35 replies to this topic

[Jops14]

I remember watching this season when I was young and always had it in my head as a classic, but typical Schumacher title (pretty dominant, easy).

 

I went back and watched a season review and what fascinated me was how Williams (imo) managed to throw it away. It's baffling, I'd mark this as the year where Ralf established himse3lf as not having top credentials. He had a few good races, but spent most of the season making mistakes and spinning off.

Montoya should have won it, but they were so far off the pace at the start of the season. By the time Monaco comes around Schumacher is on 38 and Montoya on 15.

 

Looking back it seems incredible Schumacher actually managed to win the title. Raikkonen was so consistent, Montoya was so quick, just made too many mistakes, but for the reliability of the BMW engine he would have won Japan, and terrible errors in Indy he should have finished on the podium. Easy to see how this was a big part of the BMW/Williams fall out, the car was crap at first and then the engine let them down at key points.

 

What was also obvious was just how good Alonso was/was becoming, and how average Trulli looked, so many mistakes.

 

Anyway, what are other peoples recollections/opinions on this season?

[Yamamoto]

Well when I was a kid, Schumacher won everything. I never cheered for him because I didn't like him winning. 2003 was the first year I saw someone really take him on for the title. So it's quite a special one for me. I supported Coulthard, then Kimi, then Ralf, then JPM, then Kimi again. Anyone but Michael Schumacher. The Kimi support stuck for the rest of his first career - that I could always pin that to 2003 made it memorable for me too. The only race I didn't see was the Hungarian Grand Prix.

 

Schumacher vulnerable for the first time... The strange thing was that Ferrari rocked up to that season with a brand new car, I believe, whereas they had a habit of bringing the previous season's at the start of the year around that time. And MS was very excited about the car, he reckoned it was something really special (source an interview in the Christopher Hilton biography of Schumacher). But Mclaren took it to them with a year-old car, and Williams had a mighty challenger too. Plus Alonso breaking out in style... It was a big change from the year before. The new points system kept things close too, which was the intention of course. It worked as Schumacher won three times as many races as anyone else but only took the title by two points. 

 

I recall a moment of real elation at the Italian Grand Prix when I thought Montoya had taken the lead but it turned out it was the yet to stop Marc Gene who was in front as the Ferrari emerged from the pits. Pretty sure that was James Allen's fault. The joy at the start of the US Grand Prix, the deflation as the Bridgestone-shod cars (including Frentzen's sauber) took control. The relief when Kimi moved back up to second to keep it mathematically alive. The painful hope of Japan where it seemed so close, and yet so far away...

 

A great year. A real boost for the sport after 2002; it needed a competitive title race after Schumi had wrapped it up in July the year before. I will say that my feelings about Schumacher winning so much have been tempered by the passage of time.

[Dolph]

2003 is the haziest season for me. I was studying in another country and did not have regular TV access. Boozing took too much of my attention and I tried to watch all the races, but its just a blur. Sometimes I look back and I don't understand how I was so careless with my F1 watching during 2002-2004. The sacrilege !!!

[messy]

Montoya should have been Champion ten times over. The car was the best. I wasn’t impressed with him at all that year, he had some reliability issues but God he blew some big results with mistakes and in the summer, when the Williams was head and shoulders ahead of the Ferrari and at its absolute best, he suddenly started to get his butt kicked by Ralf Schumacher. I dunno, I think it was a huge opportunity wasted, and he was never the same again.

Schumacher too, made some mistakes, was actually beaten on merit by Barrichello a few times and won the championship with possibly the worst drive of his entire career, getting stuck behind Sato and damaging his car by blundering into him. I wasn’t impressed with him either, by his usual high standards.

Big stars of the season were clearly Raikkonen and Alonso, who put together superb campaigns in cars that weren’t as quick - a reliable but massively outdated McLaren and underpowered Renault, but both were superb. It was a bit of a changing of the guard season - just forget 2004 ever happened and it works much better.

That crazy Brazilian GP too, which was the greatest underdog shock victory in F1 history, surely, unfortunately ruined by a timing error which ensured at the greatest underdog shock victory in F1 history was never actually able to be properly enjoyed by anyone. Oh, and that mad ‘priest’ running into the pack at Silverstone, too.

