The 2002 British Grand Prix (formally the LV Foster's British Grand Prix) was a
Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
motor race held at the
Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire, England on 7 July 2002. The 60-lap race was the tenth race of the
2002 Formula One season
The 2002 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 56th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It began on 3 March and ended on 13 October after seventeen races.
In the Drivers' Championship, Michael Schumacher finished first or second in eve ...
and was won by
Michael Schumacher
Michael Schumacher (; ; born 3 January 1969) is a German former racing driver who competed in Formula One for Jordan, Benetton, Ferrari, and Mercedes. Schumacher has a joint-record seven World Drivers' Championship titles (tied with Lewis ...
, driving a
Ferrari, with team-mate
Rubens Barrichello
Rubens "Rubinho" Gonçalves Barrichello (, ; born 23 May 1972) is a Brazilian professional racing driver who competed in Formula One between and . He currently competes full-time in the Brazilian Stock Car Pro Series, driving the No. 111 T ...
second and
Juan Pablo Montoya
Juan Pablo Montoya Roldán (; born September 20, 1975) is a Colombian racing driver.
He won the International F3000 championship in 1998, the CART FedEx Championship Series in 1999 in his debut year in the series, and the IMSA WeatherTech ...
third in a
Williams-
BMW.
Qualifying
Qualifying saw
Williams driver
Juan Pablo Montoya
Juan Pablo Montoya Roldán (; born September 20, 1975) is a Colombian racing driver.
He won the International F3000 championship in 1998, the CART FedEx Championship Series in 1999 in his debut year in the series, and the IMSA WeatherTech ...
edge out the two
Ferraris to take his fourth consecutive pole position, beating
Rubens Barrichello
Rubens "Rubinho" Gonçalves Barrichello (, ; born 23 May 1972) is a Brazilian professional racing driver who competed in Formula One between and . He currently competes full-time in the Brazilian Stock Car Pro Series, driving the No. 111 T ...
by 0.034 seconds and
Michael Schumacher
Michael Schumacher (; ; born 3 January 1969) is a German former racing driver who competed in Formula One for Jordan, Benetton, Ferrari, and Mercedes. Schumacher has a joint-record seven World Drivers' Championship titles (tied with Lewis ...
by 0.044.
Ralf Schumacher
Ralf Schumacher (born 30 June 1975) is a German former racing driver. He is the younger brother of seven-time Formula One World Champion Michael Schumacher, and the pair are the only siblings to each win Formula One races.
Schumacher began kart ...
was fourth in the other Williams, three-tenths of a second behind his brother but eight-tenths ahead of
Kimi Räikkönen's
McLaren in fifth. The top ten was completed by
David Coulthard
David Marshall Coulthard (; born 27 March 1971) is a British former racing driver from Scotland, later turned presenter, commentator and journalist. Nicknamed 'DC', he competed in 15 seasons of Formula One between and , taking 13 Grand Prix vi ...
in the other McLaren,
Jarno Trulli
Jarno Trulli (; born 13 July 1974) is an Italian racing driver. He regularly competed in Formula One from 1997 to 2011, driving for Minardi, Prost, Jordan, Renault, Toyota, Lotus Racing and Team Lotus. His best result in the World Drivers' Cham ...
in the
Renault
Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufacture ...
,
Mika Salo
Mika Juhani Salo (born 30 November 1966) is a Finnish former professional racing driver. He competed in Formula One between and . His best ranking was 10th in the world championship in 1999, when he stood in for the injured Michael Schumacher ...
in the
Toyota
is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...
,
Jacques Villeneuve
Jacques Joseph Charles Villeneuve ( born 9 April 1971) is a Canadian professional racing driver and amateur musician who won the 1997 Formula One World Championship with Williams. In addition to Formula One (F1) he has competed in various o ...
in the
BAR
Bar or BAR may refer to:
Food and drink
* Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages
* Candy bar
* Chocolate bar
Science and technology
* Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment
* Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud
* Bar (u ...
and
Nick Heidfeld
Nick Lars Heidfeld (born 10 May 1977) is a German professional racing driver.
Despite scoring regular podium finishes in with Williams Grand Prix Engineering, Williams, and in and with BMW in Formula One, BMW Sauber, Heidfeld never won a rac ...
in the
Sauber
Sauber Motorsport AG is a Swiss motorsport engineering company. It was founded in 1970 (as PP Sauber AG) by Peter Sauber, who progressed through hillclimbing and the World Sportscar Championship to reach Formula One in . After operating it un ...
.
Alex Yoong failed to set a lap within the
107% time in his
Minardi and thus did not qualify.
