The Fastest Sector returns with another Flashback Friday. Here’s a brief look back at the 2003 Monaco Grand Prix.
It is the 1st June 2003 at the Circuit de Monaco. F1 is on round seven of the 2003 Formula One Championship.
Going into this weekend, the McLaren of Kimi Raikkonen led the Drivers’ Championship, followed by the Ferraris of Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello. Holding second and third place in the Driver Standings, Ferrari was leading the Constructors’ Championship Standings, but by only one point over the McLaren team.
The drivers competed over 78 laps of the 3.3km street circuit. The race itself therefore was 260.5km long. The race conditions were favourable, with sun and some clouds later on in the race.
After uneventful practice sessions, qualifying took place. Ralf Schumacher in the Williams took pole, with championship leader, Raikkonen following. Schumacher’s teammate, Juan-Pablo Montoya completed the top three. The Ferraris only managed fifth and seventh place this qualifying session.
The Williams of Ralf Schumacher held the lead for the initial 20 laps of the race. The following 10 laps was the pit stop window for many drivers, causing the lead to frequently change. First, Montoya took the lead for two laps, followed by Raikkonen leading for another two laps, then the Renault of Jarno Trulli for the following two as well. Laps 27 to 30 were led by the Ferrari of Michael Schumacher.
By lap 31, Montoya had regained the lead, which he lost briefly to Raikonnen and Michael Schumacher after he pitted. He then led comfortably from lap 59 to the end of the race. The podium saw Michael Schumacher in third position, Raikonnen in second, and Montoya on the top step.
This did not alter the top two positions of the Drivers’ Championship standings, but caused Fernando Alonso to take third position. As well as this, McLaren bested Ferrari to take first place in the Constructors’ Championship.
The McLaren of Raikonnen achieved the fastest lap of the race on lap 49. Interestingly, there were no on-track overtakes recorded during this race. This is a very rare occurrence in Formula One.
What races would you like to see us cover next on Flashback Friday? Leave your comments below.
Written by Alexandra.
Featured Image Credit: Rainer Schlegelmilch on motorsportimages.com
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