The 2002 Brazilian Grand Prix (formally the 2002 Grande Prêmio do Brasil) was a Formula One motor race held before 120,000 spectators on 31 March 2002 at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace in São Paulo, Brazil. It was the third round of seventeen in the 2002 Formula One World Championship and the only one to take place in South America. Ferrari's Michael Schumacher won the 71-lap race from second position. Williams's Ralf Schumacher finished in second and McLaren's David Coulthard was third.
Michael Schumacher led the World Drivers' Championship before the race while Williams led the World Constructors' Championship. Williams's Juan Pablo Montoya set the fastest lap time in the one-hour qualifying session to start the race from pole position. Michael Schumacher took the race lead at the start, but Montoya smashed his front wing into Schumacher's left-rear wheel while attempting to retake it, eliminating his chances of victory. He held the lead until he let his lighter-fuelled, one-stopping teammate Rubens Barrichello take the lead on lap 14 before retiring three laps later due to a loss of hydraulic pressure. Michael Schumacher therefore retook the race lead and held it for the most of the race, defeating his brother Ralf Schumacher in the final laps to win by 0.588 seconds.
Michael Schumacher's victory was his second of the season and 55th of his career, extending his World Drivers' Championship lead to eight championship points over Ralf Schumacher in second and ten over Montoya in third. With fourteen races remaining in the season, Ferrari decreased Williams' World Constructors' Championship lead to six points.
Background
thumb|left|The [[Interlagos Circuit|Autódromo José Carlos Pace, where the Grand Prix was held]]
The 2002 Brazilian Grand Prix was the third round of seventeen in the 2002 Formula One World Championship. It was held on 31 March 2002 at the anti-clockwise Autódromo José Carlos Pace in São Paulo, Brazil. The Grand Prix featured eleven teams of two drivers (each representing a different constructor), with no changes to the season entry list. Phoenix Finance did not file an entry application to the event after attempting to do so at the preceding . Tyre suppliers Bridgestone and Michelin brought two new dry compounds for the Grand Prix.
Going into the race, Ferrari's Michael Schumacher led the World Drivers' Championship with 14 championship points, ahead of Williams's Juan Pablo Montoya with 12 championship points. Montoya's teammate Ralf Schumacher was third on 10 championship points, ahead of McLaren's Kimi Räikkönen and Jaguar's Eddie Irvine. Williams led the World Constructors' Championship with 22 championship points; eight points ahead of Ferrari in second and ten ahead of McLaren in third. Jaguar focused on chassis development to decide whether to race their previous chassis, the R2, or develop the R3 car with their test team, which performed poorly. Ultimately, Jaguar decided to keep the R3 car. McLaren test driver Alexander Wurz (McLaren) lapped fastest on the first and second days. while Michael Schumacher led on the third day. Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello led on the final day. Arrows did not test because their car could not be sent to Europe for testing, while Minardi did not test because their new engine did not fit in their previous car. Originally scheduled to debut in the first race in Australia, problems with its performance forced the team to develop the car, delaying its debut. Michael Schumacher received one F2002 chassis, while teammate Barrichello used a modified F2001. The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA; Formula One's governing body) granted Ferrari's request for four more sets of tyres for Michael Schumacher's spare car because the wheels on the F2002 vehicle did not fit the year-old spare F2001 car. Other teams did not make significant modifications in Brazil, instead focussing on honing their cars ahead of the first European race, the .
Michael Schumacher stated that with the F2002 car, he was more optimistic about winning the Grand Prix than he had ever been, but that gaining championship points early in the season was critical. Ralf Schumacher stated that he was convinced Williams would beat Ferrari in Brazil after testing in Spain. His teammate, Montoya, had led the Grand Prix the previous year and appeared to be on his way to his first career victory until the rear of his car was hit by Arrows' lapped Jos Verstappen. Montoya hoped he could "make up for the lost opportunity, especially because last season we were stronger at Interlagos than in Malaysia."
