2002 San Marino GP: Schumacher leads Ferrari one-two

At the 2002 San Marino GP, Michael Schumacher won from pole position for Ferrari. Team-mate Rubens Barrichello finished second ahead of Ralf Schumacher in the Williams. The first pit stop decided the race. Barrichello stayed out one lap longer than Ralf Schumacher and came back out ahead of the Williams driver. That gave Ferrari the one-two it had been hoping for in front of the tifosi at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari.

A brief shower passed over Imola about half an hour before the start, but the track stayed dry. The air temperature at the start was 16 to 17 degrees. In qualifying, Michael Schumacher had only taken pole from his team-mate at the very end, by 0.064 seconds. His time of 1:21.091 set a new lap record for Imola and was his 45th pole position.

Schumacher held the lead through Tamburello at the start. Behind him, Barrichello got away poorly from the dirty side of the grid. Ralf Schumacher went through on the inside and even had to lock his wheels into the first corner to avoid hitting the back of his brother's car. “I had no way to close the door any more because he was by my side,” Barrichello said later. Juan Pablo Montoya also made a poor start and was only fourth.

Further back, Jarno Trulli and Jenson Button used the Renault's strong launch control to pass both Sauber cars in their Renault machines. For Allan McNish, the race ended at the lights. His Toyota stalled, and the official result gave an electrical failure as the cause.

Up front, Michael Schumacher pulled away immediately. After ten laps he was eight seconds clear of his brother.

Rain was threatening, so many teams had started with heavy fuel loads for a long first stint. When the rain held off, Ferrari and Williams switched to two stops, and their strategies were almost identical.

The Schumacher brothers pitted together on lap 31. Barrichello led for one lap and made the most of it. According to grandprix.com, his last lap before his stop was a second and a half quicker than Ralf Schumacher's in-lap. After stopping on lap 32, Barrichello came back out ahead of the Williams. Michael Schumacher was back in front from lap 33, and the Ferraris ran first and second.

The second round of stops went much the same way. Michael Schumacher pitted on lap 46, and Barrichello briefly led again on lap 47. A wheel nut stuck when he pitted at the end of that lap, but he still held on to second place. From lap 48 Michael Schumacher led again and stayed in front to the finish. He took the chequered flag 17.907 seconds ahead of Barrichello, with Ralf Schumacher 19.755 seconds back. Montoya finished fourth. “The Ferraris were clearly stronger than we were today so we had no chance,” Ralf Schumacher admitted.

Only eleven of the 21 starters saw the chequered flag. The retirements, in the order they happened:

• Allan McNish (Toyota): electrics, no laps completed
• Takuma Sato (Jordan): gearbox after 5 laps. He could only drive his car in first gear.
• Giancarlo Fisichella (Jordan): hydraulics after 19 laps
• Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Arrows): loss of power after 25 laps, reportedly caused by low fuel pressure
• Mika Salo (Toyota): gearbox after 26 laps
• Pedro de la Rosa (Jaguar): driveshaft after 30 laps
• Kimi Räikkönen (McLaren): exhaust after 44 laps. Hot exhaust gases were hitting the rear suspension, so McLaren called him in as a precaution.
• Olivier Panis (BAR): throttle linkage after 44 laps
• Eddie Irvine (Jaguar): driveshaft after 45 laps
• Enrique Bernoldi (Arrows): loss of power after 50 laps. He had lost water pressure.

Nick Heidfeld also had a difficult race. The refuelling nozzle failed at his first stop, so he had to pit again a few laps later. He also received a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane. He finished tenth, one lap down.

Jenson Button was one of the day's winners. He started ninth and finished fifth, the last driver on the lead lap. He got past David Coulthard around his pit stop, and the two Britons battled right to the flag. Coulthard finished sixth, a lap down, and took the final championship point for McLaren.

Mark Webber gained the most places, starting 19th and finishing eleventh. He was the only Minardi in the race because team-mate Alex Yoong had failed to get inside the 107 per cent cut-off. Jacques Villeneuve gained three places to finish seventh. Rookie Felipe Massa also gained three places and finished eighth.

The biggest loser was Kimi Räikkönen. The Finn had started fifth and was on course for points until his exhaust failed. Jordan also had a bitter day, as both cars retired with technical failures.

Michael Schumacher extended his lead in the 2002 drivers' championship. He now had 34 points, his brother Ralf 20 and Montoya 17. Button was fourth with 8 points. Barrichello had retired from each of the first three races and now scored his first 6 points of the season, which put him fifth. Ferrari led the constructors' championship with 40 points, narrowly ahead of Williams on 37. McLaren were a long way back on 9 points, with Renault on 8.

This was the 56th Grand Prix win of Michael Schumacher's career. It was also his third win in the fourth race of the season and his fourth victory at Imola. According to the team, that weekend he became the driver with the most Grand Prix starts for Ferrari. The new F2002 had won every race since its debut at the Brazilian GP, and Imola brought its first one-two. Schumacher lapped every driver except the next four finishers. Even this early in the season, that showed how far ahead the Reds were. After the race Barrichello was full of praise: “The F2002 is a wonderful car.”