Rain reshuffled the order at Indianapolis, Michael Schumacher came through from seventh, Montoya's title hopes ended with a drive-through penalty and Frentzen took his last podium.
Michael Schumacher won the 2003 United States Grand Prix for Ferrari at Indianapolis on 28 September 2003, starting from seventh on the grid. Kimi Raikkonen was second for McLaren from pole position, 18.2 seconds behind, and Heinz-Harald Frentzen took third for Sauber.
Changing rain reshaped the 2003 United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis, and six different drivers held the lead at various points. Michael Schumacher, who had started seventh, came through to win for Ferrari. It was his sixth victory of the season, and it kept his bid for a sixth world title on track.
The race was the penultimate round of the season, held on the 4.192 km (2.605 mi) Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in Speedway, Indiana, on 28 September 2003. It was the fourth United States Grand Prix held at Indianapolis. The circuit had staged the Indianapolis 500 as part of the world championship from 1950 to 1960, and the race had returned in 2000 after nine years away. The Porsche Supercup supplied the support races that weekend.
The title picture before Indianapolis
Schumacher led the drivers' table with 82 points after winning the Italian Grand Prix two weeks earlier. Montoya was second, three points behind, and Raikkonen third, four points further back. A win in Indianapolis would have put Schumacher on the brink of a record sixth title, with ten points on offer and two rounds left in the season.
A Montoya win in the season-ending Japanese Grand Prix would still leave Schumacher champion without any further points, since his wins total was higher. Williams led the constructors with 141 points, four ahead of Ferrari, with McLaren third on 120. Renault were fourth on 79 and BAR fifth on 18.
Montoya was convinced his car would suit Indianapolis, because its engine was well matched to the long main straight. He said he did not need to win the race, only to finish ahead of Schumacher and Raikkonen to become champion in Japan.
Six different leaders, one lap-three collision and a Ferrari win from seventh on the grid decided Indianapolis.
Team orders, testing and the driver line-up
Team orders dominated the talk before the race. FIA president Max Mosley warned Ferrari, Williams and McLaren that any evidence of team orders at Indianapolis would be referred to the race stewards. Ferrari's technical director Ross Brawn argued that a driver who was not in championship contention should not interfere with one who was. Williams's technical director Patrick Head said his team would let its drivers pass each other rather than the squad, and McLaren's Ron Dennis expected team-mates to help each other.
Most teams were concentrating on 2004 and made few changes to their cars. Ferrari and BMW brought enhanced versions of their engines, and Honda, which supplied BAR, presented an upgraded power unit and a new gearbox. BAR's Jenson Button had been cleared to compete after a high-speed crash during testing at Jerez.
Ferrari had spent three days testing at the Circuito de Jerez earlier. Sauber took part on the first two days, BAR on the last two, and Toyota ran all four. Minardi compared its PS03 with the outdated Arrows A23 at Mugello, while Panis tested aerodynamic changes on the Toyota at Paul Ricard.
Ralph Firman returned to Jordan after missing the two previous rounds, and Ralf Schumacher came back to Williams after missing the Italian race. Ralf replaced test driver Marc Gene, who had driven in his place at Monza. In the private test session on Friday morning, Renault's Trulli set the fastest lap at 1:10.986, just 0.001 second faster than Alonso, while a rubber seal caused a four-minute stoppage on the main straight.
Practice and qualifying
Practice was affected by the weather. Trulli was fastest in the first session at 1:11.153, 0.186 seconds quicker than Ralf Schumacher. Fisichella's Jordan lost its engine as it left turn 12 and left oil on the track after 22 minutes, and the clean-up took almost 20 minutes before the session could resume.
On Saturday, Barrichello set the best time in the final session at 1:11.112, 0.012 seconds faster than Trulli. Alonso topped the warm-up at 1:12.079. Late in the warm-up, Trulli crashed twice into the turn 11 tyre wall in minor accidents, damaging the front and right side of his Renault.
Qualifying ran in two one-hour sessions on Friday and Saturday afternoons. The first session ran in the order of the championship standings, and the second reversed it. Rain began to fall halfway through the first session, and the FIA allowed extreme rain tyres for the rest of qualifying. Trulli took provisional pole at 1:09.566 in the infield section, with Barrichello 0.269 seconds slower.
In the dry second session, Raikkonen set 1:11.670 for his second career pole, with Barrichello 0.124 seconds behind him on the front row. Panis took third, which gave Toyota its best qualifying result at that point. Montoya clipped a kerb and lost time, and Michael Schumacher made small errors on his way to seventh.
Further down, Alonso was sixth and Coulthard eighth. Da Matta started ninth in a spare Toyota after his engine overheated in the warm-up, and Trulli was tenth in a rebuilt Renault. Button and Villeneuve took 11th and 12th, followed by Heidfeld, Webber and Frentzen in 13th to 15th. Wilson, Fisichella and Firman filled 16th to 18th, and Verstappen and Kiesa completed the grid in 19th and 20th.
What happened at the start?
Raikkonen made a clean start to hold the lead into the first corner. Barrichello suffered an automatic gearchange glitch and had to change gears by hand, which let Panis pass him for second. Michael Schumacher moved from seventh to fourth on the first lap, while Montoya slid from fourth to seventh.
