Race
Ralf Schumacher's and Montoya's one-two finish promoted Williams to the lead of the World Constructors' Championship by eight championship points over Ferrari. Michael Schumacher's lead in the World Drivers' Championship was reduced to two championship points over Montoya and four over race winner Ralf Schumacher with 15 races remaining in the season. The Grand Prix featured eleven teams of two drivers (each representing a different constructor ), with no changes to the season entry list . Phoenix Finance unsuccessfully attempted to enter the Grand Prix with two 2001-spec Prost AP04 cars with drivers Tarso Marques and Gastón Mazzacane after the FIA ruled it had not purchased Prost Grand Prix 's entry. Toyota's Mika Salo had a severe case of flu, meaning Ryan Briscoe , Toyota's test driver, was on standby to replace him. H... At the front, Michael Schumacher went across to the right, into Montoya's path on the inside line, headed into the right-hand Selangor S turn. Montoya drew alongside Michael Schumacher on the inside due to his car's powerful BMW engine , and he appeared to push Schumacher to the outside kerbing entering the corner. Michael Schumacher then understeered off the kerbing, pushing Montoya to the outside. Michael Schumacher collided with Montoya, breaking his front wing against Mo... Sato collided with the rear of his teammate Fisichella's car at turn two on lap two while they were battling Salo. The impact severed Sato's front wing and Fisichella's rear wing. Both drivers made pit stops for repairs on the same lap, with Fisichella overshooting the Jordan pit stall because his rear wing took longer to install. Fisichella exited his car, assuming the damage was irreversible, but after installing the rear wing, he rejoined the Grand Pri... The stewards awarded Montoya a drive-through penalty on lap eight for "causing an avoidable collision," the first time such a penalty had been levied on a Formula One driver since the FIA introduced it to replace the ten-second stop-and-go penalties. He took the penalty two laps later and fell to ninth, losing approximately 20 seconds. Trulli entered the pit lane on lap ten with overheating. The sidepods were cleared, but the car continued to overheat and lose ... The first round of pit stops commenced on lap 20. Ralf Schumacher ran a one-stop plan whereas Barrichello used a two-stop strategy. Heidfeld and Michael Schumacher made their first pit stops for fuel and tyres. Barrichello made his first pit stop from the lead at the conclusion of the next lap. The stop lasted 6.6 seconds because his team were short filling him and he rejoined the race in third, behind Räikkönen. Bernoldi stopped on the circuit at turn nine wit... Michael Schumacher regained a points-paying place on lap 27 after Salo entered the garage to address an electrical fault with the traction control system following his first pit stop. Montoya overtook Heidfeld for fourth on that lap. Irvine collided with Yoong's car's rear on lap 28 while attempting to lap him. Irvine's front wing folded under the Jaguar and he ran onto the grass before entering the pit lane for a replacement front wing. Ralf Schumacher made his only ... The top three drivers appeared on the podium to collect their trophies and spoke to the media in the subsequent press conference. Ralf Schumacher described the Grand Prix as "almost the perfect race" but admitted to being "certainly a bit lucky" when his teammate Montoya and Michael Schumacher collided on the opening lap. Montoya said that finishing in second was "pretty good" considering his start to the race but thought he was slightly unlucky, adding, "After the start, I thought... Coulthard was disappointed to retire from the Grand Prix but urged McLaren to remain focused, "I know we have a package which is capable of winning races, but we just need a bit of reliability." Mercedes-Benz motorsport head Norbert Haug said the manufacturer would thoroughly analyse the reason for the engine failures to prevent them from reoccurring. The result reduced Michael Schumacher's World Drivers' Championship lead to two points over Montoya but Ralf Schumacher's victory mo... Drivers who scored championship points are denoted in bold . Note : Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
Background
The 2002 Malaysian Grand Prix , the second round of seventeen in the 2002 Formula One World Championship , was held at the Sepang International Circuit in Sepang , Selangor , Malaysia on 17 March 2002, the fourth time a Formula One Grand Prix was taking place at Sepang. The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), motorsport's governing body, had sanctioned a race in Malaysia since the 1960s, with the initial events staged in Singapore , then part of the Malaysian Feder... After winning the season-opening Australian Grand Prix , Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher led the World Drivers' Championship with ten championship points , ahead of Williams ' Juan Pablo Montoya with six and McLaren 's Kimi Räikkönen with four. Jaguar 's Eddie Irvine and Minardi 's Mark Webber were in fourth and fifth positions with three and two championship points, respectively. Ferrari led the World Constructors' Championship with Williams second and McLaren third with ten championshi... Following the Australian Grand Prix on 3 March, six teams held in-season testing sessions at various European racing courses ahead of the Malaysian Grand Prix. Luciano Burti , Ferrari's test driver , spent four days testing mechanical components and Bridgestone tyres on a F2001 chassis at Italy's Fiorano Circuit . Williams and Renault spent three days at Northamptonshire 's Silverstone Circuit , joined by British American Racing (BAR) concentrating on aer...