Practice
Two one-hour practices on Friday and two 45-minute sessions on Saturday preceded the race. The first practice session took place on a dusty, bumpy track in sunny and hot conditions, causing several drivers to lose control of their car. Michael Schumacher set the fastest lap of 1:15.627, one second ahead of Ralf Schumacher. Jordan's Giancarlo Fisichella, the Sauber duo of Nick Heidfeld and Felipe Massa, Arrows's Enrique Bernoldi, Renault's Jenson Button, Jordan's Takuma Sato, Montoya and Arrows' Heinz-Harald Frentzen followed in the top ten. An incident occurred during the session when Räikkönen stalled in the middle of the circuit after spinning out at the blind left-hand Descida do Sol turn halfway through—the incident necessitated a suspension while marshals removed the car. All drivers returned to the pit lane for six minutes. Sato spun and stalled his car at turn four with a minute to go, ending practice prematurely. Montoya sustained a rear tyre puncture and lost a pair of tyres because he was denied a replacement.
In the second practice session, which took place later in the afternoon in hot weather, Coulthard set fast times in all three sectors, recording the day's fastest lap of 1:15.075. After the session, the stewards penalised Sato with the loss of his fastest qualifying lap time because he exited the pit lane when the red light was illuminated during the first practice session, an offence per the sporting regulations.
It was sunny and warm for the third practice session that took place on Saturday morning. Michael Schumacher lapped fastest again, this time at 1:13.837 on his final lap towards the end of the session. Fifteen minutes into the session, Bernoldi locked his front wheels leaving turn four and spun into the inside of turn five before continuing. Sato also spun but avoided stalling his car and continued driving. Ralf Schumacher set the fastest time of the session, a 1:13.543, with a minute left. He was 0.020 seconds ahead of Coulthard in second. The Renault duo of Button and Jarno Trulli, Michael Schumacher, Räikkönen, Montoya, Barrichello, Toyota's Mika Salo and Heidfeld were in positions three through ten. Incidents delayed the session, as Massa's car broke down at the side of the track on the start/finish straight—the stranded car forced a red flag suspension as marshals needed to clear the track— Sato spun out after hitting the kerbing and tyre barriers at turn eight, removing the front wing.
Qualifying
thumb|left|[[Juan Pablo Montoya, who took the fourth pole position of his career in his Williams car with the fastest lap time in the one-hour qualifying session.]]
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 no driver ventured onto the circuit until after 20 minutes had passed. Montoya took the lead halfway through qualifying, and secured his first pole position of the season and fourth of his career with a 1:13.114 lap on his third run. He was pleased with the race setup tweaks made to his car following the last practice session, which enhanced balance, especially after braking heavily for the first left-hand corner after the pit lane. The mechanics' rear wing tweak did not make his Ferrari faster, Ralf Schumacher was the early pace setter and took third, His teammate Räikkönen qualified fifth after switching to the spare McLaren for one lap because his racing car experienced a minor hydraulic failure on his first lap on the track and needed to be rectified before he could drive it again. Trulli and Button from Renault qualified sixth and eighth, respectively. Trulli encountered slower cars on all of his runs, whereas Button noted that his car was slightly overweight following a weight distribution tweak for his latter runs. A water leak in Heidfeld's race car's engine while it was being warmed up forced him to drive the spare Sauber car, which had a recurring brake issue. Salo secured tenth for the second consecutive event.
Warm-up
On race morning, drivers completed installation laps in their race and spare cars to test their systems during a half-hour warm-up session in sunny weather. Michael Schumacher lapped fastest at 1:15.866, ahead of De la Rosa, Räikkönen, the Williams duo of Ralf Schumacher and Montoya, Barrichello, Coulthard, Frentzen, McNish and Bernoldi in positions two through ten. Webber and teammate Yoong collided at the Senna S chicane, with Yoong spinning off at turn seven. McNish swerved to avoid the slowing Bernoldi at the pit lane entry before Bernoldi sped up and weaved towards McNish.
