The 2002 United States Grand Prix (formally the 2002 SAP United States Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on September 29, 2002, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, in front of about 125,000 spectators. It was the 16th and penultimate round of the 2002 Formula One World Championship and the third United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis. Ferrari driver Rubens Barrichello won the 73-lap race after starting second. His teammate Michael Schumacher finished second and McLaren's David Coulthard was third.
Michael Schumacher, the World Drivers' Champion, started from pole position after setting the fastest qualifying lap in the one-hour qualifying session. Barrichello started second alongside his teammate, with Coulthard starting third. The first three drivers maintained their positions into the first corner. Michael Schumacher led for most of the race, only ceding it to Barrichello during both pit stop cycles. On the final lap, Michael Schumacher led Barrichello by half a second before allowing his teammate to catch up to him through the final corner and draw alongside him. Barrichello won by 0.011 seconds over Michael Schumacher, his fourth victory of the season and fifth of his career.
The race result secured Barrichello second in the World Drivers' Championship, with Williams driver Juan Pablo Montoya in third position. Montoya had moved three more championship points clear of fourth-placed teammate Ralf Schumacher With one race left in the season, Williams secured second position from McLaren in the World Constructors' Championship, while Ferrari broke McLaren's record for the most constructors' points scored in a season.
Background
The 2002 United States Grand Prix was the penultimate round of the 2002 Formula One World Championship, held on 29 September 2002, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) road course in Speedway, Indiana. It was the third United States Grand Prix hosted at Indianapolis since it was reinstated on the Formula One World Championship calendar in 2000 following a nine-year absence. The Porsche Supercup and the Ferrari Challenge held support races during the weekend. Participating in the Ferrari Challenge, Mandy Williams Reimert was the only woman to race in any of the events that weekend, and consequently, the first woman to race on the speedway's infield road course – which had been inaugurated in 2000.
Before the race, both the World Drivers' Championship and World Constructors' Championship were already won, with Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher having secured the World Drivers' Championship five rounds earlier at the and Ferrari took the World Constructors' Championship two races after that at the , with Williams too many championship points behind to be able to catch them. Rubens Barrichello had to score three championship points in Indianapolis to secure second in the World Drivers' Championship.
Following the on 15 September, several teams tested their cars at European circuits to prepare for the race at Indianapolis. The Williams and McLaren teams tested for four days at the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain before being joined for three of those days by British American Racing (BAR) and Jaguar. McLaren test driver Alexander Wurz led the first and second days, regular driver David Coulthard the third day, and BAR's Oliver Panis the final day. Renault and Sauber tested at the Silverstone Circuit in Britain for three days and Jordan two of those days. Sauber led all three days through Felipe Massa (day one), Nick Heidfeld (day two), and Heinz-Harald Frentzen (day three). Ferrari did four days of tyre and electronics testing at the Mugello Circuit in Italy, joined by Minardi on the second day. Ferrari test driver Luciano Burti drove three F2002 cars at the Fiorano Circuit on 19 September.
The IMS asphalt pavement was diamond grounded to smooth out several bumps and improve grip for racing vehicles to prevent bottoming out. A pit wall was installed to isolate the circuit from the pit lane entry. The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA; Formula One's governing body) agreed to keep turn 13's energy-absorbing Steel And Foam Energy Reduction (SAFER) barrier, which had been installed in all four turns prior to the 2002 Indianapolis 500 that May. Turn 13's barrier was expanded to accommodate racing cars travelling clockwise. Part of turn one's kerb was removed to make its opening slightly wider prior to Saturday's two practice sessions.
Ten constructors entered two drivers each for the event. Sauber team principal Peter Sauber signed their 2003 driver Frentzen to replace Massa for the Grand Prix so that Massa could avoid serving a ten-place grid penalty from his final starting position imposed by the stewards for an avoidable accident with Jaguar's Pedro de la Rosa at the preceding Italian Grand Prix; the wording of the regulations meant the penalty was imposed not on the team but on the driver at the next event not in the driver's next race. Renault's Jenson Button was cleared to race. During testing, he experienced dizzy spells caused by an inner ear infection that affected his balance. Arrows did not enter the race, their third in succession in 2002, because the team continued to be affected by financial trouble.
All teams brought developments for their 2003 cars to Indianapolis. McLaren introduced a new front suspension with the strut attached directly to the hub carrier rather than the lower triangle. BAR supplied lighter-weight Brembo brake calipers than the standard model. Honda provided a new advanced qualifying engine to BAR and Jordan. Toyota debuted a new front aerodynamic layout with smaller aerodynamic profiles behind the front wheels than prior models and two aerodynamic appendages parallel to the bottom in front of the side entrance. The team reverted to the previous configuration for the race.
