2002 Monaco Grand Prix
The 2002 Monaco Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 26 May 2002 at the Circuit de Monaco in Monte Carlo. It was the seventh race of seventeen in the 2002 Formula One World Championship, and the 60th Monaco Grand Prix. McLaren's David Coulthard won the 78-lap race after starting from second position. Ferrari's Michael Schumacher finished in second and Williams's Ralf Schumacher was third.
Heading into the race, Michael Schumacher led the World Drivers' Championship and his team Ferrari led the World Constructors Championship. Williams's Juan Pablo Montoya secured pole position after setting the fastest lap time in the one-hour qualifying session. However, Coulthard made a faster start and took the lead in the race. Coulthard held the lead throughout the race, securing his 12th career win and his second in Monaco. Michael Schumacher pressed Coulthard in the final 26 laps of the Grand Prix, finishing second by 1.050 seconds.
Following the event, Michael Schumacher strengthened his World Drivers' Championship lead to 33 championship points. Ralf Schumacher's third-place finish put him tied for second in the championship standings with teammate Montoya, who retired from the race due to an engine failure. With ten races remaining in the season, Ferrari increased their World Constructors Championship advantage over Williams to 18 points.
Background
The 2002 Monaco Grand Prix was the 7th of the 17 rounds in the 2002 Formula One World Championship and the 60th edition of the event. It was held at the 19-turn Circuit de Monaco between La Condamine and Monte Carlo on 26 May. Going into the race, Ferrari's Michael Schumacher led the World Drivers' Championship with 54 championship points, ahead of Williams's Juan Pablo Montoya on 27 and his teammate Ralf Schumacher on 23. Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello was fourth with 12 championship points and McLaren's David Coulthard was fifth with 10 championship points. Ferrari led the World Constructors' Championship with 65 championship points, 16 ahead of Williams and 52 ahead of McLaren. Renault and Sauber had eight championship points each.Following the on 12 May, the teams tested at various European racing circuits to prepare for the Monaco Grand Prix. The British American Racing, Jordan, Renault and Williams teams tested variously between 14 and 18 May at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Spain. Sauber tested for four days at a shortened configuration of the Circuit Paul Ricard in France, joined by Arrows, McLaren and Toyota for the final three days. Luciano Burti, Ferrari's test driver, tested for three days at the Circuito de Jerez in Spain, and BAR's test driver Anthony Davidson spent two days at Jerez. Ferrari spent four days at the Fiorano Circuit in Italy, and also two days at the Mugello Circuit in Italy. Minardi did not test during this period.
Many were upset when Barrichello was told by Ferrari to hand the win over to his teammate Michael Schumacher at the end of the previous round in Austria. Despite the controversy, Ferrari sporting director Jean Todt said the public would be eager to observe his team's next actions. Michael Schumacher, who had won five of the preceding six races, said he intended to outpace Barrichello in Monaco and did not anticipate being jeered by the crowd. Coulthard finished fifth in the previous year's Monaco Grand Prix after stalling his car and being baulked by Arrows's Enrique Bernoldi. He said of his chances for the 2002 race, "I am of the mind that this may give us an opportunity to qualify better than I have done in previous races and be a genuine podium finisher."
There were eleven teams with two drivers each for the Grand Prix, with no changes from the season entry list. Although no team used the drastic measures seen the previous year, several teams made aerodynamic changes to their cars in an effort to generate as much downforce as possible on the constrained Monaco circuit. Ferrari fitted new front and rear wings while McLaren modified the MP4-17 car's lower bodywork. McLaren also brought five cars expecting to have some damaged machinery. To increase downforce, other teams such as Arrows, Renault, Sauber, and Williams modified their cars' wings, while Toyota added a number of aerodynamic appendages to the TF102 car's sidewalls and engine cover. Minardi drivers Mark Webber and Alex Yoong both used power steering and Asiatech prepared a revised V10 engine providing additional power at low revs.
Practice
Preceding the race were two one-hour practice sessions on Thursday and two 45-minute sessions on Saturday. The first practice session was held Thursday morning on a damp track that eventually dried up. The circuit was cool and the weather was overcast. Michael Schumacher lapped fastest with a time of 1:21.094 he set 53 minutes in. Coulthard, Renault's Jarno Trulli, Barrichello, Arrows's Heinz-Harald Frentzen, the BAR pair of Jacques Villeneuve and Olivier Panis, Trulli's teammate Jenson Button, McLaren's Kimi Räikkönen and Ralf Schumacher occupied positions second through tenth. After 17 minutes, Pedro de la Rosa understeered his Jaguar at the exit of the Swimming Pool chicane, damaging the nose and front-right suspension. Raikkonen lost control of his McLaren at La Rascasse turn and spun backwards into the outside barrier with the car's rear at corner entry. The monocoque was beyond repair and the car was left on the circuit.Later in the afternoon, the second practice session was still cool and overcast. Trulli set the day's fastest lap of 1:18.915 with ten minutes remaining, 0.446 seconds faster than Toyota's Allan McNish. Coulthard, Jordan's Giancarlo Fisichella, McNish's teammate Mika Salo, Ralf Schumacher, Barrichello, Webber, Montoya and Button completed the top ten. After leaving the tunnel, Felipe Massa avoided hitting the wall and proceeded, despite spinning his Sauber car 360 degrees into the Nouvelle Chicane. Yoong damaged the front-right corner against the La Rascasse turn barrier. Practice was stopped for four minutes to let marshals clear the track of carbon fibre debris and removed Yoong's car. Bernoldi's engine failed and laid oil on the circuit up to the Casino Square turn. Eddie Irvine hit the oil and crashed his Jaguar's rear-right wheel into the Massenet corner wall. Massa damaged his car's right-hand side suspension oversteering into the barrier at Tabac corner. Button damaged his Renault's front-left corner against the tyre barrier at the bottom of the hill at Mirabeau turn.