Bernoldi crashed against the tyre barrier at the bottom of the hill at the Senna S chicane with two minutes remaining. This caused the rear of his car to catch fire when the oil tank was ruptured, necessitating a red flag as the FIA medical car was deployed to the scene. Drivers swerved to avoid the detached wheels from Bernoldi's car, No one was hurt but Heidfeld's car sustained heavy suspension damage. Conditions for the race were dry and hot with the air temperature and the track temperature ranged between . Because of the warm asphalt temperatures, the Michelin-shod teams were favoured to dominate.
When the race started, Montoya pressed Michael Schumacher on the inside towards the pit lane barrier on the way to the Senna S chicane because Schumacher had a faster start due to his new launch control system. Montoya braked later than Michael Schumacher to stay ahead, but he ran wide at the chicane exit, allowing Schumacher to get alongside him through turn three. Montoya slipstreamed Michael Schumacher on the long back straight into turn four, anticipating an overtake, Michael Schumacher maintained the lead until Montoya swung right, leading him to strike the Ferrari's left-rear tyre and push his front wing askew against the carcass of the Bridgestone tyre before failing beneath Montoya's front-left wheel. Carbon fibre debris flicked back towards other cars, He lapped faster than teammate Michael Schumacher, and on lap six, passed Ralf Schumacher on the inside at the end of the start/finish straight into turn one. That lap, Frentzen overtook Irvine for 13th after Irvine had lost 12th to Villeneuve. who was lapping quicker than his brother. Over the next two laps, Coulthard and Räikkönen made pit stops, and the McLaren teammates returned to the circuit in third and fourth place, ahead of Trulli. Button drove an understeering Renault, which was changed with a minor front wing adjustment at his pit stop, but scored his second consecutive fourth-place finish, holding off the closing Montoya in fifth position. Salo completed the points-paying positions in sixth, Ralf Schumacher claimed he enjoyed the battle with his brother at Interlagos less than at the 2001 Canadian Grand Prix, which he won, because he finished second this time, adding, "It wasn't an exciting race. I'll do it next time." The FIA did not sanction Montoya for the comments. Michael Schumacher thought Montoya had behaved well, leaving him room, and maintained he had no idea what had happened in the incident. Ferrari's sporting director, Jean Todt, likewise believed Michael Schumacher was not to blame for the accident and was not playing games.
thumb|right|upright|[[Mika Salo (pictured in 2009) finished in sixth place, repeating his result from the season-opening .]]
Button said he Renault helped him over the radio in helping him beat Montoya to finish in fourth, adding, "I don't think he could get close enough to me, though, and I have had so many moments like that in F1 that you just relax and push as hard as you can. It's good to be able to hold off a Williams like that." Barrichello said he was disappointed to retire in Brazil for the eighth consecutive year but that the problem was out of his control, adding, "I am driving as fast as I can, and in some ways we could say that I have retired when leading in each of the three races. It's been a bad beginning to the year. I had so many problems yesterday, but I am still confident." Todt thought the Michelin-shod teams would be the favourites for victory, "But having said that, I knew we had an opportunity and that has been shown."
|}
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"| 24
|-
| align="left"| 10px 1
| align="center"| 2
| Ralf Schumacher
| align="left"| 16
|-
| align="left"| 10px 1
| align="center"| 3
| Juan Pablo Montoya
| align="left"| 14
|-
| align="left"| 10px 2
| align="center"| 4
| Jenson Button
| align="left"| 6
|-
| align="left"| 10px 1
| align="center"| 5
| Kimi Räikkönen
| align="left"| 4
|-
!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
| Williams-BMW
| align="left"| 30
|-
| align="left"| 10px
| align="center"| 2
| Ferrari
| align="left"| 24
|-
| align="left"| 10px
| align="center"| 3
| McLaren-Mercedes
| align="left"| 8
|-
| align="left"| 10px 1
| align="center"| 4
| Renault
| align="left"| 6
|-
| align="left"| 10px 1
| align="center"| 5
| Jaguar-Cosworth
| align="left"| 3
|-
!colspan=4|Sources: