Date 26 May 2002 Course length 3.370 km (2.094 mi) | Course Street circuit | |
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Official name LX Grand Prix de Monaco Location Circuit de Monaco, Monaco Distance 78 laps, 262.860 km (163.334 mi) | ||
The 2002 Monaco Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race that was held on 26 May 2002 at the Circuit de Monaco in Monte Carlo. It was the seventh round of the 2002 season and the sixtieth Monaco Grand Prix. Juan Pablo Montoya started from pole position for Williams. David Coulthard pulled off a surprise victory and his first and only win of the season for McLaren. Michael Schumacher continued his podium dominance by finishing second for Ferrari while his brother, Ralf Schumacher completed the final podium spot for Williams in third.
Contents
Qualifying
Juan Pablo Montoya emerged on top in qualifying. David Coulthard took pole position at the 2001 Monaco Grand Prix, only to stall on the grid, but was forced to settle for second this time, nearly four tenths of a second off the Colombian's pace. The championship leader and the last race victor, Michael Schumacher, could only set the third fastest time after suffering with an eye irritation throughout the session. Ralf Schumacher lined up fourth, ahead of Rubens Barrichello's Ferrari and Kimi Räikkönen's McLaren.
Throughout free practice, the Renault team, and in particular Jarno Trulli, had looked set to challenge the established front-runners, but the Italian would only line up in 7th position, one position ahead of team-mate Jenson Button. On their first appearance at Monaco, the Toyotas of Mika Salo and Allan McNish completed the top ten, ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella's Jordan and Heinz-Harald Frentzen's Arrows. Sauber had a troubled session, with Felipe Massa and Nick Heidfeld lining up 13th and 17th respectively. The 1996 winner Olivier Panis was 18th for BAR, while Eddie Irvine lined up in 21st for Jaguar.
Race
Coulthard made the most of a sluggish start from Montoya to take the lead into Sainte-Devote for the first time, as Michael Schumacher held third position from his brother. Meanwhile, there was commotion behind, as Jacques Villeneuve's BAR failed to get off the grid with clutch problems. The Canadian would rejoin the race one lap down. There were also problems for Button, who incurred a drive-through penalty for jumping the start, despite the fact he then bogged down, and had dropped nine places to 17th by the end of the first lap. At the front, Coulthard remained in the lead, but unable to strengthen his advantage, with the top four rarely covered by more than a second. The Scot did gradually increase his advantage and by the time a dozen laps had been run, Coulthard's lead was up to just over a second, with Montoya holding off Michael Schumacher by a similar amount.
However, the top Williams was having problems keeping pace with the lead car, and was gradually dropping back, delaying Schumacher in the process. The German was the first of the front-runners to stop - doing so on lap 44, and therefore removing the slower Montoya from his path, before, ironically the Colombian was forced out with engine failure later that lap. Schumacher had clearly been delayed by the slower Williams, as he emerged from the pits to set the fastest lap of the race and close in on Coulthard. With the Scot's tyres much more worn than Schumacher's, the McLaren team had no choice but to call in Coulthard early, with the Scot rejoining with a one-second advantage. Now armed with new tyres himself, Coulthard had the measure of Schumacher, and although the pair circulated nose-to-tail for the remainder of the race, Coulthard recorded his first victory for over a year, while Michael Schumacher's second position extended his championship lead to 33 points.
There was plenty of action further down the field, with Ralf Schumacher taking third, despite a late pit-stop to replace a damaged tyre. Trulli followed up his promising times earlier in the weekend to hold off the Jordan of Giancarlo Fisichella for fourth position. Behind Fisichella, Heinz-Harald Frentzen took sixth place, although had it not been for a fuel rig problem that necessitated an extra pit-stop, he could well have taken fourth. Rubens Barrichello's disappointing weekend ended with seventh position, after making a second pit-stop to repair damage caused by smashing into Räikkönen at the chicane, in a move that put the McLaren driver out of the race. Nick Heidfeld took eighth, ahead of the Jaguars of Eddie Irvine and Pedro de la Rosa. Mark Webber had been on target for a top ten finish, only to have to make a late pit-stop, dropping the Minardi driver to eleventh. Enrique Bernoldi completed the finishers after damaging his car in a clash with Massa, and then getting a drive-through penalty for cutting the chicane. Bernoldi was the final classified driver for the race.
Allan McNish's first Monaco Grand Prix lasted only 15 laps before the Scot spun into the tyres at Sainte-Devote. His exit was not as spectacular as Takuma Sato's was, with the Japanese clattering into the barriers before the chicane on lap 22, when trying to let his team-mate Fisichella past. Minardi's Alex Yoong was another to clash with the barriers, and although he made it back to the pits, his suspension was too damaged to continue. Panis and Button collided at Sainte-Devote on Lap 51, with the Frenchman admitting he had not seen the Renault on the inside of him and both were forced out with accident damage. More spectacular was the shunt that ended Massa's race after his Sauber was badly damaged after a confrontation with the Sainte-Devote tyre wall. Jacques Villeneuve had earlier departed with an engine failure, while Toyota's Mika Salo was the final retirement of the day after brake failure forced him into the barriers.