Weird, weird year. Not Schumacher’s greatest year, kinda won by default really. It was Kimi’s year.

Edited by messy, 08 May 2020 - 21:40.

[Dolph]

Ohh... and the destruction that followed Japan 2003.

 

Apparently Schumacher liked to have a party after the title decider. 1998 (karaoke with Häkkinen), 2003 (in the Toyota garage)

[Dolph]

That crazy Brazilian GP too, which was the greatest underdog shock victory in F1 history, surely, unfortunately ruined by a timing error which ensured at the greatest underdog shock victory in F1 history was never actually able to be properly enjoyed by anyone. Oh, and that mad ‘priest’ running into the pack at Silverstone, too.

Weird, weird year. Not Schumacher’s greatest year, kinda won by default really. It was Kimi’s year.

 

That's right, the Brazilian GP. Fissi was my second favorite driver after Schumi and I remember him almost winning the race. I wanted to run to the shop to buy the bubbly water, but he didn't win it that day so I toned down my celebrations and did not go for the bubbly water. Him winning it later after the correct countback just was not the same.

 

I hope the mad priest was locked up. I'm not sure if all aware but he tackled the 2004 Olympic marathon leading runner who ended up not winning the marathon afterwards (likely) due to this incident. I know he was likely insane, but denying a sportsman his Olympic title is like killing a baby.

[DutchQuicksilver]

McLaren’s year old car really stands out to me when thinking back to this season. Car was well off the pace in 2002, yet somehow it was a title challenger the year after. Still don’t understand how that was possible. And of course, it also marked the year of the never raced McLaren MP4-18.

[Jellyfishcake]

McLaren’s year old car really stands out to me when thinking back to this season. Car was well off the pace in 2002, yet somehow it was a title challenger the year after. Still don’t understand how that was possible. And of course, it also marked the year of the never raced McLaren MP4-18.

 

Yeah that has always fascinated me, the fact they were forced to run their car that had finished 3rd in the constructors and had awful reliability in 2002, because their new car was broken and then they came so close to being champion with Kimi who had a brilliant season.

[Dolph]

McLaren’s year old car really stands out to me when thinking back to this season. Car was well off the pace in 2002, yet somehow it was a title challenger the year after. Still don’t understand how that was possible. 

 

Because they changed all the non-performing bits. Newey always was a clever fox. Just because his car didn't work in 2002 does not mean it couldn't be made to work. They just needed more time to hone it. Besides, when designing a new car under stable rule set you always have the option of going evolutionary vs revolutionary. It is always hard to tell which option will pay off the best.

 

It helped that in 2003 Kimi developed as a driver (see his performance in 2002 vs Coulthard vs his performance in 2003 vs him). We mustn't forget Kimi joined F1 very young and inexperienced and it took him awhile to realize his potential. In hindsight looking back at Kimi vs Massa and Schumacher vs Massa I can't help but feel the 2003 McLaren was a finely tuned monster that suited Kimi just perfectly. But this is all controversial opinion, so lets not argue - you guys can have a differing opinion and we can still be friends.

Edited by Dolph, 08 May 2020 - 22:08.

[CSF]

Montoya should have been Champion ten times over. The car was the best. I wasn’t impressed with him at all that year, he had some reliability issues but God he blew some big results with mistakes and in the summer, when the Williams was head and shoulders ahead of the Ferrari and at its absolute best, he suddenly started to get his butt kicked by Ralf Schumacher. I dunno, I think it was a huge opportunity wasted, and he was never the same again.

Schumacher too, made some mistakes, was actually beaten on merit by Barrichello a few times and won the championship with possibly the worst drive of his entire career, getting stuck behind Sato and damaging his car by blundering into him. I wasn’t impressed with him either, by his usual high standards.

Big stars of the season were clearly Raikkonen and Alonso, who put together superb campaigns in cars that weren’t as quick - a reliable but massively outdated McLaren and underpowered Renault, but both were superb. It was a bit of a changing of the guard season - just forget 2004 ever happened and it works much better.

That crazy Brazilian GP too, which was the greatest underdog shock victory in F1 history, surely, unfortunately ruined by a timing error which ensured at the greatest underdog shock victory in F1 history was never actually able to be properly enjoyed by anyone. Oh, and that mad ‘priest’ running into the pack at Silverstone, too.

