2003 Italian Grand Prix Explained

The 2003 Italian Grand Prix (formally the Gran Premio Vodafone d'Italia 2003) was a Formula One motor race held on 14 September 2003 at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Monza, Italy.^[1] It was the fourteenth race of the 2003 Formula One season and the eighty-seventh Italian Grand Prix. The 53-lap race was won by Michael Schumacher driving for Ferrari after starting from pole position. Juan Pablo Montoya finished second in a Williams car, with Rubens Barrichello third in the other Ferrari. Marc Gené replaced the injured Ralf Schumacher in the Williams for this race, scoring his highest ever Formula One finish and his last points. Until the 2023 race, this was the shortest-duration fully completed Formula One World Championship race. The race was completed with the fastest ever average race speed of 247.585 km/h.

Report

Friday drivers

Three teams in the 2003 Constructors' Championship had the right to run a third car on Friday's additional testing. These drivers did not compete in qualifying or the race.

Constructor	Nat	Driver
Renault		Allan McNish
Jordan-Ford		-
Minardi-Cosworth		Gianmaria Bruni

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1 Time	Q2 Time	Diff.
1	1	data-sort-value="scm"	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	1:21.268	1:20.963
2	3	data-sort-value="mon"	Juan Pablo Montoya	Williams-BMW	1:20.656	1:21.014	+0.051
3	2	data-sort-value="bar"	Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari	1:20.784	1:21.242	+0.279
4	6	data-sort-value="rai"	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:21.966	1:21.466	+0.503
5	4	data-sort-value="gen"	Marc Gené	Williams-BMW	data-sort-value="21"	-	1:21.834	+0.871
6	7	data-sort-value="tru"	Jarno Trulli	Renault	1:22.034	1:21.944	+0.981
7	17	data-sort-value="but"	Jenson Button	BAR-Honda	1:22.495	1:22.301	+1.338
8	5	data-sort-value="cou"	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	1:23.154	1:22.471	+1.508
9	20	data-sort-value="pan"	Olivier Panis	Toyota	1:22.372	1:22.488	+1.525
10	16	data-sort-value="vil"	Jacques Villeneuve	BAR-Honda	1:22.858	1:22.717	+1.754
11	14	data-sort-value="web"	Mark Webber	Jaguar-Cosworth	1:21.966	1:22.754	+1.791
12	21	data-sort-value="da m"	Cristiano da Matta	Toyota	1:21.829	1:22.914	+1.951
13	11	data-sort-value="fis"	Giancarlo Fisichella	Jordan-Ford	1:24.179	1:22.992	+2.029
14	10	data-sort-value="fre"	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Sauber-Petronas	1:22.203	1:23.216	+2.253
15	15	data-sort-value="wil"	Justin Wilson	Jaguar-Cosworth	1:23.609	1:23.484	+2.521
16	9	data-sort-value="hei"	Nick Heidfeld	Sauber-Petronas	1:22.547	1:23.803	+2.840
17	19	data-sort-value="ver"	Jos Verstappen	Minardi-Cosworth	No Time	1:25.078	+4.115
18	12	data-sort-value="bau"	Zsolt Baumgartner	Jordan-Ford	1:24.872	1:25.881	+4.918
19	18	data-sort-value="kie"	Nicolas Kiesa	Minardi-Cosworth	1:26.299	1:26.778	+5.815
20	8	data-sort-value="alo"	Fernando Alonso	Renault	1:22.103	1:40.405	+19.442
	4	Ralf Schumacher	Williams-BMW	data-sort-value="21"	No Time	data-sort-value="21"	-	data-sort-value="21"
Sources:[2] [3] [4]

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	1	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	53	1:14:19.838	1	10
2	3	Juan Pablo Montoya	Williams-BMW	53	+5.294	2	8
3	2	Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari	53	+11.835	3	6
4	6	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes	53	+12.834	4	5
5	4	Marc Gené	Williams-BMW	53	+27.891	5	4
6	16	Jacques Villeneuve	BAR-Honda	52	+1 Lap	10	3
7	14	Mark Webber	Jaguar-Cosworth	52	+1 Lap	11	2
8	8	Fernando Alonso	Renault	52	+1 Lap	20	1
9	9	Nick Heidfeld	Sauber-Petronas	52	+1 Lap	16
10	11	Giancarlo Fisichella	Jordan-Ford	52	+1 Lap	13
11	12	Zsolt Baumgartner	Jordan-Ford	51	+2 Laps	18
12	18	Nicolas Kiesa	Minardi-Cosworth	51	+2 Laps	19
13	10	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Sauber-Petronas	50	Transmission	14
Ret	5	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	45	Fuel pressure	8
Ret	20	Olivier Panis	Toyota	35	Brakes	9
Ret	19	Jos Verstappen	Minardi-Cosworth	27	Oil leak	17
Ret	17	Jenson Button	BAR-Honda	24	Gearbox	7
Ret	21	Cristiano da Matta	Toyota	3	Tyre/Spun off	12
Ret	15	Justin Wilson	Jaguar-Cosworth	2	Gearbox	15
Ret	7	Jarno Trulli	Renault	0	Hydraulics	6

Championship standings after the race

• Bold text and an asterisk indicates who still has a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.

Drivers' Championship standings

+/–		Driver	Points
	1	Michael Schumacher*	82
	2	Juan Pablo Montoya*	79
	3	Kimi Räikkönen*	75
	4	Ralf Schumacher	58
1	5	Rubens Barrichello	55
Source: [5]

Constructors' Championship standings

+/–		Constructor	Points
	1	Williams-BMW*	141
	2	Ferrari*	137
	3	McLaren-Mercedes*	120
	4	Renault	79
	5	BAR-Honda	18
Source:

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

45.6156°N 9.2811°W

Notes and References

1. Web site: 2003 Italian Grand Prix F1 Final Results . 2024-01-11 . ESPN . en.
2. Web site: Gran Premio Vodafone d'Italia 2003 – Qualifying 1. Formula1.com. 30 September 2023.
3. Web site: Gran Premio Vodafone d'Italia 2003 – Qualifying 2. Formula1.com. 30 September 2023.
4. Web site: 2003 Italian Grand Prix Classification Grid. Motorsport Stats. 30 September 2023.
5. Web site: Italy 2003 - Championship • STATS F1. www.statsf1.com. 18 March 2019.