After taking Friday off—a feature of the Grand Prix timetable that was unique to Monaco— the third practice session on Saturday morning took place in warm and sunny weather. Barrichello led with a 1:18.385 lap set late in the session, 0.086 seconds faster than teammate Michael Schumacher. Montoya, Trulli, Button, Ralf Schumacher, Räikkönen, Coulthard, Frentzen and Fisichella rounded out the top ten. Although McNish and Webber ran off the track and onto the Sainte Devote escape road, no driver struck the barriers.
It became warmer for the final practice session. Trulli set a lap of 1:17.429 late in the session to go fastest. He was 0.077 seconds faster than Coulthard, followed by Montoya, Ralf Schumacher, the Ferrari pair of Barrichello and Michael Schumacher, Button, Fisichella and Massa positions three through ten. Jordan's Takuma Sato struck the inside kerb with his front-right wheel at the apex of Sainte Devote turn and crashed into the tyre barrier at the exit. Nearly identical to Sato's accident, Räikkönen's McLaren's front-left corner was removed at Sainte Devote corner. At the Swimming Pool complex entrance, a rear-left suspension failure propelled Irvine into the tyre barrier, damaging the Jaguar's rear. Soon after, Webber removed his left-front wheel in the same area.
Qualifying
Each driver was allowed twelve laps during Saturday's one-hour qualifying session, with starting positions determined by the drivers' quickest laps. During this session, the 107% rule was in effect, requiring each driver to remain within 107% of the quickest lap time in order to qualify for the race. A five-driver duel for pole position characterised qualifying, which was sunny and warm. There was also heavy traffic observed around the circuit's narrow confines. During his last run in qualifying, Montoya had no traffic and lapped at 1:16.676, earning him the fifth pole position of his career, the only driver to lap in the 1:16 bracket and was more than seven-tenths of a second faster than Coulthard's 2001 pole lap. Coulthard was second, 0.392 seconds behind, beating his own season-best qualifying result. He felt that he could have improved on his final run but for traffic. A little fragment of grit lodged in Michael Schumacher's left eye during his second run, causing irritation. He received medical treatment with eye drops. A cloud of oil smoke from Räikkönen's car in the tunnel warned him of what he mistook for an on-track incident, so he aborted his first run and finished third. Ralf Schumacher, fourth, was delayed by Frentzen and admitted to not using his tyres to best effect on his last run. Barrichello complained Coulthard impeded him at the chicane during his second run, leaving him fifth. Räikkönen qualified sixth after having to drive Coulthard's spare McLaren due to an issue with his race car's oil engine system. The top six qualifiers were separated by a second. Trulli, seventh, had most of his runs affected by traffic. His teammate Button in eighth was unhappy with his car's balance and made an error on his third run. The two Toyotas qualified in the top ten for the first time. Salo was ninth and McNish tenth. Salo reported his Toyota was more balanced than in Thursday free practice while McNish hit a guard rail early in qualifying, knocking the front suspension slightly out of line and affecting the handling.Fisichella drove the fastest Honda-powered car to 11th. Heavy traffic prevented Frentzen from managing a clear run and he qualified 12th. Massa qualified in 13th, ahead of his Sauber teammate Nick Heidfeld in 17th. Massa's engine emitted smoke from the engine's left-hand bank of cylinders, but reported decent car balance and grip. According to Villeneuve, 14th, his car performed well on a set of scrubbed tyres but worse on new ones. Bernoldi improved on each of his runs to clinch 15th. Sato struggled to adapt his favoured racing setup to the changeable condition and understeer he encountered during qualifying, ultimately qualifying in 16th. Heidfeld claimed that the amount of grip his car had during the morning free practice sessions had decreased. Panis in 18th was four positions behind his teammate Villeneuve. Yoong impeded Panis's third run, which was his quickest, and failed to improve on his final run. Following hydraulic issues on his third run that prompted him to enter the pit lane, Webber qualified 19th in the rebuilt Minardi PS02, which had been repaired after his accident two days prior. The Jaguar duo of De La Rosa and Irvine took 20th and 21st, respectively. After his crash earlier in the day, Irvine drove the spare Jaguar, and De La Rosa had no mechanical problems. Yoong crashed into the wall five minutes into qualifying after locking up into Sainte Devote's corner on his first run. He drove the spare Minardi car setup for his teammate Webber and lapped within the 107% limit on his last run to claim 22nd.