2003 British Grand Prix

The 2003 British Grand Prix (formally the LVI Foster's British Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 20 July 2003 at the Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone, Northamptonshire, England. It was the eleventh round of the 2003 Formula One season. The 60-lap race was won by Rubens Barrichello driving for Ferrari after starting from pole position. Juan Pablo Montoya finished second in a Williams car, and Kimi Räikkönen third driving for McLaren.

Jarno Trulli, driving for Renault, started alongside Barrichello on the front row and led the first eleven laps of the race, until a track invasion by a later-to-be-defrocked priest, who ran along Hangar straight, running opposite to the 170 mph (280 km/h) train of cars, wearing a saffron kilt and waving religious banners.<ref name=BBC1>Template:Cite news</ref> As a result, the vast majority of cars pitted under safety car conditions, which led to the Toyota drivers Cristiano da Matta and Olivier Panis, who had elected not to pit, leading the field until Räikkönen assumed the lead on lap 30 when Da Matta pitted.

Race report

The race began with Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello on pole, alongside Renault's Jarno Trulli. Kimi Räikkönen of McLaren-Mercedes started from third, while world champion and championship leader Michael Schumacher started from fifth. Barrichello made a poor start, allowing both Trulli and Räikkönen past on an incident-free first lap. Ralf and Michael Schumacher retained their starting positions of fourth and fifth. On the sixth lap, the headrest of David Coulthard dislodged while traversing the first corner (Copse), forcing him to pit for a replacement under safety regulations, and causing a safety car period to allow marshals to clear the track. Upon the resumption of green flag racing, Barrichello closed the gap to Räikkönen before passing him on lap 11. On the following lap, a man invaded the circuit and another safety car period was necessitated. As it was close to the period when the drivers would be making their scheduled pit stops, the vast majority of cars decided to pit under the safety car. The second placed cars from the respective teams were forced to queue up in the pit lane waiting for service, causing them to drop many places. Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso and Juan Pablo Montoya were all outside of the top ten. Of the leading contenders, Trulli was in fourth place while both Räikkönen and Ralf Schumacher had jumped Barrichello when in the pits.<ref name=BBC2>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=BBC3>Template:Cite news</ref>

The Toyotas of Cristiano da Matta and Olivier Panis – who had opted not to pit – were leading, while Coulthard was in third, having not required a pit stop after his earlier unscheduled headrest replacement. Räikkönen passed Trulli immediately after the restart before clearing team-mate Coulthard on the same lap. Barrichello then passed a slowing Ralf Schumacher on the 17th lap while Räikkönen also passed Panis before chasing down the leading da Matta. Ralf Schumacher was forced to pit after encountering difficulties, while at the same time Michael Schumacher was unable to pass Alonso. By the 26th lap Barrichello was still trying to pass Trulli, and the two leaders continued to extend their lead. Barrichello and Montoya eventually passed Trulli by the end of the 27th lap, before Panis fell victim to both on the 29th. Da Matta eventually ceded the lead after pitting on the 30th lap to Räikkönen. Barrichello then set the fastest lap after being cleared of traffic, taking the lead after Räikkönen pitted for the second time. Barrichello continued to cut the advantage, but Räikkönen regained the lead with a reduced margin following the Brazilian's second stop. After closing in, Barrichello passed Räikkönen after pressuring him into a mistake. Michael Schumacher eventually passed Trulli on the 46th lap, but an unforced error by Räikkönen allowed Montoya to seize second position. In the closing phase of the race, Coulthard passed both da Matta and Trulli to earn fifth place.<ref name=BBC2/><ref name=BBC3/>

Track invasion

File:Silverstone horan.jpg

Horan runs onto the track into the path of Antônio Pizzonia's Jaguar R4. Caption on this television screenshot indicates deployment of safety car as a result.

