The 2003 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 57th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 2003 Formula One World Championship for Drivers and the 2003 Formula One World Championship for Constructors, which were contested concurrently over a sixteen-race series that commenced on 9 March and ended on 12 October.
Defending champions Michael Schumacher and Scuderia Ferrari were again awarded the World Drivers' Championship and World Constructors' Championship, respectively.2003 FIA Formula One World Championship – Drivers' and Constructors' Final Standings, www.fia.com via web.archive.org Retrieved 5 July 2015 Schumacher's closest competitors were Kimi Räikkönen, driving for McLaren, and Juan Pablo Montoya, driving for Williams. It was Schumacher's sixth World Drivers' title overall, breaking Juan Manuel Fangio's 46-year-old record.
This was also the first season to introduce a new points system during which the points from Sunday's race were allocated to the top 8 drivers on a 10–8–6–5–4–3–2–1-basis, with the points system being valid until the end of ahead of another major overhaul in terms of the scoring system in .
Teams and drivers The following teams and drivers competed in the 2003 FIA Formula One World Championship.
EntrantConstructorChassisEngine†TyreDriverRounds Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro Ferrari F2002B Ferrari Tipo 051BFerrari Tipo 052 1 Michael Schumacher All 2 Rubens Barrichello All BMW WilliamsF1 Team Williams-BMW FW25 BMW P83 3 Juan Pablo Montoya All 4 Ralf Schumacher All Marc Gené 14 West McLaren Mercedes MP4-17D 5 David Coulthard All 6 Kimi Räikkönen All Mild Seven Renault F1 Team Renault R23R23B Renault RS23 7 Jarno Trulli All 8 Fernando Alonso All Sauber Petronas Sauber-Petronas C22 Petronas 03A 9 Nick Heidfeld All 10 All Benson & Hedges Jordan Ford Jordan-Ford EJ13 Ford RS1 11 Giancarlo Fisichella All 12 Ralph Firman 1–13, 15–16 Zsolt Baumgartner 13–14 HSBC Jaguar Racing Jaguar-Cosworth R4 Cosworth CR-5 14 Mark Webber All 15 Antônio Pizzonia 1–11 Justin Wilson 12–16 Lucky Strike BAR Honda BAR-Honda 005 Honda RA003E 16 Jacques Villeneuve 1–15 Takuma Sato 16 17 Jenson Button All Trust Minardi Cosworth Minardi-Cosworth PS03 Cosworth CR-3 18 Justin Wilson 1–11 Nicolas Kiesa 12–16 19 Jos Verstappen All Panasonic Toyota Racing Toyota TF103 Toyota RVX-03 20 Olivier Panis All 21 Cristiano da Matta AllSources:
† All engines were required to have ten cylinders and an engine capacity not exceeding 3000 cc,2003 Formula One Technical Regulations, www.fia.com via web.archive.org Retrieved 5 July 2015 and all were of V10 configuration.2003 FIA Formula One World Championship – F1 Guide, www.fia.com via web.archive.org Retrieved 5 July 2015
Friday drivers Three constructors entered Friday-testing-only drivers over the course of the season.
+ Drivers that took part in Friday testing sessionsConstructorFriday driversNo.Driver nameRounds 34 Allan McNish 1–9, 11–16 44 Franck Montagny 10Jordan–Ford 36 Zsolt Baumgartner Björn Wirdheim Satoshi Motoyama 12–131516Minardi–Cosworth 39 Matteo Bobbi Gianmaria Bruni 412–16
Team changes After failing to complete the 2002 season due to financial difficulties, the Arrows team had their application for admission to the 2003 championship rejected by the FIA prior to the season start date. No reason was publicly given by the FIA and Arrows subsequently folded after 25 years in Formula One since . Jordan switched to Ford-branded Cosworth engines for 2003, after their previous suppliers, Honda, opted to focus on their partnership with BAR. Jordan's contract with the Japanese engine manufacturer was due to expire at the end of the 2003 season, but Honda were no longer willing to provide Jordan with free engines. A link-up with, and possible buy-out by, Asiatech was rumoured, although this did not prove to be the case, and, when funding was withdrawn from the company, Asiatech was wound down. Minardi, who had been using Asiatech engines in 2002, switched to Cosworth units for 2003.
Driver changes Fernando Alonso, the team's test driver in 2002, was promoted to a full-time drive at Renault, replacing Jenson Button. Button moved to BAR, where he took the seat vacated by the Toyota-bound Olivier Panis. Panis joined Formula One debutant, and reigning CART champion, Cristiano da Matta at the Japanese team, in an all-new lineup for 2003. Allan McNish, one of the drivers replaced at Toyota, signed with Renault as a test driver, while his teammate from 2002, Mika Salo, left Formula One altogether. Felipe Massa left his Sauber drive to assume the duties of test driver for Ferrari. His place at Sauber was taken by Heinz-Harald Frentzen, who had replaced Massa on a one-off basis for the United States Grand Prix (by which time Frentzen was already confirmed as a Sauber driver for 2003), after having driven for Arrows before the team's collapse. Takuma Sato left the Jordan team to take the place of several others (Anthony Davidson, Darren Manning, Ryo Fukuda and Patrick Lemarié) as the sole test driver for BAR, being replaced by 2002 Formula Nippon champion Ralph Firman. Jaguar replaced both Eddie Irvine and Pedro de la Rosa for 2003. Their new drivers were Mark Webber, who signed from Minardi, and debutant Antônio Pizzonia, who drove in the International Formula 3000 series in 2002 whilst also performing test driver duties for Williams. Webber's vacated seat at Minardi was filled by Justin Wilson, who had won the International Formula 3000 title in 2001. Alex Yoong's Minardi contract from 2002 was not renewed and he moved to the CART series, albeit only for a brief stint, in 2003. He was replaced at Minardi by Jos Verstappen, who had spent a season on the sidelines after losing his Arrows drive to Heinz-Harald Frentzen in 2002.
