The 2002 Belgian Grand Prix (formally the 2002 Foster's Belgian Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 1 September 2002 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Francorchamps, Stavelot, Wallonia, Belgium before 91,000 spectators. It was the 14th round of the 2002 Formula One World Championship and the 49th Belgian Grand Prix as part of the Formula One World Championship. Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher won the 44-lap race from pole position. His teammate Rubens Barrichello finished second and Williams' Juan Pablo Montoya claimed third.
Michael Schumacher, the World Drivers' Champion, started from pole position after setting the fastest qualifying lap during the one-hour qualifying session. Kimi Räikkönen of McLaren started second, with Barrichello starting third. At the start, Michael Schumacher maintained the race lead while Barrichello made a better start than Räikkönen to pass him for second. Michael Schumacher led the race for most of the race, only ceding it to Barrichello during the first pit stop cycle, leading to Ferrari's one-two finish. Michael Schumacher secured his tenth victory of the season and the 63rd of his career; he broke Nigel Mansell's record for most victories in a single season, which he had previously tied three times.
The race result maintained Michael Schumacher's unassailable lead in the World Drivers' Championship with 122 championship points, 71 ahead of his teammate Barrichello and 78 in front of Montoya. Ferrari extended their unassailable World Constructors' Championship advantage over Williams to 87 championship points with three races remaining in the season.
Background
thumb|left|The [[Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, where the Grand Prix was held]]
The 2002 Belgian Grand Prix was the 14th of the 17 races in the 2002 Formula One World Championship and the 49th time it was part of the Formula One World Championship. It took place at the 21-turn Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Francorchamps, Stavelot, Wallonia, Belgium on 1 September. The new pit entrance was moved to right before the Bus Stop chicane end. The track was also resurfaced from La Source to Les Combes corners, as well as from Blanchimont to the Bus Stop chicane. The exit kerb at the top of Eau Rouge turn was flattened to make it quicker, causing drivers to straightline it on the way to Raidillon corner.
Before the race, both the World Drivers' Championship and World Constructors' Championship were already won, with Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher having secured the World Drivers' Championship three races earlier at the and Ferrari took the World Constructors' Championship two races after that at the preceding , with Williams too many championship points behind to be able to catch them. Although both titles were settled, the battle for second in the drivers' standings was not. Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello led the battle from Williams' Juan Pablo Montoya and Ralf Schumacher and McLaren's David Coulthard. He added, "Of course, I have the best memories of Spa. I've spent so much time there during my career that I always enjoy returning." Barrichello hoped Ferrari would allow him to race against Michael Schumacher in the remaining four races, despite sporting director Jean Todt's indication to prohibit it if it went against Ferrari's interests. He felt finishing runner-up in the drivers' championship would be an improvement over the previous season, adding, "But to be honest it is much more important to win the races itself and then see you finish second in the championship more than anything else, but I would be lying to say it has no importance." Montoya rated Spa-Francorchamps as one of his favourite circuits and hoped it would be a good fit for the Williams squad, especially in dry conditions. The Arrows team continued to struggle financially following a London High Court injunction that prevented them from selling important assets or attracting new investors, and it was possible that it would not compete in Belgium. Arrows were able to visit Belgium after an American investor reportedly agreed to purchase the team. However, the team withdrew from the race on the night of August 30 on the advice of lawyers due to difficulties in finalising legal procedures of the purchase before qualifying began. Anthony Davidson, British American Racing's (BAR) test driver, replaced regular driver Alex Yoong at Minardi for the second successive race before Yoong returned for the season's final three races.
Although there was no testing for the race, With four races remaining in the season, several teams reducing development of their 2002 vehicles and began focussing on their -spec cars. In the absence of significant innovations, the teams' primary goal was to find the right balance between the high top speeds required for the Spa-Francorchamps circuit's long straights and the high aerodynamic load required by the second sector's fast corners, testing front and rear wings with varying numbers of profiles and incidence. Mercedes and Toyota introduced revised specifications of their V10 engines. Race organisers delayed the first practice session for an hour due to heavy fog, preventing the medical helicopter from landing at nearby hospitals in the case of an accident, shortening the session from an hour to half an hour. Conditions were sunny for the first session. Barrichello lapped fastest at 1:49.009 with two minutes remaining. His teammate Michael Schumacher, Coulthard, Renault's Jarno Trulli, Coulthard's teammate Kimi Räikkönen, Irvine, Jordan's Takuma Sato, Trulli's teammate Jenson Button, Toyota's Mika Salo and Ralf Schumacher followed in the top ten.
thumb|right|upright|[[Kimi Räikkönen lapped fastest overall in the Friday free practice sessions]]
Lap times fell during the second practice session, which took place later in the afternoon under sunny skies. Räikkönen set the day's quickest lap of 1:47.196 in the final ten minutes. The Ferrari duo of Michael Schumacher and Barrichello, Ralf Schumacher, Button, Jaguar's Pedro de la Rosa, Montoya, Irvine and Salo completed the top ten.
