A steady performance and a one-stop pit strategy helped Ralf Schumacher to win the Malaysian Grand Prix. However, a controversial first corner clash between brother Michael and his team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya made his task significantly easier.
A steady performance and a one-stop pit strategy helped Ralf Schumacher to win the Malaysian Grand Prix. However, a controversial first corner clash between brother Michael and his team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya made his task significantly easier.
Ralf kept his distance at the first corner as Schumacher and Montoya fought for position. Schumacher had swerved his Ferrari in front of Montoya off the line, so that the Colombian would be on the outside for Turn One. The Williams driver braved it out on the outside, but nicked Schumacher’s Ferrari on the apex of the corner.
Although there appeared to be ample room for Schumacher, he understeered into Montoya’s Williams BMW – losing his own front wing against Montoya’s right-front wheel. The Colombian lost numerous places, while Schumacher’s Ferrari limped to the pits for a new front wing.
That left Barrichello in a comfortable lead over Ralf Schumacher, with the McLaren duo of Kimi Raikkonen and David Coulthard benefiting from the delay to Schumacher, who had dropped to 21st postion, and Montoya, who dropped out of the top 10.
Montoya made up two places when Takuma Sato took out his Jordan team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella at Turn 2 on the second lap, the Colombian climbing to sixth by the time he was slapped with a drive-through penalty for his clash with Schumacher – the first of its kind in F1 history – on lap eight, which dropped him to tenth.
Both McLarens fell out of the race, with Coulthard losing power and Raikkonen’s engine exploding. "It’s a disappointment," said technical director Adrian Newey. "We had good pre-season reliability but one finish from four starts is disappointing."
With Barrichello stopping for the first of his two fuel stops on lap 20, Ralf assumed the lead until his one stop 10 laps later. Barrichello was in for his second stop just five laps later, but his seemingly guaranteed runner-up spot went up in a cloud of smoke along with his Ferrari’s engine with 16 laps to go.
"It was very unfortunate," said Barrichello. "Williams’ pace was very hard, and it was hard work to keep up with them."
That allowed Ralf to cruise home to the flag, almost 40 seconds ahead of Montoya, who stormed his way through the pack after his drive-through penalty. His sternest opposition came from Renault’s Jenson Button, who held the Williams ace at bay for a lap before conceding second place with 13 laps to go.
Despite the fact that Schumacher, like Montoya, had charged hard after his earlier delay, the German seemed unlikely to catch Button for third. But Renault’s developed suspension problems, causing it to bottom out badly over the last two laps, and he could not stop Schumacher from passing him at Turn Four on the final lap.
"Fourth is a good position, but we deserved more," said Jenson. "It was an easy third for us, but the car was about 10 seconds off the pace over the last two laps."
Sauber also enjoyed a great day, with both Nick Heidfeld and Felipe Massa finishing in the points, the latter inheriting sixth when Allan McNish’s final pitstop went wrong when his Toyota pit crew mixed up their final set of tyres for him. He finished seventh.
"It was a bit frustrating, but it’s still a fantastic result for my first real F1 start," McNish said.
But for Williams, it was a dream result. Their one-two finish has propelled them eight points ahead of Ferrari in the constructors’ championship, and Montoya is just two points behind M Schumacher in the drivers’ title race.
"It was a perfect race," said Ralf. "I’m amazed at how quick the car was today, and that’s all thanks to the team. It was just so well balanced."