Prix | ||||
Location | Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone, Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire, England | ||||
Course | Permanent Road Facility | ||||
Course length | 5.141 km (3.194 miles) | ||||
Distance | 60 laps, 308.355 km (191.603 miles) | ||||
Weather | Sunny at start, cloudy later, Air: 24 °C (75 °F), Track 29 °C (84 °F)[1] | ||||
Pole position | |||||
Driver | Ferrari | ||||
Time | 1:21.209 | ||||
Fastest lap | |||||
Driver |
![]() | Ferrari | |||
Time | 1:22.236 on lap 38 | ||||
Podium | |||||
First | Ferrari | ||||
Second | Williams-BMW | ||||
Third | McLaren-Mercedes | ||||
Lap leaders |
The 2003 British Grand Prix (formally the LVI Foster's British Grand Prix) was a
Race report
The race began with Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello on pole, alongside Renault's Jarno Trulli. Kimi Räikkönen of McLaren-Mercedes started from third, while world champion and championship leader Michael Schumacher started from fifth. Barrichello made a poor start, allowing both Trulli and Räikkönen past on an incident-free first lap. Ralf and Michael Schumacher retained their starting positions of fourth and fifth. On the sixth lap, the headrest of David Coulthard dislodged while traversing the first corner (Copse), forcing him to pit for a replacement under safety regulations, and causing a safety car period to allow marshals to clear the track. Upon the resumption of green flag racing, Barrichello closed the gap to Räikkönen before passing him on lap 11. On the following lap, a man invaded the circuit and another safety car period was necessitated. As it was close to the period when the drivers would be making their scheduled pit stops, the vast majority of cars decided to pit under the safety car. The second placed cars from the respective teams were forced to queue up in the pit lane waiting for service, causing them to drop many places. Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso and Juan Pablo Montoya were all outside of the top ten. Of the leading contenders, Trulli was in fourth place while both Räikkönen and Ralf Schumacher had jumped Barrichello when in the pits.[3][4]
The
Track invasion
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/67/Silverstone_horan.jpg/220px-Silverstone_horan.jpg)
On the 11th lap, as the procession of cars exited the Becketts corner onto the Hangar straight, Neil Horan cleared the fence wearing a kilt, waving banners with statements "Read the bible" and "The Bible is always right",[5] and ran towards the sequence of cars, forcing several cars to swerve to avoid him. He eventually returned to the grass runoff area at the side of the track after the cars had passed for the lap, and was tackled by a track marshal. He was later charged with aggravated trespass and pleaded guilty in a Northampton court,[6] stating that he took the open gate as a sign from God, although the prosecution contended that his act was premeditated as he had already prepared the banners prior to attending the Grand Prix. He was later jailed for two months.[5] Although the incident was broadcast to a worldwide audience, it was not shown live in the UK, as the British broadcaster ITV had cut away to a commercial break just as it occurred.
The incident prompted comparisons to the events at the 1977 South African Grand Prix, where volunteer track marshal, Frederick Jansen van Vuuren, ran across the main straight to aid a car and was hit at 170 mph by Tom Pryce, who could not see him until it was too late because of the steep crest on the straight. Both Van Vuuren and Pryce were killed by the impact. A similar incident occurred at the 2000 German Grand Prix (coincidentally won by Barrichello) when a disgruntled ex-Mercedes employee walked along part of the circuit in protest before being arrested. This caused a safety car, which eliminated the lead of Mika Häkkinen, driving for McLaren-Mercedes. Unlike the German protester, Horan ran directly down the middle of the track, and intentionally towards oncoming cars and lurching towards some of them. Stephen Green, the marshal who handled Horan, was later awarded the BARC Browning Medal for "outstanding bravery in tackling a track invader during the 2003 British Grand Prix at Silverstone", the second recipient after David Purley 30 years previously.[7]
The race led to fears that
Classification
Qualifying
Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Q1 Time | Q2 Time | Gap |
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1 | 2 | ![]() |