Qualifying classification
Race
There were dark clouds overhead at the beginning of the race. On the formation lap, Barrichello
stalled and was put to the back of the grid. Then, when the starting lights went out,
Allan McNish
Allan McNish (born 29 December 1969) is a British former racing driver, commentator, and journalist from Scotland. He is a three-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, most recently in 2013, as well as a three-time winner of the American Le Ma ...
in the second Toyota retired immediately with a
clutch failure. In the early laps, Montoya led from Michael Schumacher, with Räikkönen overtaking Ralf for third and Barrichello charging through the field, reaching eighth by lap 6.
As the rain started to fall, the drivers made their first pit stops.
Bridgestone teams changed from
slick tyres to
intermediates, but
Michelin teams did not have that option as they had spent no time developing their own Intermediate solution throughout the season, thus forcing the affected teams to change from slicks straight to full
wets
During the 1980s, members of the moderate wing of the British Conservative Party who opposed some of the more hard-line policies of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher were often referred to by their opponents as "wets". Thatcher coined the usage in ...
, neither of which were ideal for the conditions.
Michael Schumacher and the Williams drivers all pitted on lap 13, but Ralf's stop went wrong as the Williams crew did not have his tyres ready.
Coulthard briefly inherited the lead, but the McLaren team had gambled by leaving him out longer than the other leaders, bringing him in on lap 15.
On lap 16, Michael Schumacher passed Montoya for the lead, and on lap 19 Barrichello completed his charge by passing the Colombian for second.
![Button Silverstone 2002](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/Button_Silverstone_2002.jpg)
With the Bridgestone tyres better suited to the conditions than the Michelins, the Ferraris began to pull away. Meanwhile, Coulthard was struggling in ninth, McLaren's gamble having backfired.
As the weather appeared to improve, the team brought him and fourth-placed Räikkönen in to change back to slicks. This too did not pay off, as the rain in fact got heavier, and after changing back to wets again, the McLarens toiled at the back of the field, leading Coulthard to experiment with Michelin's underdeveloped Intermediates for a small stint, but confirming they were not any more competitive than the wets. Coulthard eventually finished two laps behind Schumacher while Räikkönen retired on lap 45 with an engine failure.
The tyre issue also affected the Renaults, Trulli and
Jenson Button
Jenson Alexander Lyons Button (born 19 January 1980) is a British racing driver. He won the 2009 Formula One World Championship when he drove for the Brawn GP team. After his F1 career, he became champion of the 2018 season of the Super G ...
running in the points before making three stops apiece.
Trulli dropped out on lap 30 with an electrical problem, before Button suffered a suspension failure on lap 55.
Up at the front, Schumacher led Barrichello by 13 seconds at half-distance. By this point, the Ferraris were so far ahead that Barrichello retained an advantage of over half a minute over third-placed Montoya following a spin on lap 33.
By making one fewer stop, Montoya managed to catch up with the Brazilian and overtake him on lap 41, but Barrichello repassed him five laps later and pulled away again.
Ralf Schumacher benefitted from the misfortunes of the McLarens and the Renaults to regain fourth, only to have another pit stop go wrong when his fuel rig failed.
This left four more Bridgestone drivers – Villeneuve, Heidfeld,
Olivier Panis
Olivier Panis (; born 2 September 1966) is a French former racing driver. Panis raced in Formula One for ten seasons, earning his first and only win at the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix for the Ligier team.
He is the father of racing driver Auréli ...
in the second BAR and
Giancarlo Fisichella in the
Jordan
Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
– occupying fourth to seventh.
Michael Schumacher eventually took the chequered flag 14.5 seconds ahead of Barrichello, with Montoya a further 17 seconds back and the last man on the lead lap. Villeneuve and Panis took fourth and fifth, securing BAR's first points of the season, while Heidfeld held off Fisichella for the final point.
This was Schumacher's seventh victory of the season and his 60th in all, and it extended his lead in the Drivers' Championship to 54 points – meaning that he could secure his fifth title at the next race, in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
, with six races still to run. Schumacher set the record for most podium finishes with his 107th. Barrichello moved into second in the standings, one point ahead of Montoya and two ahead of Ralf Schumacher.
Race classification
Championship standings after the race
;Drivers' Championship standings
;Constructors' Championship standings
*
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References
{{F1GP 00-09
British Grand Prix
The British Grand Prix is a Grand Prix motor race organised in the United Kingdom by the Royal Automobile Club. First held in 1926, the British Grand Prix has been held annually since 1948 and has been a round of the FIA Formula One World Ch ...
British Grand Prix
Grand Prix
Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour
Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to:
Arts and entertainment ...
British Grand Prix
The British Grand Prix is a Grand Prix motor race organised in the United Kingdom by the Royal Automobile Club. First held in 1926, the British Grand Prix has been held annually since 1948 and has been a round of the FIA Formula One World Ch ...