- Justifying the decision to use last years car, Michael Schumacher easily wins a race dominated by a huge first corner incident which eliminated pole-sitting Rubens Barichello. On his F1 debut Australian Mark Weber finished fifth to the delight of the Australian crowd and his Minardi team.
The
22-car field was decimated in a dramatic first corner pile up, set off
as Ralf Schumacher in the Williams-BMW ran into the back of the pole-sitter
Rubens Barichello's Ferrari while disputing the lead into the first
corner. Immediately eliminated were both the Sauber-Petronas', Button's
Renault, Fischiella's Jordan-Honda, Panis' BAR-Honda and McNish's Toyota.
Michael Schumacher went over the grass to avoid the melee and came
out safely in fourth place.
After a 5-lap safety car period David Coulthard ( McLaren-Mercedes ) led from Jarno Trulli ( Renault ) and Juan-Pablo Montoya ( Williams-BMW ), as the safety car peeled off Montoya made a mistake, allowing Schumacher through to pressure Trulli who spun off under pressure from the Ferrari a couple of laps later, bringing the safety car out again.
At the restart Montoya got the jump on Schumacher while Coultard ran wide, Montoya then held off Schumacher for five laps before running wide and letting him through into a lead he was never to relinquish. Schumacher built up a 30-second lead by the time of his single pitstop on lap 38 and passed the chequered flag for his 54th career win, 18 seconds ahead of Montoya with F1 debutant Kimi Raikkonen's McLaren-Mercedes claiming the final podium position.
Fourth place went to the Jaguar-Cosworth of Eddie Irvine, while Mark Webber brought the Minardi-Asiatech home in a fantastic fifth place on his F1 debut. Webber had kept clear of the first lap carnage and drove solidly throughout the race. At his home Grand Prix, he had the crowd on the edge of their seats as Mika Salo closed in on him in the Toyota in the final couple of laps, however while putting Webber under heavy pressure Salo spun on the penultimate lap, and Mark was able to cruise to the flag to the delight of the team and the crowd.
Alex Yoong in the other Minardi came safely through the first corner, running in the points in six place late in the race before losing the place to the recovering Mika Salo, eventually bringing his car home in seventh place.
race result ( after 58 laps ):
1st Michael Schumacher (
Ferrari F2001 ) 1:35.36.792
5th Mark Webber ( Minardi-Asiatech
PS02 ) +2 laps
7th Alex Yoong ( minardi-Asiatech
PS02 ) +3 laps
championship positions after 1 race:
drivers: 1st
Michael Schumacher 10pts, 2nd Juan-Pablo Montoya 6pts, 3rd Kimi Raikkonen
4pts, 5th Mark Webber 2pts, 6th Mika Salo 1pt
constructors: 1st
Ferrari 10pts, 2nd Williams 6pts, 3rd McLaren-Mercedes 4pts, 4th Jaguar-Cosworth
3pts, 5th Minardi-Asiatech 2pts, 6th Toyota 1pt
Dismal
weather conditions, unusual for an Australian autumn, ruined the final
qualifying session with the Ferrari drivers exploiting a weather window
to maximum benefit. Rubens Barrichello set fastest time, pipping
team mate Michael Schumacher by just five one thousands of a second.
Schumacher, who had dominated the previous days free practice and morning
warm up, took to the grass on his fasted lap, but produced a blistering
last sector time to haul himself onto the front row.
Barichello said that Ferrari had expected the weather to deteriorate and wanted to maximise early session opportunities. He went out later in the rain to work on a wet weather set up.
Jean Todt commented that Ferrari were happy that last years F2001 was proving competitive and the decision to leave the new F2002 at Maranello seemed to be justified so far.
Mark Webber, making his formula 1 debut at his home Grand Prix, delighted the Minardi team with 18th place, outqualifying both Jaguars and his team mate along the way.
qualifying:
1st Rubens Barrichello (
Ferrari F2001 ) 1:25.843
2nd Michael Schumacher (
Ferrari F2001 ) 1:25.848
18th Mark Webber ( Minardi
PS02 ) 1:30.086
21st Alex Yoong ( Minardi
PS02 ) 1:31.504