Ferrari | No time | 1:21.209 | — |
2 | 7 | ![]() |
Renault | 1:19.963 | 1:21.381 | +0.172 |
3 | 6 | ![]() |
McLaren-Mercedes | 1:21.065 | 1:21.695 | +0.486 |
4 | 4 | ![]() |
Williams-BMW | 1:19.788 | 1:21.727 | +0.518 |
5 | 1 | ![]() |
Ferrari | 1:19.474 | 1:21.867 | +0.658 |
6 | 21 | ![]() |
Toyota
|
1:20.765 | 1:22.081 | +0.872 |
7 | 3 | ![]() |
Williams-BMW | 1:19.749 | 1:22.214 | +1.005 |
8 | 8 | ![]() |
Renault | 1:19.907 | 1:22.404 | +1.195 |
9 | 16 | ![]() |
BAR-Honda | 1:21.084 | 1:22.591 | +1.382 |
10 | 15 | ![]() |
Jaguar-Cosworth | 1:20.877 | 1:22.634 | +1.425 |
11 | 14 | ![]() |
Jaguar-Cosworth | 1:20.171 | 1:22.647 | +1.438 |
12 | 5 | ![]() |
McLaren-Mercedes | 1:19.968 | 1:22.811 | +1.602 |
13 | 20 | ![]() |
Toyota
|
1:19.959 | 1:23.042 | +1.833 |
14 | 10 | ![]() |
Sauber-Petronas
|
1:21.363 | 1:23.187 | +1.978 |
15 | 11 | ![]() |
Jordan-Ford | 1:21.500 | 1:23.574 | +2.365 |
16 | 9 | ![]() |
Sauber-Petronas
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1:21.211 | 1:23.844 | +2.635 |
17 | 12 | ![]() |
Jordan-Ford | 1:22.335 | 1:24.385 | +3.176 |
18 | 18 | ![]() |
Minardi-Cosworth | No time | 1:25.468 | +4.259 |
19 | 19 | ![]() |
Minardi-Cosworth | 1:23.418 | 1:25.759 | +4.550 |
20 | 17 | ![]() |
BAR-Honda | 1:20.569 | No time | — |
Sources:[9][10][11] |
Race
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bb/Barrichello_2003_British_GP.jpg/220px-Barrichello_2003_British_GP.jpg)
Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | ![]() |
Ferrari | 60 | 1:28:37.554 | 1 | 10 |
2 | 3 | ![]() |
Williams-BMW | 60 | +5.462 | 7 | 8 |
3 | 6 | ![]() |
McLaren-Mercedes | 60 | +10.656 | 3 | 6 |
4 | 1 | ![]() |
Ferrari | 60 | +25.648 | 5 | 5 |
5 | 5 | ![]() |
McLaren-Mercedes | 60 | +36.827 | 12 | 4 |
6 | 7 | ![]() |
Renault | 60 | +43.067 | 2 | 3 |
7 | 21 | ![]() |
Toyota
|
60 | +45.085 | 6 | 2 |
8 | 17 | ![]() |
BAR-Honda | 60 | +45.478 | 20 | 1 |
9 | 4 | ![]() |
Williams-BMW | 60 | +58.032 | 4 | |
10 | 16 | ![]() |
BAR-Honda | 60 | +1:03.569 | 9 | |
11 | 20 | ![]() |
Toyota
|
60 | +1:05.207 | 13 | |
12 | 10 | ![]() |
Sauber-Petronas
|
60 | +1:05.564 | 14 | |
13 | 12 | ![]() |
Jordan-Ford | 59 | +1 Lap | 17 | |
14 | 14 | ![]() |
Jaguar-Cosworth | 59 | +1 Lap | 11 | |
15 | 19 | ![]() |
Minardi-Cosworth | 58 | +2 Laps | 19 | |
16 | 18 | ![]() |
Minardi-Cosworth | 58 | +2 Laps | 18 | |
17 | 9 | ![]() |
Sauber-Petronas
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58 | +2 Laps | 16 | |
Ret | 8 | ![]() |
Renault | 52 | Gearbox | 8 | |
Ret | 11 | ![]() |
Jordan-Ford | 44 | Suspension | 15 | |
Ret | 15 | ![]() |
Jaguar-Cosworth | 32 | Engine | 10 | |
Source:[12]
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Notes
- This was Antônio Pizzonia's last race of the season. He was dropped due to a string of poor results, and replaced by Minardi's Justin Wilson, who was himself replaced by Danish driver Nicolas Kiesa at Minardi.
Championship standings after the race
- Bold text indicates who still has a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.
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- Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References
- F1 Racing. August 2003.
- ^ Legard, Jonathan (20 July 2003). "A very British curse". BBC Sport. Retrieved 26 August 2006.
- ^ a b Benson, Andrew (20 July 2003). "Silverstone joy for Barrichello". BBC Sport. Retrieved 26 August 2006.
- ^ a b "Lapwatch: British GP". BBC Sport. 20 July 2003. Retrieved 26 August 2006.
- ^ a b "The new seekers". BBC Sport. 5 November 2003. Retrieved 26 August 2006.
- ^ "Ex-priest admits Grand Prix invasion". BBC Sport. 11 August 2003. Retrieved 26 August 2006.
- ^ "The BARC Roll of Honour". Archived from the original on 10 February 2012. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
- ^ Benson, Andrew (20 July 2003). "Ex-priest admits Grand Prix invasion". BBC Sport. Retrieved 26 August 2006.
- ^ "2003 Foster's British Grand Prix – Qualifying 1". Formula1.com. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
- ^ "2003 Foster's British Grand Prix – Qualifying 2". Formula1.com. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
- ^ "2003 British Grand Prix Classification Grid". Motorsport Stats. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
- ^ "2003 British Grand Prix". Formula1.com. Formula1.com Limited. Archived from the original on 26 December 2014. Retrieved 26 December 2015.
- ^ a b "Britain 2003 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 14 March 2019.