Kiesa collided with Firman's rear on turn nine and made an unscheduled stop for a new front wing. Light rain fell on the second lap, and on lap three Ralf Schumacher got past Panis into second on the main straight, using extra horsepower.
The race's major incident followed on lap three at turn two. Montoya was alongside Barrichello after the braking for the complex that follows the main straight, and Barrichello pushed him onto the kerb. Montoya's right-front wheel and Barrichello's left-rear wheel touched, sending Barrichello into the gravel, where he retired. Montoya dropped to eighth behind both Renaults.
Michael Schumacher overtook Panis for third on the inside of the main straight on lap five, while yellow flags were being waved to clear Barrichello's car. After McLaren checked the video evidence, the stewards decided he had completed the move before entering the yellow flag zone, and no penalty followed.
Why did Montoya finish sixth?
Montoya was given a drive-through penalty because the stewards decided he had caused the lap three crash with Barrichello. He served it on lap 22. He later went off at turn eight and pitted for full rain tyres, and he finished sixth, a lap down, which mathematically ended his title hopes.
The stewards also investigated him for passing a slower car under yellow flags during that period. Montoya did not speak to the press straight after the race. Four days later he admitted it took him two days to accept the title was out of reach, and he suggested a podium had been possible without the penalty.
How did the rain change the pit stops?
The changing weather forced drivers to keep switching tyres. Button and Frentzen gained the most from the rain, because they had switched to rain tyres at their first stops and held first and second for a time. Brawn then called Michael Schumacher into the pits for intermediates on lap 22.
Ralf Schumacher had stayed out an extra lap because of a misunderstanding over the radio. On the wet grass he lost traction and hit the turn eight barrier backwards, which ended his race with rear suspension damage. Webber's visor steamed up on the same corner, and he lost control of his Jaguar and hit the barrier too.
Michael Schumacher overtook Raikkonen for third on lap 28, and he passed Frentzen for second on lap 33. He then took the lead from Button on the inside at turn one on lap 38, and he began to pull away as more drivers switched to dry tyres.
Button retired on lap 42 with a loss of hydraulic pressure, a fault BAR had been aware of but had been unable to fix. That moved Frentzen into second, Heidfeld into third and Raikkonen into fourth. Michael Schumacher made his third stop on lap 48, for fuel and dry tyres, which gave Frentzen the race lead.
Coulthard had gone off at turn eight on lap 32, and he then continued on dry tyres while the track was still drying. Heidfeld passed Alonso for fifth two laps later, and Alonso retired on lap 47 after smoke streamed from his engine between turns eight and nine.
Results at a glance
| Position | Driver | Team | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael Schumacher | Ferrari | From seventh on the grid; sixth win of 2003 and 70th of his career |
| 2 | Kimi Raikkonen | McLaren | From pole; 18.2 seconds behind the winner |
| 3 | Heinz-Harald Frentzen | Sauber | First podium in three years, and his last |
| 4 | Jarno Trulli | Renault | Fourth after overtaking Heidfeld in the closing laps |
| 5 | Nick Heidfeld | Sauber | Best result of his season |
| 6 | Juan Pablo Montoya | Williams | A lap down after a drive-through penalty |
Fisichella was seventh, and Wilson took eighth for his first career championship point, despite driving over a Jaguar mechanic during a pit stop. Da Matta was ninth after a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane. Verstappen and Kiesa finished 10th and 11th, four laps down, and only 11 of the 20 starters reached the finish.
The closing laps brought further changes. Frentzen made his second stop on the 49th lap and rejoined third, while Coulthard pulled into the McLaren garage one lap later, with a gearbox fault that ended his race. Raikkonen passed Frentzen for second at the start of lap 55, after Fisichella's slower car had delayed the Sauber. Trulli overtook Heidfeld for fourth eight laps later, and Montoya used Heidfeld's slipstream to pass Fisichella for sixth. Villeneuve retired on lap 66 with fire at the rear of his car, which ended his possible duel with Wilson for eighth.
What did the result mean for the title?
Michael Schumacher's victory put him nine points ahead of Raikkonen, 92 to 83. Montoya, now 10 points behind, was mathematically eliminated from the title race. Neither Ralf Schumacher nor Barrichello finished, so neither improved their totals. Ferrari retook the constructors' lead with 147 points, three ahead of Williams.
McLaren were third on 128 points and Renault fourth on 84. Sauber's ten points took the team to 19, moving it from ninth to fifth with one race of the season left.
How did the drivers and teams react?
Michael Schumacher admitted that the tyres had played a part in the result, and he said he was not surprised to finish in the top three. Raikkonen said the changing weather had cost him, and he was slightly disappointed to finish second. Frentzen was ecstatic with third.
Barrichello felt he had given Montoya enough room after reviewing the footage of the lap three crash. Button called his lap 42 retirement the worst feeling of his career, adding that it had been four years since BAR had stood on a podium. Michelin's motorsport director, Pierre Dupasquier, said the company needed to improve its rain tyres after being slower than Bridgestone in the wet.
Brawn said the weather had been critical to the win, while Williams's chief operations engineer, Sam Michael, admitted the team had made several strategy mistakes. Wilson was pleased with his first career points, and Fisichella said seventh was positive given the pace of his car. Verstappen accused Firman of denying him a championship point.