Austrian GP - A1-Ring 12 May 2002
The Austrian GP will be remembered for all the wrong reasons. Ferrari dominated from beginning to end, but the wrong driver won. Rubens Barrichello, who had controlled the whole weekend and consistently outpaced his team mate M. Schumacher, easily took the lead form pole position and was never challenged by any other driver for the whole course of the race. However, as he approached the finishing line, the Brazilian slowed down and let M. Schumacher through to win the race. The two drivers had received orders to invert positions to make sure that M. Schumacher's lead on Montoya in the Drivers Championship increased by six points instead of two. The cheer of the crowd, that should have seen Barrichello through the finishing line to win on merit his second GP, turned to boo as soon as the spectators realized what was happening. M. Schumacher said afterwards that he did not want to take the win off Barrichello and that he had slowed down to avoid overtaking the Brazilian, but was ordered by the team to go on and win. After the race M. Schumacher refused to stand on the highest step of the podium while the German anthem was being played, then he gave the winner's trophy to Barrichello talking the second place one for himself. It was all empty gestures though, as he brings home the ten points. Worse than that, the Ferrari team might well be punished for the behavior of the drivers on the podium, when they did not take position on the correct steps.
The two Ferrari were clearly vastly superior to any other car on the track and the two Williams ended up putting up some semblance of a struggle between the two drivers for third place. That position was Montoya's, who finished third and had the dubious honor of watching bemused the antics of M. Schumacher and Barrichello on the podium. Coulthard manage to collect a point for McLaren, after team mate Räikkönen had to retire after only a few laps because of a blown engine. Villeneuve ran his best race of the season so far and would have finished in seventh place, despite being handed a drive-through penalty, had his Honda engine not given up the ghost on the very last lap. Next race is in Monaco on 26 May. |
The Austrian GP was also marred by a horrific accident that saw Heidfeld lose control of his car and cut across a bend, narrowly missing Montoya but mowing down Sato. Heidfeld had to be lifted out of his smashed car, clearly in shock and with some bruising, but on the whole unhurt. Sato could not get out of what was left of his Jordan by himself and paramedics had to bring him out and put him behind protective screens while they examined him, causing the onlookers to expect the worst. The unfortunate Japanese was taken away by ambulance, then flown to the Graz hospital. Reports arrived soon enough that he had suffered some bruising to soft tissue, but that miraculously he not broken any bone and he might be back behind the driving wheel on time for Monaco. Early reports that Sato had injured his neck were soon dismissed. Heidfeld's accident had probably been caused by brakes that had cooled down too much after a spell behind a safety car following a breakdown by Panis. The Jordan team's day was bittersweet in the end, as Fisichella brought home the first two points of the season.
| Images from Raisport and Il Corriere della Sera |