Mid-season changes Minardi's Justin Wilson joined Jaguar from the German Grand Prix onwards, filling in for the under-performing Antônio Pizzonia, who was offered a test driving role at the team but turned it down. He would later resurface as a test driver at Williams. Wilson's seat at Minardi was taken by the Danish driver Nicolas Kiesa, who joined Formula One from the International Formula 3000 series. Ralph Firman suffered injuries as a result of a crash during practice in Hungary. He was replaced by Zsolt Baumgartner for the Italian Grand Prix before returning to finish the season for Jordan. Baumgartner, another driver who had been competing in the International Formula 3000 series, was the first Hungarian driver to race in Formula One. Ralf Schumacher was unable to race in Italy, due to concussion. He was replaced at Williams by Marc Gené, the team's test driver, for that particular race, before returning for the following Grand Prix. After a string of disappointing results in 2003, Jacques Villeneuve elected to end his season one race early, and was replaced at BAR by test driver Takuma Sato for the Japanese Grand Prix. Villeneuve would later drive for Renault in 2004 as a replacement driver, and sign a multi-year contract at Sauber for 2005 (though he was replaced in 2006).
Calendar The 2003 FIA Formula One World Championship was contested over the following sixteen races: Round Grand Prix Circuit Date1 Australian Grand Prix Albert Park Circuit, Melbourne 9 March2 Malaysian Grand Prix Sepang International Circuit, Kuala Lumpur 23 March3 Brazilian Grand Prix Autódromo José Carlos Pace, São Paulo 6 April4 San Marino Grand Prix Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, Imola 20 April5 Spanish Grand Prix Circuit de Catalunya, Montmeló 4 May6 Austrian Grand Prix A1-Ring, Spielberg 18 May7 Monaco Grand Prix Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo 1 June8 Canadian Grand Prix Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal 15 June9 European Grand Prix Nürburgring, Nürburg 29 June10 French Grand Prix Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours, Magny-Cours 6 July11 British Grand Prix Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone 20 July12 German Grand Prix Hockenheimring, Hockenheim 3 August13 Hungarian Grand Prix Hungaroring, Mogyoród 24 August14 Italian Grand Prix Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Monza 14 September15 United States Grand Prix Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Speedway 28 September16 Japanese Grand Prix Suzuka Circuit, Suzuka 12 OctoberSources: The Belgian Grand Prix scheduled for 31 August was cancelled due to a row over tobacco advertising, despite multiple races taking place without such advertising.
Regulation changes
Technical regulations On 26 June 2002, the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) declared that the HANS ('Head and Neck Support') device would be made compulsory in Formula 1. This was not without controversy, as many drivers voiced their complaints, including Rubens Barrichello, Jacques Villeneuve, Justin Wilson and Nick Heidfeld. On 26 February 2003, the FIA decided that no fuel could be added to or removed from the cars between qualifying and race. This was decided based on safety grounds, as it would avoid the danger that, in a search for extra performance in qualifying, teams would run their cars in a manner which might be unsuitable or even dangerous at the start of the race. Hydraulic power-assisted rack and pinion steering system became mandatory for all Formula One entrants due to manual rack and pinion steering system deemed too difficult to cornering for drivers. The 2003 season is notable for being the third and last season that fully-automatic gearboxes and launch control were allowed to be used. Both electronic driver aids had been used since the 2001 Spanish Grand Prix, but a change in the technical regulations saw the FIA banning both systems for 2004. The ban on traction control was ultimately delayed until the season.
Sporting regulations After Ferrari's infamous decision during the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix, ordering Rubens Barrichello to let Michael Schumacher by, any team orders which interfered with a race result were prohibited from the 2003 season onwards. Only one type of wet weather tyre was allowed to be used in wet weather races. This immediately raised concerns with the tyre suppliers. And after the chaotic Brazilian Grand Prix, in which drivers tried to call off the first qualifying session and which saw six drivers crash in the same corner, this rule was scrapped.
Furthermore, the 2003 season saw the introduction of new regulations intended to increase F1's excitement, to halt falling global television audiences that had occurred during the previous season, and to help alleviate the financial difficulties of the smaller teams: One-lap qualifying was introduced as a way for smaller teams to get more television exposure. In the qualifying session on Friday, drivers would go out in current championship order, to determine the running order on Saturday. A faster lap time on Friday would mean a later starting time for them on Saturday. On Saturday, drivers contested for their starting position in the race on Sunday, with the fastest driver awarded pole position. In both sessions, drivers could only do one timed lap. Optional Friday testing at Grand Prix events was introduced in exchange for fewer miles on stand-alone test days. This was intended to give smaller teams a cheaper alternative to these test days, which were to be banned in 2004. The points system for both the Constructors' and Drivers' titles was changed from 10–6–4–3–2–1 (used since 1991) for the first six finishers at each round to 10–8–6–5–4–3–2–1 for the first eight finishers2003 Formula One Sporting Regulations, www.jomenvisst.de via web.archive.org Retrieved 5 July 2015 in an attempt to make the title contests closer and provide better competition between midfield teams.
Season summary
Rounds 1 to 3 Going into the season, Ferrari was the team to beat, having won the previous four Constructors' Championships. There was a lot of speculation about the effect of the new regulations on their dominance and overall form.