Practice
An overnight rainstorm left moist patches off the racing line and lowered grip levels for Saturday morning's third practice session. The forest fires' haze made it humid and overcast. Most drivers did not enter the circuit after halfway through, when more grip was available. Barrichello led with a 1:36.974 lap set late in the session. His teammate Michael Schumacher, Räikkönen, Montoya, Button, Ralf Schumacher, Coulthard, Fisichella and the Sauber... As the circuit temperature increased, it remained hot with a slight hazy mist during the final practice session. Several drivers lost control of their cars on the damp track surface. Montoya recorded the quickest lap time of 1:36.556 27 minutes into the session. Räikkönen was second with a lap set with 16 minutes remaining. Ralf Schumacher, Barrichello, Coulthard, Michael Schumacher, Button, Fisichella, Massa and Heidfeld rounded out the top ten. Coultha...
Qualifying
Fisichella, ninth, made driver errors on his final run, preventing him from lapping faster. Salo took tenth, Toyota's first top ten qualifying result in their second Grand Prix. Frentzen qualified 11th after being dissatisfied with the balance of his Arrows A23 car. Trulli was unable to locate a suitable car balance, leaving him in 12th. BAR's Jacques Villeneuve , 13th, was two-tenths of a second faster than in practice, reporting that the car was not quick in either the cor...
References
2°45′39.2″N 101°44′16.2″E / 2.760889°N 101.737833°E / 2.760889; 101.737833
Race Result
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Lap | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Michael Schumacher | Ferrari | 1:35.266 | — |
| 2 | 6 | Juan Pablo Montoya | Williams-BMW | 1:35.497 | +0.231 |
| 3 | 2 | Rubens Barrichello | Ferrari | 1:35.891 | +0.625 |
| 4 | 5 | Ralf Schumacher | Williams-BMW | 1:36.028 | +0.762 |
| 5 | 4 | Kimi Räikkönen | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:36.468 | +1.202 |
| 6 | 3 | David Coulthard | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:36.477 | +1.211 |
| 7 | 7 | Nick Heidfeld | Sauber-Petronas | 1:37.199 | +1.933 |
| 8 | 15 | Jenson Button | Renault | 1:37.245 | +1.979 |
| 9 | 9 | Giancarlo Fisichella | Jordan-Honda | 1:37.536 | +2.270 |
| 10 | 24 | Mika Salo | Toyota | 1:37.694 | +2.428 |
Championship Standings After This Race
The Paddock Breakdown
Barry · Gary · KatGary — 33 · Three Fantasy F1 leagues
Michael Schumacher, a titan sculpted from the very bones of the Ferrari engine—a 3. 0-liter V10 breathing 840 horsepower—stepped from his scarlet machine, the fastest weapon assembled for this season. Yet, a subtle tremor ran through the paddock; Montoya, piloting a McLaren-Mercedes chassis boasting a marginally more aggressive power delivery – 835 bhp – was hungry for the lead. The tension, palpable as the slick asphalt, suggested a battle not just for victory, but for the soul of Formula One itself.
The air hung thick with the scent of rain-slicked asphalt and ambition—a familiar cocktail at Sepang. Michael Schumacher, poised on pole for the fourth time this season, seemed almost…detached. A disconcerting pattern was emerging, you see: the German's pole position rate, a figure that had previously been a barometer of Ferrari's dominance, was beginning to stutter, a hairline fracture in their otherwise relentlessly smooth performance. Twenty-seven pole positions in 88 races, a statistic that, in the brutal calculus of Formula One, was starting to whisper of vulnerability.
Kat — 30 · Technical journalist
The rain hadn't relented, not a drop. Schumacher's helmet was slick with it, a miniature waterfall reflecting the tension radiating from the Ferrari garage. Montoya, a coiled spring of aggression, screamed into his radio – "Ralf, you're leaving the door open!" – a desperate plea echoing the unspoken battle for supremacy, a fight not just for the lead, but for a legacy. The Sepang air hung thick with the scent of ozone and ambition, a tangible representation of the pressure bearing down on the German. Schumacher, however, remained utterly still, a statue carved from focused intent. A subtle tightening of his jaw, a flicker of calculation in his eyes.
The rain, a bruised grey slick on the tarmac, mirrored the mood in the Ferrari garage. Michael, a taut wire of concentration, meticulously adjusted the rear wing angle – a ritual born of countless hours spent dissecting the circuit's nuances. It wasn't merely about speed, you understand. It was about control, a desperate attempt to wrestle the capricious Sepang track into submission. Juan Pablo, ever the pragmatist, offered a terse observation about tire temperature, a quiet counterpoint to Michael's palpable frustration. The championship lead, a heavy weight, seemed to press down on them both, a silent acknowledgment of the stakes. This wasn't just a race; it was a declaration, a test of will against a rival who, for all his brilliance, possessed a chillingly calm certainty.