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The 2002 season was a particularly dominant one for Ferrari as Michael Schumacher took his fifth title six races early, with fifteen wins across the year in total between Schumacher and his team-mate Rubens Barrichello. The Scuderia also claimed its twelfth Constructors' Championship with 221 points, a score that equalled the collective amount of points for all of the other teams put together - but such superiority did not come without controversy. This arose at the Austrian Grand Prix, at an event which is now one of the most infamous in history...
2002 Austrian Grand Prix
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The A1-Ring played host to the sixth round of a season which had seen Schumacher win four of the first five races. Only his brother Ralf had managed to beat him with victory in Malaysia, and it therefore seemed likely that Austria would be another walkover for Michael and Ferrari. However, it was Barrichello who began the weekend on top, and in qualifying he took his second pole of the year, with Schumacher 0.6 seconds back in third place. Ralf split them in second, and his own team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya would start from fourth despite being forced to use the spare car. Sauber's Nick Heidfeld qualified a brilliant fifth, with Kimi Raikkonen conversely achieving his worst grid position of the year for McLaren in sixth.
At the start, Barrichello led the field away, being followed through the first turn by his team-mate as Heidfeld shot up to third behind them. The Williams duo lost out, and had a lot of work to do as they both slipped down the order due to their heavy fuel loads. A collision between BAR's Jacques Villeneuve and Arrows' Enrique Bernoldi was the major incident on the first lap; it led to the Brazilian collecting his team-mate Heinz-Harald Frentzen, and whilst the German was able to survive a trip into the gravel, Bernoldi retired his damaged car two laps later, joining Pedro de la Rosa's Jaguar on the sidelines as the second man out of the race.
As lap 2 began, Heidfeld lost third as he also scampered through the dust at the first corner. This allowed the Williams drivers to sneak through and hunt down the Ferraris in front, and the German was forced to rejoin where he had started in fifth, ahead of David Coulthard's McLaren. He was running ahead of the sister car of Raikkonen, although not without a fight as the Finn tried everything to take back the place the Scot had taken at the start. Coulthard could breathe a sigh of relief on lap 6, however, as Raikkonen's engine gave up the ghost, putting him out. He was the only retirement among the frontrunning teams; Ferrari, at the head of the race, was already far out in front.
Barrichello was swiftly leading Schumacher by over a second, and both men were setting new lap records just as quickly. They were ahead of third-placed Ralf Schumacher by over a second per lap, and by lap 15 - when Alex Yoong's Minardi became the first lapped car - the gap between the Ferraris and the Williams stood at 24 seconds. Although Michael slipped to third after his first pit stop under a Safety Car called for the recovery of Olivier Panis' stranded BAR, Barrichello's lead was solid, and he would remain in control until just a few laps from the flag...
Meanwhile, lap 27 saw a frightening collision between Heidfeld and Takuma Sato, as the German spun thanks to a suspension failure, collecting Sato backwards as he slid across the grass verge and onto the track again. Thankfully, both drivers were unhurt, but it led to another Safety Car period. As the race progressed thereafter, Michael Schumacher regained second after his brother's only stop on lap 47, and Montoya inherited third after a quick stop put him in front of his team-mate. The biggest talking point would have to wait until lap 70 of 71, when Barrichello began to slow - having been instructed to give the win to Schumacher.
He briefly continued in the lead, and it momentarily looked as though he would not surrender his position. As he entered the final corner of the final lap, however, Barrichello finally relented and let his team-mate through to win, settling for second as Montoya finished third, Ralf Schumacher fourth, Giancarlo Fisichella fifth and Coulthard sixth.
Ferrari's tactics were met with a widespread backlash from within F1 and beyond, and the team was hit with a $1 million fine after Barrichello stood on the top step of the podium at Schumacher's insistence - also taking both trophies for first and second. These scenes and the negative attention received immediately afterwards by the sport caused the FIA to clamp down on team orders, which would not be seen again in any clear form until 2010. The incident, however, has remained vividly memorable in the minds of many - making Austria 2002 known for all of the wrong reasons.
Mason Hawker
Azerbaijan Grand Prix
C. Sainz jr
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