Barrichello Wins Action-Packed British GP
Brazilian Rubens Barrichello kept his cool amongst chaotic scenes at Silverstone to take his first race victory of the season after a track protester caused havoc in the British Grand Prix on Sunday.
Brazilian Rubens Barrichello kept his cool amongst chaotic scenes at Silverstone to take his first race victory of the season after a track protester caused havoc in the British Grand Prix on Sunday.
Barrichello, who started from pole position, finished just ahead of the Williams-BMW driver Juan Pablo Montoya after a thrilling race that was turned on its head by the intruder on lap 12.
Finn Kimi Raikkonen, of McLaren-Mercedes, claimed the final podium position to close the gap on World Championship leader Michael Schumacher by one point, to seven, after the German Ferrari driver came home fourth.
Scot David Coulthard was fifth after wrestling the position away from Italian Jarno Trulli, of Renault, in the closing laps. Brazilian Cristiano da Matta, of Toyota, and Briton Jenson Button, of BAR-Honda, claimed the final points.
Barrichello had made a slow start and immediately dropped behind Trulli and Raikkonen to third as Ralf and Michael Schumacher retained position and Montoya moved up to sixth.
Further back in the pack Sauber's Heinz-Harald Frentzen slowed immediately when the engine in his car emitted smoke but he got away and was quickly back in the midfield pack. On lap six the headrest in Coulthard's McLaren blew out at Copse and he was forced to pit for 28.5 seconds as the safety car came out to allow the marshals to clear the debris.
By that point Trulli had built up a significant lead but it was cut right down again when the race restarted two laps later and Coulthard returned in 17th place just ahead of fellow Briton Ralph Firman.
On the 12th lap a religious protestor in a kilt broke through the barriers on Hangar Straight and stood just to the side of the racing line as the field sped through before being wrestled to the ground by a marshal and dragged off.
All the cars avoided him and the safety car was immediately brought out again, bringing most of the field into the pits and leaving the two Toyota cars of Frenchman Olivier Panis and Brazilian Cristiano da Matta out in front.
On lap 17 Ralf Schumacher was hounded by Rubens Barrichello before the Brazilian finally got past coming out of Abbey Curve while Raikkonen made it past da Matta for second.
The chaos promoted Coulthard up to fourth and left World Champion Michael Schumacher down in 14th place. Ralf Schumacher pitted again for 7.3 seconds on lap 19. On lap 20 da Matta led by 0.625 seconds from Raikkonen with Panis, Coulthard, Trulli, Barrichello, Montoya and Ralf Firman, of Jordan, filling the places down to eighth.
Scot Coulthard, out of sequence from the rest of the field, stopped again for 8.9 seconds on lap 28 then da Matta pitted at the end of his 30th lap for 6.8 seconds to hand the lead to Raikkonen.
Schumacher passed Villeneuve for ninth place on lap 31 as the pair headed out of Abbey and the Canadian almost crashed into teammate Button as he defended his line heading into Bridge. Schumacher, who went wide at Priory, immediately passed Firman to move up to seventh and then Antonio Pizzonia, who had been well down the order, was forced out of the race.
Leader Raikkonen was in the pits at the end of lap 35, and he was stationary for 9.8 seconds, returning to the track in fourth place with Barrichello now in front, Montoya second and Spaniard Fernando Alonso third.
Montoya and Alonso both pitted on lap 38 and stopped for 8.8 and 8.6 seconds respectively. Barrichello was in at the end of the following lap and stopped for 8.4 seconds. The end of the pitstop window left Raikkonen ahead of Barrichello, da Matta and Montoya with the top four covered by less than ten seconds and Barrichello closing in on Raikkonen.
On lap 42 Barrichello bullied his way past Raikkonen to take the lead in a thrilling move that saw him take the inside at Bridge and force the Finn onto the grass as they headed into Priory.
Italian Giancarlo Fisichella suffered a broken suspension on lap 45 and spectacularly careered across the grass in the high-speed Becketts corner before driving back to the pits to retire.
Raikkonen dropped to third after Montoya fought past. Then Alonso became the next retirement on lap 53 when he parked his Renault beside the pit wall and quickly walked back to the garage.
PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS The British Grand Prix Silverstone, England; 60 laps; 308.355km; Weather: Windy and dry. Classified: Pos Driver Team-Engine Tyres Time 1. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1h 28:34.554 2. Montoya Williams BMW (M) + 5.462 3. Raikkonen McLaren Mercedes (M) + 10.656 4. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) + 25.648 5. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes (M) + 36.827 6. Trulli Renault (M) + 43.067 7. da Matta Toyota (M) + 45.085 8. Button BAR Honda (B) + 45.478 9. R.Schumacher Williams BMW (M) + 58.032 10. Villeneuve BAR Honda (B) + 1:03.569 11. Panis Toyota (M) + 1:05.207 12. Frentzen Sauber Petronas (B) + 1:05.564 13. Firman Jordan Ford (B) + 1 lap 14. Webber Jaguar Cosworth (M) + 1 lap 15. Verstappen Minardi Cosworth (B) + 2 laps 16. Wilson Minardi Cosworth (B) + 2 laps 17. Heidfeld Sauber Petronas (B) + 2 laps Fastest Lap: Barrichello, 1:22.236, lap 38 Not Classified/Retirements: Driver Team On Lap Alonso Renault (M) 53 Fisichella Jordan Ford (B) 45 Pizzonia Jaguar Cosworth (M) 33 World Championship Standing, Round 11: Drivers: Constructors: 1. M.Schumacher 69 1. Ferrari 118 2. Raikkonen 62 2. Williams-BMW 108 3. Montoya 55 3. McLaren-Mercedes 95 4. R.Schumacher 53 4. Renault 55 5. Barrichello 49 5. BAR-Honda 14 6. Alonso 39 6. Jaguar-Cosworth 12 7. Coulthard 33 7. Jordan-Ford 11 8. Trulli 16 8. Sauber 9 9. Webber 12 9. Toyota 7 10. Button 11 11. Fisichella 10 12. Frentzen 7 13. da Matta 5 14. Villeneuve 3 15. Panis 2 = Heidfeld 2 17. Firman 1 All timing unofficial
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