The third practice session took place in sunny conditions on Saturday morning. Michael Schumacher set the track's first sub-1:45 lap at 1:44.951 with a minute left, 0.888 seconds ahead of his teammate Barrichello in second. His teammate Davidson stopped when his engine cut out and was pushed into the pit lane by marshals. Räikkönen lapped fastest at 1:44.870 on a new set of tyres after 29 minutes, demoting Michael Schumacher to second. Coulthard, Barrichello, the Williams pair of Montoya and Ralf Schumacher, Salo, Panis, De la Rosa and Button rounded out the top ten. Michael Schumacher changed his gearbox before qualifying and a spare Ferrari was ready for him if needed. the track's first sub-1:44 lap. Schumacher aborted his second run because of oil laid on the circuit by Panis's car, steadily improving during qualifying. Barrichello used the harder Bridgestone tyre compound and took third, the slower Ferrari driver, after the Minardi cars affected his quickest lap. He was unable to set a fourth quick lap after testing a racing setup tweak, reporting no improvement. Coulthard selected the harder Michelin tyre compound, On his second run, he ran wide and spun backwards off the racing line to avoid a slowing Sauber car at Pouhon turn late in qualifying.
Qualifying classification
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:85%;"
|-
! scope="col" |
! scope="col" |
! scope="col" | Driver
! scope="col" | Constructor
! scope="col" | Lap
! scope="col" |
! scope="col" |
|-
! scope="row" | 1
| align="center"| 1
| data-sort-value="SCHM" | Michael Schumacher
| Ferrari
| 1:43.726
| align="center"| —
| align="center" | 1
|-
! scope="row" | 2
| align="center"| 4
| data-sort-value="RAI" | Kimi Räikkönen
| McLaren-Mercedes
| 1:44.150
| +0.424
| align="center" | 2
|-
! scope="row" | 3
| align="center"| 2
| data-sort-value="BAR" | Rubens Barrichello
| Ferrari
| 1:44.335
| +0.609
| align="center" | 3
|-
! scope="row" | 4
| align="center"| 5
| data-sort-value="SCHR" | Ralf Schumacher
| Williams-BMW
| 1:44.348
| +0.622
| align="center" | 4
|-
! scope="row" | 5
| align="center"| 6
| data-sort-value="MON" | Juan Pablo Montoya
| Williams-BMW
| 1:44.634
| +0.908
| align="center" | 5
|-
! scope="row" | 6
| align="center"| 3
| data-sort-value="COU" | David Coulthard
| McLaren-Mercedes
| 1:44.759
| +1.033
| align="center" | 6
|-
! scope="row" | 7
| align="center"| 14
| data-sort-value="TRU" | Jarno Trulli
| Renault
| 1:45.386
| +1.660
| align="center" | 7
|-
! scope="row" | 8
| align="center"| 16
| data-sort-value="IRV" | Eddie Irvine
| Jaguar-Cosworth
| 1:45.865
| +2.139
| align="center" | 8
|-
! scope="row" | 9
| align="center"| 24
| data-sort-value="SAL" | Mika Salo
| Toyota
| 1:45.880
| +2.154
| align="center" | 9
|-
! scope="row" | 10
| align="center"| 15
| data-sort-value="BUT" | Jenson Button
| Renault
| 1:45.972
| +2.246
| align="center" | 10
|-
! scope="row" | 11
| align="center"| 17
| data-sort-value="DEL" | Pedro de la Rosa
| Jaguar-Cosworth
| 1:46.056
| +2.330
| align="center" | 11
|-
! scope="row" | 12
| align="center"| 11
| data-sort-value="VIL" | Jacques Villeneuve
| BAR-Honda
| 1:46.403
| +2.677
| align="center" | 12
|-
! scope="row" | 13
| align="center"| 25
| data-sort-value="MCN" | Allan McNish
| Toyota
| 1:46.485
| +2.759
| align="center" | 13
|-
! scope="row" | 14
| align="center"| 9
| data-sort-value="FIS" | Giancarlo Fisichella
| Jordan-Honda
| 1:46.508
| +2.782
| align="center" | 14
|-
! scope="row" | 15
| align="center"| 12
| data-sort-value="PAN" | Olivier Panis
| BAR-Honda
| 1:46.553
| +2.827
| align="center" | 15
|-
! scope="row" | 16
| align="center"| 10
| data-sort-value="SAT" | Takuma Sato
| Jordan-Honda
| 1:46.875
| +3.149
| align="center" | 16
|-
! scope="row" | 17
| align="center"| 8
| data-sort-value="MAS" | Felipe Massa
| Sauber-Petronas
| 1:46.896
| +3.170
| align="center" | 17
|-
! scope="row" | 18
| align="center"| 7
| data-sort-value="HEI" | Nick Heidfeld
| Sauber-Petronas
| 1:47.272
| +3.546
| align="center" | 18
|-
! scope="row" | 19
| align="center"| 23
| data-sort-value="WEB" | Mark Webber
| Minardi-Asiatech
| 1:47.562
| +3.836
| align="center" | 19
|-
! scope="row" | 20
| align="center"| 22
| data-sort-value="DAV" | Anthony Davidson
| Minardi-Asiatech
| 1:48.170
| +4.444
| align="center" | 20
|-class="sortbottom"
! colspan="7" |107% time: 1:50.987
|-class="sortbottom£
!colspan="7"|
|}
Warm-up