Weird, weird year. Not Schumacher’s greatest year, kinda won by default really. It was Kimi’s year.

 

 

I dunno, Kimi blew it in his own way. It was a strange year from the Bridgestone's being banned to the Michelin's being banned. 

[Anuity]

It was not the best season by Michael, but he did have some nice races. And he won 6 races after all.

I don´t know, for me it would just be weird if the championship would have been won by Kimi with one race win. Would not feel right. Altough he obviously had a very impressive season all in all.

 

As for Montoya I tend to agree that he blew it by himself, he had all the pieces to win that year.

[Lights]

I have fond memories of 2003, it was a great season for racing and the championship battle. Many seasons have only one of those two.

 

Besides all that's mentioned about Schumacher/Raikkonen/Montoya/Alonso, 2003 was also the year Button became an impressive driver. I remember celebrating his 4th place at the A1-Ring like a victory, how in Monaco he was 3rd in Q1 before a huge shunt in Q2 meant he had to sit out the race, and him leading his first race at Indianapolis before an engine failure took a sure podium away.

[P123]

Montoya should have been Champion ten times over. The car was the best. I wasn’t impressed with him at all that year, he had some reliability issues but God he blew some big results with mistakes and in the summer, when the Williams was head and shoulders ahead of the Ferrari and at its absolute best, he suddenly started to get his butt kicked by Ralf Schumacher. I dunno, I think it was a huge opportunity wasted, and he was never the same again.

Schumacher too, made some mistakes, was actually beaten on merit by Barrichello a few times and won the championship with possibly the worst drive of his entire career, getting stuck behind Sato and damaging his car by blundering into him. I wasn’t impressed with him either, by his usual high standards.

Big stars of the season were clearly Raikkonen and Alonso, who put together superb campaigns in cars that weren’t as quick - a reliable but massively outdated McLaren and underpowered Renault, but both were superb. It was a bit of a changing of the guard season - just forget 2004 ever happened and it works much better.

That crazy Brazilian GP too, which was the greatest underdog shock victory in F1 history, surely, unfortunately ruined by a timing error which ensured at the greatest underdog shock victory in F1 history was never actually able to be properly enjoyed by anyone. Oh, and that mad ‘priest’ running into the pack at Silverstone, too.

Weird, weird year. Not Schumacher’s greatest year, kinda won by default really. It was Kimi’s year.

 

Quite a bit of revisionism there regarding Williams.  Who knew a purple patch of a half dozen races races mid-season could turn them into the 'best car',  and 'head and shoulders' above the Ferrari, despite a Ferrari qualifying ahead of both in half of those races, and a Renault and McLaren in another...  A car that started the season not fully ready,  with the rear end of the 2002 car.  A car that ended the season with half the victories and poles of the Ferrari.  As for Montoya, he lost far more points through reliability than with errors, and even if he'd been able to reverse those three races he finished behind Ralf (one strategy inflicted), it still would not have been enough for the WDC, never mind ten times over.... Duffed up by reliability, stewarding, the FIA and a helpful Sauber..  the spins were annoying, particularly Oz (headed for victory in not the best car) but not what ultimately cost him the WDC.

[Yamamoto]

Because they changed all the non-performing bits. Newey always was a clever fox. Just because his car didn't work in 2002 does not mean it couldn't be made to work. They just needed more time to hone it. Besides, when designing a new car under stable rule set you always have the option of going evolutionary vs revolutionary. It is always hard to tell which option will pay off the best.

 

It helped that in 2003 Kimi developed as a driver (see his performance in 2002 vs Coulthard vs his performance in 2003 vs him). We mustn't forget Kimi joined F1 very young and inexperienced and it took him awhile to realize his potential. In hindsight looking back at Kimi vs Massa and Schumacher vs Massa I can't help but feel the 2003 McLaren was a finely tuned monster that suited Kimi just perfectly. But this is all controversial opinion, so lets not argue - you guys can have a differing opinion and we can still be friends.

