2002 UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX

Background

The 2002 United States Grand Prix was the penultimate round of the 2002 Formula One World Championship , held on 29 September 2002, at the 4.192 km (2.605 mi) Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) road course in Speedway, Indiana . It was the third United States Grand Prix hosted at Indianapolis since it was reinstated on the Formula One World Championship calendar in 2000 following a nine-year absence. The Porsche Supercup and the Ferrari Challenge held support races during ...

Race

Following the Italian Grand Prix on 15 September, several teams tested their cars at European circuits to prepare for the race at Indianapolis. The Williams and McLaren teams tested for four days at the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain before being joined for three of those days by British American Racing (BAR) and Jaguar . McLaren test driver Alexander Wurz led the first and second days, regular driver David Coulthard the third day, and BAR's... The IMS asphalt pavement was diamond grounded to smooth out several bumps and improve grip for racing vehicles to prevent bottoming out. A pit wall was installed to isolate the circuit from the pit lane entry. The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA; Formula One's governing body) agreed to keep turn 13's energy-absorbing Steel And Foam Energy Reduction (SAFER) barrier, which had been installed in all four turns prior to the 2002 Indianapolis 500 that May. Turn 13's barrier was ... Ten constructors entered two drivers each for the event. Sauber team principal Peter Sauber signed Frentzen to replace Massa for the Grand Prix so that Massa could avoid serving a ten-place grid penalty from his final starting position imposed by the stewards for an avoidable accident with Jaguar's Pedro de la Rosa at the preceding Italian Grand Prix; the penalty was imposed on the driver, not the team. Renault's Jenson Button was cleared to race. During testing, he experien... All teams brought developments for their 2003 cars to Indianapolis. McLaren introduced a new front suspension with the strut attached directly to the hub carrier rather than the lower triangle. BAR supplied lighter-weight Brembo brake calipers than the standard model. Honda provided a new advanced qualifying engine to BAR and Jordan. Toyota debuted a new front aerodynamic layout with smaller aerodynamic profiles behind the front wheels than prior models and two aerodynamic appendag... At the end of the first lap, Michael Schumacher led his teammate Barrichello by 0.9 seconds, with Coulthard in third. Montoya was slipstreaming teammate Ralf Schumacher as they exited the banked turn 13 and drew alongside him on the main straight. On the outside, Montoya attempted to brake later than Ralf Schumacher, only for his teammate to lose control of his vehicle's rear during braking after striking the inside kerb while the former entered the corner on an wider outsid... Further back, Sato overtook Button for 11th and Salo passed Irvine for 16th. Both Ferraris began to pull away from all other cars. On lap four, Salo overtook his teammate McNish in the midfield for 13th. Sato slipstreamed past Frentzen's car into turn one for 10th place on lap seven, however he locked his front right wheel and went onto the grass, causing Frentzen to swerve to the left late in the manoevure to avoid a collision. Button used the situation... The yet-to-stop Coulthard remained close behind Barrichello as the two Ferraris scythed their way through slower traffic. Fisichella made his first and only pit stop from fifth on lap 37. This promoted Montoya to fifth and Villeneuve to sixth as Fisichella rejoined the circuit in ninth. On lap 41, the one-stopping Webber entered the Minardi garage to retire with a failed power steering system. Coulthard made his only pit stop from third at the conclusion of lap... At the end of lap 49, Michael Schumacher took his second pit stop from the lead, giving Barrichello one lap to try to gain an advantage. His 7.8-second stop saw him resume the track in second, ahead of Coulthard. Barrichello led the following lap until he entered the pit lane for his final stop and returned to the race in second. Frentzen slid off the track and into the turn four gravel trap on lap 51, but he kept driving by making his way back onto the track. ... Michael Schumacher opened up a 3.4 second lead over his teammate Barrichello by the 64th lap, as Coulthard began steadily closing up to both drivers who had both reduced their pace. Montoya then gained on Coulthard, who replied by quickening his pace to counteract his faster pace. By the start of the last lap, Michael Schumacher was a half-second ahead of Barrichello, having slowed significantly from lap 69 to allow his teammate to catch up. Michael Schumacher ... Coulthard finished third, Montoya fourth, the same place he started in, Trulli fifth, and Villeneuve sixth in the last points-paying position. Fisichella was seventh, having inconsistent tyres that made his car loose. Button in eighth was fast on the main straight but slow in the infield due to his wing settings. Heidfeld (who had more frontal understeer before his second pit stop making his car difficult to drive) and Irvine completed the top ten. Sato, in 11th place, had blistered tyres and a ... It was widely assumed that Michael Schumacher's slowing on the penultimate lap was his way of repaying Barrichello for being ordered to allow him pass and win the Austrian Grand Prix earlier in the season, a hypothesis Ferrari rejected. Michael Schumacher stated Barrichello deserved to win but denied it was pre-planned, "We have always supported each other. I thought today was a great opportunity to finish equal, to go together over the line, but we failed." Barrichello claimed he ... Team principals agreed that Ferrari made an error. Jordan team owner Eddie Jordan compared the staged finish to the end of golf's Ryder Cup , which Europe won, and argued that dead heats were impossible given modern technology's accuracy. BAR head David Richards described it as Ferrari "covering up for a complete cock-up" and called it "showmanship". Ferrari team principal Jean Todt reiterated their view that team orders were not enforced, "I think it would be very presumptu... Williams technical director Patrick Head did not assign blame for the second-lap collision between his team's drivers, but he heavily criticised them. Montoya said that his teammate Ralf Schumacher made an error that forced him off the track. Ralf Schumacher argued there was a lack of space for Montoya to pass him on the outside and said he would watch television coverage to get another perspective of the crash. Ralf Schumacher's driving, in which he unlapped himself during Irvine'... Michael Schumacher maintained his lead in the World Drivers' Championship with 134 championship points. Barrichello's victory gave him second place in the standings with 71 championship points. Montoya maintained third place and extended his gap over teammate Ralf Schumacher in fourth place by three championship points, while Coulthard cut the gap to four championship points in fifth. In the World Constructors' Championship, Ferrari with 205 championship points broke McL... Drivers who scored championship points are denoted in bold .

Practice

Barrichello lost control of his Ferrari on the grass at the entry of the banked turn 13 owing to a loss of pressure in the left rear tyre after 29 minutes. He went up, causing moderate damage to his car's left side striking a concrete wall sideways around 100 ft (30 m) way from the SAFER barrier. The left-rear wheel and front wing were removed, while the left-front wheel was disconnected but held in place by wheel tethers. Barrichello sustained bruising but exited his... The fog that had descended on IMS had dissipated significantly before the sun broke through as teams completed their qualifying preparations during the final practice session. Michael Schumacher accomplished a sweep of being the quickest driver in every practice session with a lap of 1:11.158 set seven minutes before practice ended. His teammate Barrichello, Irvine, Ralf Schumacher, Coulthard, Heidfeld, Montoya, Räikkönen, Fisichella and Frentzen rounded out the top ten. Räi...

Qualifying

Heidfeld's teammate Frentzen was the fastest driver who did not qualify in the top 10, finishing 11th after Sauber fixed most of the oversteering issues with his car. Panis, 12th, oversteered heavily on his first run, was blocked by Coulthard on his third run, and spun with five minutes left on his final run. Irvine abandoned his first quick lap after losing grip in a difficult-to-handle Jaguar braking for turn one. Further setup tweaks and a new set of tyres failed to impro...

External links

39°47′42″N 86°14′05″W / 39.79500°N 86.23472°W / 39.79500; -86.23472