Practice
Two one-hour practices on Friday and two 45-minute sessions on Saturday preceded the race. Heavy rain fell on the IMS overnight, but it quickly subsided and ceased an hour before the first practice session began. When the tyre rubber was removed from the circuit, it became more abrasive than expected. The circuit was slightly moist in the first session with a puddle at turn nine but had dried fully (except the grass) by the second. Michael Schumacher lapped fastest almost halfway through the first session with a time of 1:15.188. Giancarlo Fisichella (Jordan), the Jaguar duo of De la Rosa and Eddie Irvine, Juan Pablo Montoya (Williams), Takuma Sato (Jordan), Heidfeld, Button and McLaren teammates Kimi Räikkönen and Coulthard completed the top ten.
Barrichello lost control of his Ferrari on the grass at the entry of the banked turn 13 owing to a loss of pressure in the left rear tyre after 29 minutes. He went up, causing moderate damage to his car's left side striking a concrete wall sideways around way from the SAFER barrier. The left-rear wheel and front wing were removed, while the left-front wheel was disconnected but held in place by wheel tethers. Barrichello sustained bruising but exited his car that was in the circuit's centre unaided. Officials stopped practice for 18 minutes, because marshals had to clear debris and remove his Ferrari from the centre of the circuit. He missed the rest of Friday's running because FIA rules prohibited him from driving the spare Ferrari. With ten minutes remaining, Ralf Schumacher spun into the turn eight outside tyre wall, partly dislodging the rear wing.
Lap times were faster in the second practice session because of the drying track, and several drivers made errors. Michael Schumacher set the day's fastest lap of 1:13.548 with 17 minutes remaining. Irvine was almost six-tenths of a second slower in second. The two McLarens of Coulthard and Räikkönen, BAR's Jacques Villeneuve, Frentzen, Fisichella, Renault's Jarno Trulli, Heidfeld and Ralf Schumacher made up positions three to ten. Six minutes into the session, Sato locked the wheels on the wet grass and spun off the track, colliding into the turn eight tyre barrier. Montoya stopped on track with a suspected engine problem and Button was asked to stop because Renault detected over two-way telemetry a possible oil gearbox issue.
The third practice session was held under thick fog and cool, cloudy weather. Michael Schumacher maintained his overall lead, with a lap time of 1:11.262 19 minutes into the session. He was almost half a second faster than teammate Barrichello in second. Coulthard, Montoya, Räikkönen, Ralf Schumacher, Irvine, Trulli and Toyota's Mika Salo followed in the top ten. Sato's engine failed while driving at low speed after one minute of the session, and he pulled off to the side of the track with smoke billowing from the back of his car, which later caught fire. Jordan switched the engine from its backup car to Sato's race car.
The fog that had descended on IMS had dissipated significantly before the sun broke through as teams completed their qualifying preparations during the final practice session. Michael Schumacher accomplished a sweep of being the quickest driver in every practice session with a lap of 1:11.158 set seven minutes before practice ended. His teammate Barrichello, Irvine, Ralf Schumacher, Coulthard, Heidfeld, Montoya, Räikkönen, Fisichella and Frentzen rounded out the top ten. Räikkönen spun his McLaren, breaking its front suspension hitting the tyre barrier between turns nine and ten just before practice ended. His race car was required during qualifying.
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. Qualifying was held in sunny and warm weather, and track conditions improved, resulting in a 20-minute wait for participants to drive on a good circuit. Michael Schumacher won his sixth pole position of the season and 49th of his career after setting a new track lap record of 1:10.790 on his second quick lap. He aborted his first quick lap after locking his tyres and going onto grass, and believed he could have gone faster had he not had to slow for yellow flags for Alex Yoong's abandoned Minardi car. Schumacher was joined on the front row by teammate Barrichello, who was nearly 0.3 seconds slower after struggling to get his Ferrari properly balanced and making a mistake at turn one on his first run. Coulthard took third from Montoya on his final lap, losing time being late accelerate out of turn 13. Williams teammates Montoya and Ralf Schumacher were fourth and fifth, respectively, owing to car balance issues. Montoya's two errors kept him from lapping faster, while Ralf Schumacher understeered. Räikkönen, sixth, drove the spare McLaren following his crash during practice but had to slow for yellow flags. BAR altered Villeneuve's car on each of his runs, and he took seventh. Trulli, eighth, worked with Renault's engineers to correct his car's balance. Fisichella, ninth, could not extract the maximum performance from his car. Heidfeld locked his brakes on his first run and spun after losing control of his car when braking on the second. He changed his chassis setup again for tenth.