 

The Kimi vs DC point is interesting. I would just add that Coulthard struggled with the change to qualifying more than most. Kimi was also fast in 2002 but suffered more from poor reliability than Coulthard - The balance definitely shifted but these factors make it look bigger than it really was. I think Kimi was also the chosen one within the team; how much this equated to in terms of performance is hard to say. 

[Vesuvius]

2003 was a great season. The raise of Williams, brilliant season from Kimi etc.
The biggest failure was of course MP4-18. Former McLaren f1-engineer have this year told us stories about 2003 and MP4-18, how it cost a Kimi a title. Kimi for example once got very furious towards McLaren, when they masked one testing incident as a driver error, while it really was all about this dangerous MP4-18, then Kimi, Wurz etc told they will never drive that car again as it was dangerous.

Anyway MP4-18 cost Kimi a title as McLaren mainly focused on it and not to MP4-17D.Had they focused on it instead, the outcome could have been different, mainly they could have only developed the engine as the car was pretty much developed as much as it could.But on engine side all focus was on MP4-18 and as that was comoletely different desing, that work couldn't be used on MP4-17D.

Yet Kimi fought till the end and only lost by 2 points. That pitspeedlimiter mistake by the team (just 1km/h wrong) cost Kimi a fantastic win at Melbourne (started the race wrom the pitlane!) and that engine blow at Nurburgring while dominating the race was costly as well.

Williams at one point was team to beat and seemed to start dominating, but for various reasons it didn't happend. Montoya drove a good season and Ralf had his strong moments as well. Alonso had his first poles and that first win.

[Marklar]

Kimi had no business fighting for the title that year which is why I'm sad that he didnt win it. In some ways 2003 and 2012 were similar: a season with great races and a close championship, but in the end the underdog lost out.

Edited by Marklar, 09 May 2020 - 10:16.

[Vesuvius]

The Kimi vs DC point is interesting. I would just add that Coulthard struggled with the change to qualifying more than most. Kimi was also fast in 2002 but suffered more from poor reliability than Coulthard - The balance definitely shifted but these factors make it look bigger than it really was. I think Kimi was also the chosen one within the team; how much this equated to in terms of performance is hard to say.

2002 Kimi was already better than DC, but Kimi had 11 retirments on that season and in pretty much all of them, he was ahead of DC.

Kimi's inexperiment showed at Monaco were he slept the night on his yacht and that cost him dearly, on next day he drove to the wall. Cost him a chance to fight for win.

[Vesuvius]

Kimi had no business fighting for the title that year which is why I'm sad that he didnt win it. In some ways 2003 and 2012 were similar: a season with great races and a close championship, but in the end the underdog lost out.

This.

[messy]

Quite a bit of revisionism there regarding Williams. Who knew a purple patch of a half dozen races races mid-season could turn them into the 'best car', and 'head and shoulders' above the Ferrari, despite a Ferrari qualifying ahead of both in half of those races, and a Renault and McLaren in another... A car that started the season not fully ready, with the rear end of the 2002 car. A car that ended the season with half the victories and poles of the Ferrari. As for Montoya, he lost far more points through reliability than with errors, and even if he'd been able to reverse those three races he finished behind Ralf (one strategy inflicted), it still would not have been enough for the WDC, never mind ten times over.... Duffed up by reliability, stewarding, the FIA and a helpful Sauber.. the spins were annoying, particularly Oz (headed for victory in not the best car) but not what ultimately cost him the WDC.

It’s not revisionism though, is it? When the Williams was at its absolute best, in that middle phase of the season, it was Ralf who was doing the winning. What Montoya had to do was maintain his clear early season advantage over Ralf and he lost a fair few points there. I’m not saying Ralf wasn’t a good driver and wasn’t tough to beat, but if you want to win a World Championship.....

And there were several races where the Williams was clearly the best car.

Edited by messy, 09 May 2020 - 10:35.

[PlayboyRacer]

Kimi had no business fighting for the title that year which is why I'm sad that he didnt win it. In some ways 2003 and 2012 were similar: a season with great races and a close championship, but in the end the underdog lost out.

I thought Kimi had a great season. That is undisputable. But would winning the WDC have been, let's say, justified with only 1 win to Schumachers 6 wins? That's a huge discrepancy.