On race morning, drivers were given a half-hour warm-up session to run installation laps in their race and spare cars in dry and sunny conditions. Heavy rain fell overnight, removing the rubber and therefore grip laid down by drivers. Michael Schumacher set the fastest lap of 1:48.044 halfway through warm-up, almost a second faster than Räikkönen. Coulthard, De la Rosa, Barrichello, Trulli, Panis, Ralf Schumacher, Villeneuve and Heidfeld made up positions third to tenth. Massa damaged his car against a marker cone at the Bus Stop chicane. Halfway through warm-up, teams expected conditions to remain dry. The air temperature was between and the asphalt temperature was between . When the red lights went out to begin the race, Michael Schumacher made a clean start to maintain the lead into the La Source hairpin. Räikkönen had a poor start and sought to block Barrichello by driving to the right, but the latter pushed Räikkönen outwards and passed him on the inside for second into turn one. This caused a minor traffic jam as Ralf Schumacher chose to go around both Räikkönen and Barrichello, but was blocked by Räikkönen and passed by his teammate Montoya. Coulthard was the least effected by the traffic jam and moved to the inside after Trulli ran wide on the outside of the hairpin after unintentionally pressing the neutral button on his steering wheel. He slipstreamed past and braked later than Ralf Schumacher to move into fifth at Les Combes turn. Heidfeld had the best start, gaining three places by the end of the first lap, They were followed by Räikkönen, Montoya, Coulthard and Ralf Schumacher. On lap eight, Villeneuve forced Fisichella into cutting the Bus Stop chicane and passed him for 13th at La Source. Massa used the situation to pass Massa for 14th on the straight after Radillion turn. His 8.6-second pit stop saw him rejoin the race in second, 11 seconds behind his teammate Barrichello. On lap 19, Coulthard entered the pit lane, and after an 8.2-second stop, he rejoined in fourth, ahead of Räikkönen but behind Montoya. His 25.8-second lead over teammate Barrichello had been reduced to 1.9 seconds by the time he was the first driver to cross the start/finish line, securing his tenth victory out of the season's 14 races and 63rd of his career. He broke Mansell's record for most victories in a single season, which he had previously shared three times. Ferrari achieved a 50th consecutive podium finish extending back to the 1999 Malaysian Grand Prix. Irvine finished sixth to earn the final championship point, Salo was seventh, half a second behind Irvine.
Post-race
The top three drivers appeared on the podium to collect their trophies and spoke to the media in the subsequent press conference. Barrichello thought it was "a good weekend" despite issues with the racing setup from the Friday free practice sessions, and he was pleased to extend his hold on second in the World Drivers' Championship. Coulthard said of finishing fourth, "It's a pity that we couldn't achieve a better result today. My car was not so good in the middle sector and that's why I couldn't get close enough to actually get past Montoya." He added his second pit stop allowed him to gain ground on Montoya. Irvine commented on finishing sixth, "We did everything right this weekend, from qualifying well to our race preparation and strategy: This is reward for that good work."
McLaren CEO Ron Dennis explained that the reduced asphalt temperatures were the primary reason McLaren's qualifying form did not carry over into the race. Räikkönen said his engine failure late in the race was "not the ideal way to end the weekend, but it's one of those things." Their race and team test manager Shuhei Nakamoto called it "the weekend from hell and I'm just glad it's all over. We've got a lot of work to do before Monza..." Michael Schumacher maintained his lead in the World Drivers' Championship with 122 championship points, 71 ahead of his teammate Barrichello and 78 in front of Montoya.
|}
Championship standings after the race
;Drivers' Championship standings
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 85%;"
|-
! scope="col" |
! scope="col" |
! scope="col" | Driver
! scope="col" | Points
|-
| align="left"| 10px
| align="center"| 1
| Michael Schumacher*
| align="left"| 122
|-
| align="left"| 10px
| align="center"| 2
| Rubens Barrichello
| align="left"| 51
|-
| align="left"| 10px 1
| align="center"| 3
| Juan Pablo Montoya
| align="left"| 44
|-
| align="left"| 10px 1
| align="center"| 4
| Ralf Schumacher
| align="left"| 42
|-
| align="left"| 10px
| align="center"| 5
| David Coulthard
| align="left"| 37
|-
!colspan=4|Sources:
|}
;Constructors' Championship standings
{|class="wikitable" style="font-size: 85%;"
|-
! scope="col" |
! scope="col" |
! scope="col" | Constructor
! scope="col" | Points
|-
| align="left"| 10px
| align="center"| 1
| Ferrari*
| align="left"| 173
|-
| align="left"| 10px
| align="center"| 2
| Williams-BMW
| align="left"| 86
|-
| align="left"| 10px
| align="center"| 3
| McLaren-Mercedes
| align="left"| 57
|-
| align="left"| 10px
| align="center"| 4
| Renault
| align="left"| 15
|-
| align="left"| 10px
| align="center"| 5
| Sauber-Petronas
| align="left"| 11
|-
!colspan=4|Sources: