2002 European Grand Prix

The 2002 European Grand Prix (formally the 2002 Allianz Grand Prix of Europe ) [ 1 ] was a Formula One motor race held on 23 June 2002 at the Nürburgring , Nürburg , Rhineland-Palatinate , Germany. It was won by Ferrari driver Rubens Barrichello , his first win since his victory at the 2000 German Grand Prix . His team mate Michael Schumacher finished second in another dominating performance by the team. McLaren - Mercedes driver Kimi Räikkönen finished third. This was the first race at the modi...

The victory was Barrichello's second of his career and the first of the 2002 season; the result moved him up to fourth in the Drivers' Championship but was tied with David Coulthard on points. Michael Schumacher extended his lead to be forty-six points ahead of Ralf Schumacher with Montoya a further three points behind. Schumacher tied the all-time held by Alain Prost with his 106th podium finish. Ferrari's one-two finish allowed them to draw further ahead of Williams in the Constructors' Champi...

The Grand Prix was contested by eleven teams with two drivers each. The teams, also known as constructors , were Ferrari , McLaren , Williams , Sauber , Jordan , BAR , Renault , Jaguar , Arrows , Minardi and Toyota . [ 2 ]

Michael Schumacher had won the previous two European Grands Prix held at the Nürburgring and wanted to concentrate on the potential challenge from the Williams and McLaren teams at the race rather than worry about a possible disqualification from the Austrian Grand Prix where he was given victory after Barrichello was ordered by Ferrari to allow Schumacher past. [ 4 ] After retiring from the Canadian Grand Prix with an engine failure which cost him a chance to challenge for victory, Montoya said...

Some teams made modifications to their cars in preparation for the event. Ferrari brought new electronic bi-directional telemetry and steering wheels and Michael Schumacher evaluated a new engine cover which was not used in the Sunday race. Renault introduced a new aerodynamic package and a traction control system and McLaren brought a new revision of their aerodynamic package. BAR débuted a revised Honda V10 engine specification for the race and Jordan made minor alterations to their front wing...

I am very pleased with today's pole, especially because it came as a bit of a surprise. After this morning's practice sessions we were not expecting anything higher than the second row, actually. We changed the car quite a lot from this morning but in my first run I made a mistake, the second went better and on my third run I got the pole. I still don't know where the speed came from and I must admit that luck also played a part in my result. Tomorrow is going to be a hard race where I think the...

Montoya was joined on the front row of the grid by teammate Ralf Schumacher who was 0.009 seconds off Montoya's pace and did not change his car's set-up. [ 18 ] Michael Schumacher qualified in third and his race car was stuck in gear on his first out lap and switched to the spare Ferrari car for the remainder of the session as his mechanics were unable to rectify the gearbox issue. He made two minor mistakes at the final two corners of the circuit on his final run after pushing hard which preven...

Massa improved the balance on his Sauber but had excessive oversteer through turns two and four and managed eleventh. Panis took twelfth. He was ahead of McNish in the slower of the two Toyotas and his car developed intermittent issues with his electronics. Sato in the faster Jordan followed in 14th place and was disappointed with his performance as he struggled with an excessive amount of oversteer throughout qualifying. [ 18 ] He was followed in the time sheets by Frentzen who was suffering fr...

Barrichello started to pull away from Ralf Schumacher who was being caught by Michael Schumacher. Elsewhere in the field, Bernoldi moved ahead of Irvine for 14th position and Villeneuve overtook Yoong and de la Rosa to move into 18th. [ 29 ] Michael Schumacher moved into second place after he passed Ralf Schumacher at the RTL Kurve on the third lap and began to close the gap to Barrichello. [ 28 ] Panis moved ahead of Salo for twelfth and Villeneuve overtook Webber for 17th. Villeneuve ran wide ...

Fisichella's Jordan lost parts of its bodywork as he drove down the main straight on lap eleven having bounced heavily on the kerbs and grass lining the circuit earlier in the race. [ 28 ] On the same lap, de la Rosa passed Irvine for 16th. Bernoldi lost 14th position after he was overtaken by Villeneuve on the 13th lap, while Frentzen ran off the circuit and was passed by Villeneuve and Bernoldi; the latter also drove off the circuit on the following lap. [ 29 ] Räikkonen ran wide at the Yokoha...