2002 San Marino Grand Prix

(pictured in 2010), where the Grand Prix was held The 2002 San Marino Grand Prix was the fourth round of seventeen in the 2002 Formula One World Championship and took place on 14 April 2002 at the anti-clockwise Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola, Emilia-Romagna in Northern Italy, away from the small principality of San Marino. It was the 22nd San Marino Grand Prix, the season's first European race, and one of two Grands Prix to be held in Italy. There were eleven teams (each representing a different constructor) with two drivers each for the Grand Prix, with no changes from the season entry list. Going into the race, Ferrari's Michael Schumacher led the World Drivers' Championship with 24 championship points, eight ahead of Williams's Ralf Schumacher. Juan Pablo Montoya, the second Williams driver, was third with 14 championship points, while Renault's Jenson Button was fourth with 6. Williams led the World Constructors' Championship with 30 championship points, six ahead of Ferrari. McLaren and Renault were third and fourth with eight and six championship points, respectively. eight of the eleven teams tested their cars, racing setups, tyres, car components and reliability checks for three days at Spain's Circuit Ricardo Tormo from 2 to 4 April as preparation for the San Marino Grand Prix. Sauber's Nick Heidfeld was fastest on the first day, Ferrari spent five days testing electronics, Bridgestone tyres, and an artificially wet circuit at their private test track, Italy's Fiorano Circuit, alongside Michael Schumacher and test driver Luca Badoer. Rubens Barrichello and teammate Michael Schumacher tested the Ferrari F2002's racing setup and ran extensive runs at Italy's Mugello Circuit. Minardi's Mark Webber spent a day testing the PS02's car and electrical components at Italy's Misano Adriatico track. Arrows were the only team that did not test due to a lack of finance, instead focusing on working privately at its headquarters in Leafield. Barrichello had collected no championship points in the first three races, but declared his championship would begin in Imola with the F2002 car, "I've been in the lead three times, and I've retired three times. That means that sooner or later I will win." Ralf Schumacher won his first Grand Prix at Imola the previous year and felt there was no reason Williams could not be competitive because the circuit's layout suited him. At Imola, teams worked on braking systems, although the intermittent rain during the Friday free practice sessions prevented material experimentation. Several teams tested wider air intakes to improve brake disc cooling. Ferrari delivered four F2002s and offered one to Barrichello, who had driven a year-old F2001B car for the opening three rounds. Honda supplied British American Racing (BAR) and Jordan with the latest development of its V10 engine, the RA002E, which was modified to reduce internal friction and increase RPMs. Toyota debuted a new engine with improved driveability, as well as revised front and rear wings, at Imola. == Practice ==

Preceding the race were two one-hour practices on Friday and two 45-minute sessions on Saturday. The first practice session took place on Friday morning in cold, overcast and wet weather conditions, the first time in the season teams and drivers experienced cool and wet conditions at a Grand Prix. Rain fell on the circuit hours before the practice and continued to fall severely until it eased at the halfway point. Several drivers get acquainted with the damp conditions since rain was expected for qualifying. Michael Schumacher set the day's fastest lap of 1:36.898. Barrichello, Fisichella, the McLaren pairing of Coulthard and Räikkönen, Frentzen, Trulli, Massa, Montoya and Ralf Schumacher completed the top ten. Drivers again went off the track during the session. Because of the mild ambient and track temperatures, the circuit dried slowly and got faster as the session progressed. Montoya went fastest towards the conclusion of the session with a 1:29.718 lap, 0.081 seconds quicker than his teammate Ralf Schumacher in second. Coulthard, Michael Schumacher, Frentzen, BAR teammates Jacques Villeneuve and Olivier Panis, Fisichella, Barrichello and Massa followed in the top ten. Lap times reduced as the circuit dried, and drivers utilised grooved tyres before it got completely dry with less than ten minutes left.. Michael Schumacher slipstreamed Trulli across the start/finish line and set the session's fastest lap time of 1:23.046 with a minute remaining. Coulthard, Barrichello, Heidfeld, Ralf Schumacher, Montoya, Räikkönen, Button, Villeneuve and Frentzen occupied positions two through ten. More drivers again ran off the track and lost control of their cars during practice. == Qualifying ==