On the 11th lap, as the procession of cars exited the Becketts corner onto the Hangar straight, Neil Horan cleared the fence wearing a kilt, waving banners with statements "Read the bible" and "The Bible is always right",<ref name=NewSeekers>Template:Cite news</ref> and ran towards the sequence of cars, forcing several cars to swerve to avoid him. He eventually returned to the grass runoff area at the side of the track after the cars had passed for the lap, and was tackled by a track marshal. He was later charged with aggravated trespass and pleaded guilty in a Northampton court,<ref>Template:Cite news </ref> stating that he took the open gate as a sign from God, although the prosecution contended that his act was premeditated as he had already prepared the banners prior to attending the Grand Prix. He was later jailed for two months.<ref name="NewSeekers" /> Although the incident was broadcast to a worldwide audience, it was not shown live in the UK, as the British broadcaster ITV1 had cut away to a commercial break just as it occurred.

The incident prompted comparisons to the events at the 1977 South African Grand Prix, where volunteer track marshal, Frederick Jansen van Vuuren, ran across the main straight to aid a car and was hit at 170 mph by Tom Pryce, who could not see him until it was too late because of the steep crest on the straight. Both Van Vuuren and Pryce were killed by the impact. A similar incident occurred at the 2000 German Grand Prix (coincidentally won by Barrichello) when a disgruntled ex-Mercedes employee walked along part of the circuit in protest before being arrested. This caused a safety car, which eliminated the lead of Mika Häkkinen, driving for McLaren-Mercedes. Unlike the German protester, Horan ran directly down the middle of the track, and intentionally towards oncoming cars and lurching towards some of them. Stephen Green, the marshal who handled Horan, was later awarded the BARC Browning Medal for "outstanding bravery in tackling a track invader during the 2003 British Grand Prix at Silverstone", the second recipient after David Purley 30 years previously.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The race led to fears that Formula One bosses Max Mosley and Bernie Ecclestone, who had been highly critical of the media and corporate facilities of Silverstone, would use the incident to drop the race from the Formula One calendar, with Ecclestone saying: "It wasn't necessary – the race was exciting enough without it. But the security wasn't good enough." Drivers and team officials defended the circuit, with Montoya stating: "This was one of the best races of the year, even with the spectator. It was so much fun today." Sauber boss Peter Sauber stated: "When a man sets himself on fire in the street in Paris, no one blames Paris". McLaren-Mercedes boss Ron Dennis said: "There is no way you can prevent it happening."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1 Time	Q2 Time	Gap
1	2	Template:Flagicon Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari	No time	1:21.209	—
2	7	Template:Flagicon Jarno Trulli	Renault	1:19.963	1:21.381	+0.172
3	6	Template:Flagicon Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:21.065	1:21.695	+0.486
4	4	Template:Flagicon Ralf Schumacher	Williams-BMW	1:19.788	1:21.727	+0.518
5	1	Template:Flagicon Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	1:19.474	1:21.867	+0.658
6	21	Template:Flagicon Cristiano da Matta	Toyota	1:20.765	1:22.081	+0.872
7	3	Template:Flagicon Juan Pablo Montoya	Williams-BMW	1:19.749	1:22.214	+1.005
8	8	Template:Flagicon Fernando Alonso	Renault	1:19.907	1:22.404	+1.195
9	16	Template:Flagicon Jacques Villeneuve	BAR-Honda	1:21.084	1:22.591	+1.382
10	15	Template:Flagicon Antônio Pizzonia	Jaguar-Cosworth	1:20.877	1:22.634	+1.425
11	14	Template:Flagicon Mark Webber	Jaguar-Cosworth	1:20.171	1:22.647	+1.438
12	5	Template:Flagicon David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	1:19.968	1:22.811	+1.602
13	20	Template:Flagicon Olivier Panis	Toyota	1:19.959	1:23.042	+1.833
14	10	Template:Flagicon Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Sauber-Petronas	1:21.363	1:23.187	+1.978
15	11	Template:Flagicon Giancarlo Fisichella	Jordan-Ford	1:21.500	1:23.574	+2.365
16	9	Template:Flagicon Nick Heidfeld	Sauber-Petronas	1:21.211	1:23.844	+2.635
17	12	Template:Flagicon Ralph Firman	Jordan-Ford	1:22.335	1:24.385	+3.176
18	18	Template:Flagicon Justin Wilson	Minardi-Cosworth	No time	1:25.468	+4.259
19	19	Template:Flagicon Jos Verstappen	Minardi-Cosworth	1:23.418	1:25.759	+4.550
20	17	Template:Flagicon Jenson Button	BAR-Honda	1:20.569	No time	—
Sources:<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation							CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Race

