06/04/2003

Brazilian Grand Prix Web Report

The Brazilian Grand Prix round 3 of the Formula 1 World Championship produced a dramatic rain-soaked race at Interlagos but little in the way of good fortune for Panasonic Toyota Racing.

A torrential downpour on Sunday morning not only flooded the paddock but dictated that the race started under a Safety Car for the first time since the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa in 2000.

For Olivier Panis the race was over after just 17 laps when he was the innocent victim in another driver's accident. Ralph Firman's Jordan lost a wheel coming down the main straight and without any braking effect he hit the back of Panis's car as the Frenchman braked for Turn 1.

"With the race starting under the safety car due to the wet conditions we took advantage of this to refuel the car and we had a good strategy Panis said. Unfortunately it was a bit difficult to drive the car with a full tank. I had some lack of grip but it would not have been so hard to continue. I felt a big impact from the rear of my car and I didn't really understand what had happened until Ralph Firman spoke with me and explained he had hit me."

Cristiano Da Matta pitted three times before finishing the race a lap down the last of the 10 classified finishers.

"When we had full wet weather conditions we were in reasonable shape and our pit-stop strategy got me as high as fourth when the safety car was deployed for the second time. When the track started to dry out things got much worse and I picked up really bad oversteer. We have to look into the problem. We thought it was to do with the tyre pressures but the car was slow on high and low tyre pressures in the drying conditions. Not the result I wanted today in front of my fans but we are now heading into the European season where I hope we can get good results."

As feared the provision of wet tyres that were closer to intermediates meant that conditions were treacherous for the drivers and the race saw the Safety Car deployed no fewer than four times before the race was stopped on the 55th of 71 laps. Jaguar Racing's Mark Webber had a big accident coming onto the pit straight and then Mild Seven Renault driver Fernando Alonso hit part of the debris and crashed heavily on the other side of the circuit.

The man leading on the track at the time of the accident was Giancarlo Fisichella but the rules state that when the red flag is brought out the race classification is decided at the end of the lap two before. Thus it was Kimi Raikkonen who scored his second successive victory for West McLaren Mercedes.

Raikkonen admitted that the cards had fallen favourably for him while Fisichella was disappointed to have missed out on a victory in what was Jordan Grand Prix's 200th event.

Third place went to Alonso despite the fact that the 21-year-old Spaniard was receiving attention at the medical centre after his accident. David Coulthard led much of the race for West McLaren Mercedes but had just made a pit stop before the drama which halted the race. The Scot was eventually fourth ahead of Heinz-Harald Frentzen's Sauber and Jacques Villeneuve's Lucky Strike BAR-Honda. Webber scored two points for seventh place despite his accident with Jarno Trulli taking the final point for eighth.

Panis summed up his weekend: "Obviously I am disappointed with the outcome but the team has worked really hard all weekend and it is important not to give up. I am also very sorry for Fernando after his crash I hope he is okay."

The championship now comes back to Europe for round 4 at Imola in a fortnight's time after Interlagos concluded a dramatic trio of intercontinental 'flyaway' races.