After all the expectations surrounding the new Ferrari F2002, Michael Schumacher and his team demonstrated that their decision to debut the new car at the Brazilian Grand Prix was right, with the German taking a moral victory, beating the tough opposition from the Williams drivers. As usual, the story was much more complex than that.
Both Ralf Schumacher and Ron Dennis claimed after the Brazilian Grand Prix that they were not that impressed by the pace of the new Ferrari F2002, yet undoubtedly, Michael Schumacher’s second win of the season in three races must have been a moral blow for both the German’s rival teams.
Perhaps because they dominated with the “old” F2001B in Australia and would have fought for the win in Malaysia had Schumacher not clashed with Juan Pablo Montoya at the start, the expectations of what the Italian squad claimed was to be the “best Ferrari ever,” were very high.
Michael Schumacher
Photo by: Ferrari Media Center
Michael Schumacher
Photo by: Ferrari Media Center
The F2002 had been fast in testing at Barcelona the week before the Brazilian race, and earlier both at Fiorano and Mugello, and after the relative dominance of the revised F2001 in the first two races, perhaps many were expecting the new machine to sweep the field right from the start.
Yet as the Brazilian Grand Prix weekend progressed, it was clear that the combination of the BMW-powered Williams and their Michelin rubber was the one to beat. In a track that, as seen last year, suited the Williams chassis perfectly, and with the French tyres being aided by the hot weather conditions, it was hardly a surprise to see Schumacher unable to beat Montoya to pole position on Saturday. And perhaps the same was expected from the race.
But keeping in mind that it was only the F2002’s first race, and that its tyres were not the class of the field, and that Ferrari faced the not-so-easy task of having to work with two different chassis during the weekend, Schumacher’s 55th Formula One victory was, more than anything, a moral one, and certainly gave Ferrari a boost ahead of the start of the European season at their home in two weeks time.
It is worth noting that the F2001 and Rubens Barrichello, on a two-stop strategy, were very quick while the Brazilian was in the race, and it would have been interesting to see where he would have finished had his home jinx not continued for the eighth consecutive time. It was ironic that after…
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