File:Barrichello 2003 British GP.jpg

Rubens Barrichello won the race for Scuderia Ferrari.

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	2	Template:Flagicon Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari	60	1:28:37.554	1	10
2	3	Template:Flagicon Juan Pablo Montoya	Williams-BMW	60	+5.462	7	8
3	6	Template:Flagicon Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes	60	+10.656	3	6
4	1	Template:Flagicon Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	60	+25.648	5	5
5	5	Template:Flagicon David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	60	+36.827	12	4
6	7	Template:Flagicon Jarno Trulli	Renault	60	+43.067	2	3
7	21	Template:Flagicon Cristiano da Matta	Toyota	60	+45.085	6	2
8	17	Template:Flagicon Jenson Button	BAR-Honda	60	+45.478	20	1
9	4	Template:Flagicon Ralf Schumacher	Williams-BMW	60	+58.032	4
10	16	Template:Flagicon Jacques Villeneuve	BAR-Honda	60	+1:03.569	9
11	20	Template:Flagicon Olivier Panis	Toyota	60	+1:05.207	13
12	10	Template:Flagicon Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Sauber-Petronas	60	+1:05.564	14
13	12	Template:Flagicon Ralph Firman	Jordan-Ford	59	+1 Lap	17
14	14	Template:Flagicon Mark Webber	Jaguar-Cosworth	59	+1 Lap	11
15	19	Template:Flagicon Jos Verstappen	Minardi-Cosworth	58	+2 Laps	19
16	18	Template:Flagicon Justin Wilson	Minardi-Cosworth	58	+2 Laps	18
17	9	Template:Flagicon Nick Heidfeld	Sauber-Petronas	58	+2 Laps	16
Ret	8	Template:Flagicon Fernando Alonso	Renault	52	Gearbox	8
Ret	11	Template:Flagicon Giancarlo Fisichella	Jordan-Ford	44	Suspension	15
Ret	15	Template:Flagicon Antônio Pizzonia	Jaguar-Cosworth	32	Engine	10
Source:<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation								CitationClass=web }}</ref>{{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}

Championship standings after the race

• Bold text indicates who still has a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.

Drivers' Championship standings

+/–	Template:Abbr	Driver	Points
File:1rightarrow blue.svg	1	Template:Flagicon Michael Schumacher	69
File:1rightarrow blue.svg	2	Template:Flagicon Kimi Räikkönen	62
File:1uparrow green.svg 1	3	Template:Flagicon Juan Pablo Montoya	55
File:1downarrow red.svg 1	4	Template:Flagicon Ralf Schumacher	53
File:1rightarrow blue.svg	5	Template:Flagicon Rubens Barrichello	49
Source:<ref name="champ">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation				CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Constructors' Championship standings

+/–	Template:Abbr	Constructor	Points
File:1rightarrow blue.svg	1	Template:Flagicon Ferrari	118
File:1rightarrow blue.svg	2	Template:Flagicon Williams-BMW	108
File:1rightarrow blue.svg	3	Template:Flagicon McLaren-Mercedes	95
File:1rightarrow blue.svg	4	Template:Flagicon Renault	55
File:1rightarrow blue.svg	5	Template:Flagicon BAR-Honda	14
Source:<ref name="champ"/>

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

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