Spanish GP

Barcelona, 28th April - In front a crowd of 98,000, the cars formed up on the grid, only for Rubens Barrichello to fail to get away on the final formation lap due to a gear selection problem. Even though he was pushed into the pits, the problem was found to be terminal and he failed to start.

When the lights went out, Michael Schumacher went straight into the lead from Ralf Schumacher, Juan Pablo Montoya, Kimi Raikkonen, Jenson Button, David Coulthard, Jarno Trulli and the two Saubers of Nick Heidfeld and Felipe Massa. But on lap four, Raikkonen lost his rear wing and was fortunate to be able to return to the pits.

Michael Schumacher pulled away from the Williams duo at a remarkable rate: he had a four second gap after five laps, 9.3s after ten. Behind him, Ralf eased away from teammate Montoya and the pair were slowly pulling away from Button's ill-handling Renault. Coulthard caught his compatriot but remained closely in touch rather than challenging, while the second Renault of Trulli was close behind.

After 23 laps, Trulli was the first to make a pit stop and over the next six laps all the leading runners followed him into the pits. Ralf was just ahead of teammate Montoya after the stops, but on lap 29 he went off the circuit and damaged his nose section, necessitating a 28.3s stop for a new nose section, which dropped him out of contention.

After the stops, Michael had a 23s lead over Montoya now second, while Coulthard was right on Button's tail, challenging him for third. On lap 34, the McLaren made a classic overtaking manoeuvre into the first corner and soon pulled away.

Button, however, was in trouble because a hydraulic problem was making his steering heavy and he soon dropped back into the clutches of teammate Trulli, who overtook on lap 36. He then fell back to be challenged by Heidfeld.

On lap 42, the second round of pit stops only served to extend Michael Schumacher's lead, now up to 42 seconds, peaking a lap later at 44s. Montoya was still in second place from Coulthard in third while Trulli held fourth place from Heidfeld. Button was being pushed by Massa and Frentzen.

Ten laps from the end, however, Trulli's engine began to lose power and soon after, Button's problems worsened. On lap 56, he slipped to eighth place, while a lap later, Trulli fell to fourth place behind Heidfeld.

On lap 61, Trulli dropped back both Massa and the closely following Frentzen, while four laps later, Michael Schumacher took the chequered flag to win by 35.630s. Montoya was second from Coulthard in third, while Heidfeld and Massa took fourth and fifth ahead of Frentzen scoring Arrows's first point in sixth. Only nine drivers finished, after Trulli, Ralf Schumacher and Button all retired in the last five laps.

2002 Spanish Grand Prix - Race
Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 1 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 65 1:30'29.981 1 10 2 6 Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 65 +35.630s 4 6 3 3 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 65 +42.623s 7 4 4 7 Nick Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas 65 +1'06.697s 8 3 5 8 Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas 65 +1'18.973s 11 2 6 20 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Arrows-Cosworth 65 +1'20.430s 10 1 7 11 Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Honda 64 +1 Lap 15 8 25 Allan McNish Toyota 64 +1 Lap 19 9 24 Mika Salo Toyota 64 +1 Lap 17 10 14 Jarno Trulli Renault 63 Engine 9 11 5 Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW 63 Engine 3 12 15 Jenson Button Renault 60 Hydraulics 6 Ret 12 Olivier Panis BAR-Honda 43 Exhaust 13 Ret 16 Eddie Irvine Jaguar-Cosworth 41 Hydraulic 22 Ret 21 Enrique Bernoldi Arrows-Cosworth 40 Hydraulic 14 Ret 10 Takuma Sato Jordan-Honda 10 Spin 18 Ret 9 Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Honda 5 Hydraulic 12 Ret 4 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 4 Rear wing 5 Ret 17 Pedro de la Rosa Jaguar-Cosworth 2 Spin 16 DNS 2 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 0 gearbox 2 DNQ 22 Alex Yoong Minardi-Cosworth Fastest Lap: Michael Schumacher 1m 20.355s