(pictured in 2007) qualified on pole position for the 45th time in his career and went on to win the race the following day. Each driver was allowed twelve laps during Saturday's one-hour qualifying session, with starting positions determined by the drivers' quickest laps. During this session, the 107% rule was in effect, requiring each driver to remain within 107% of the quickest lap time in order to qualify for the race. and the track was dry. Having made minor driver errors on two earlier runs, Michael Schumacher took his 45th career pole position with a track lap record of 1:21.091 in the last seconds of qualifying with no traffic, breaking Coulthard's pole record from 2001. He held pole position for most of qualifying until his teammate's lap, The Williams pairing of Ralf Schumacher and Montoya were third and fourth. Coulthard had to wait until a replacement Mercedes-Benz V10 engine was put into his car because an engine failed between the final practice session and qualifying, and was absent until 23 minutes had passed before qualifying fifth. He switched to the spare Arrows A23 car, losing a set of tyres, and qualified 21st after being delayed on his final run. This meant 21 drivers would begin the Grand Prix. Qualifying classification == Warm-up ==

On race morning, a half-hour warm-up session was held in cool and dry weather, during which drivers and teams shook down their race and spare cars and tested intermediate tyres before the race. Barrichello lapped fastest at 1:25.483. In positions two to ten were Michael Schumacher, Montoya, Heidfeld, Massa, Räikkönen, Coulthard, Villeneuve, Button and Bernoldi. Other than Michael Schumacher going into the gravel trap and Trulli suffering an engine failure late on, there were no major incidents during the session. == Race ==

A heavy cloud was over the circuit and a brief rain shower fell 30 minutes before the start, but the circuit remained dry when their drivers took up their grid places and it became sunny. The air temperature was between . and the track temperature was . Michael Schumacher maintained the race lead heading into the Tamburello chicane after the red lights went out. Behind him, Ralf Schumacher made a fast start to draw alongside the slow-starting Barrichello on the track's dirty side. He lined up his Ferrari for a straighter run and provided him with enough space. McNish pulled over onto the grass to retire after losing power in his car's transmission. At the conclusion of the first lap, Michael Schumacher led Ralf Schumacher by 1.3 seconds. The problem reoccurred, and Sato pulled over onto the grass at the Villeneuve chicane, retiring from the race. (pictured in 2008) was one of ten drivers to retire from the Grand Prix. Heidfeld made the race's first pit stop on lap 17, The stop was complicated by a refuelling nozzle failure, which prevented fuel from entering his car and kept him stationary for 17.9 seconds. Frentzen retired on the grass on lap 27 after losing fuel rail pressure unexpectedly. Salo retired to the Toyota garage two laps later after losing use of traction control and fourth gear. On lap 45, McLaren engineers instructed him to enter pit lane and drive into the garage to retire as a precaution. Irvine stopped his car on the next lap at the pit lane exit due to a driveshaft failure. Coulthard drove a low-grip McLaren, and despite a wing adjustment, he was the final points scorer in sixth, one lap down. Barrichello was relieved to finish a race and called it "one of my best weekends in terms of car set-up and car balance, because it's been a really wonderful car." Renault team principal Flavio Briatore told Button, "Great drive". Coulthard said McLaren struggled more than he had expected and felt he could extract more from his car. The result extended Michael Schumacher's World Drivers' Championship lead to 14 championship points over Ralf Schumacher. Montoya remained third with 17 championship points while Button stayed fourth with eight. Barrichello's second-place finish moved him into fifth. With a one-two finish at Imola, Ferrari reclaimed the World Constructors' Championship lead from Williams by three points. McLaren and Renault remained in third and fourth with thirteen rounds remaining in the season. Race classification Drivers who scored championship points are denoted in bold. == Championship standings after the race ==

;Drivers' Championship standings ;Constructors' Championship standings • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. == Notes ==