We have 1982 and Keke Rosberg for comparison. He won the World Championship with only 1 win... But the most wins of any driver was only 2 (Prost iirc). It was the definition of an even, open season. The tragedy during the season certainly contributed to that.

Just don't know how one could be satisfied as World Champion when a rival wins 6 times more races.

Edited by PlayboyRacer, 09 May 2020 - 10:52.

[PayasYouRace]

Well the whole reason we have points systems is to see how well a driver did when he didn’t win. Kimi or JPM would have been worthy of that title, even with fewer wins.

Hawthorn had 1 win to Moss’s 4 in 1958. But consistency counts.

In 1982 Prost, Arnoux, Lauda, Watson and Pironi all won two apiece. Six drivers had one win to their names. It was a strange one.

[Marklar]

I thought Kimi had a great season. That is undisputable. But would winning the WDC have been, let's say, justified with only 1 win to Schumachers 6 wins? That's a huge discrepancy.

We have 1982 and Keke Rosberg for comparison. He won the World Championship with only 1 win... But the most wins of any driver was only 2 (Prost iirc). It was the definition of an even, open season. The tragedy during the season certainly contributed to that.

Just don't know how one could be satisfied as World Champion when a rival wins 6 times more races.

Context matters imo. If the discrepency came from one driving clearly better than the other and the other just stayed in contention with fewer wins due to reliability, then I would question it more, but this wasnt the case here.

[PlayboyRacer]

It’s not revisionism though, is it? When the Williams was at its absolute best, in that middle phase of the season, it was Ralf who was doing the winning. What Montoya had to do was maintain his clear early season advantage over Ralf and he lost a fair few points there. I’m not saying Ralf wasn’t a good driver and wasn’t tough to beat, but if you want to win a World Championship.....

And there were several races where the Williams was clearly the best car.

Some good points you make Messy. I loved the way Montoya went about his racing, from his F3000 and CART IndyCar days. But I never felt he got the better of Ralf Schumacher to the extent he needed. I rated Ralf a pretty good driver... But not exceptional. They both won two races in 2003 and, as you said, Ralf had the better form mid season. At a point where Montoya needed to capitalise on Williams' form and build on his Monaco victory. Ralf going back to back got him right back into the title fight, Montoya didn't need that.

Edited by PlayboyRacer, 09 May 2020 - 11:18.

[PlayboyRacer]

Context matters imo. If the discrepency came from one driving clearly better than the other and the other just stayed in contention with fewer wins due to reliability, then I would question it more, but this wasnt the case here.

Fair point.

[Jops14]

Kimi just seemed really quiet a few of the races i watched in the review he wasn't mentioned and then it was "and Raikkonen finished second"  was just so solid.

 

Seems odd how little the cars changes year to year, teams all just rocked up with old cars and were competitive - though i suppose that has to do with more in season testing, no need to rush it for first race when you can spend a few extra weeks perfecting it on track elsewhere.

 

I wouldn't say Williams were the quickest, but they were at least on par, I think you put Kimi/MSchumacher in that Williams and they walk away with the title, Ralf was bafflingly inconsistent. It's funny with a lot of drivers you think "oh theres another chance" or "they were unlucky there, they'll win again" and when you look back you think "huh that was their peak, they never actually had that extra step" Ralf was so quick and had so much promise, but he never really seemed to kick on.

[Clrnc]

Williams was absolutely flying in certain tracks and I would say both FIA and unreliability killed Montoya more than the errors he made. And Williams should have thrown all their resources behind one driver although it's easy to say now. 

 

People often talk about Kimi but over the course of the season I would say JPM should have won the title on pure merit. The penalty decision was terrible and those days FIA stands for Ferrari.

 

I love the Brazilian GP, so memorable for me purely because a terrible Jordan won. Probably the worst car to ever win a GP

[Maustinsj]

Didn’t the MP4-18 have an EBD?

[EvilPhil II]

2003 was a very sad year for the governing body. It was obvious why certain decisions were being made by Max Mosley. Thankfully that mindset and culture has now largely gone.

[messy]

Kimi just seemed really quiet a few of the races i watched in the review he wasn't mentioned and then it was "and Raikkonen finished second" was just so solid.

Seems odd how little the cars changes year to year, teams all just rocked up with old cars and were competitive - though i suppose that has to do with more in season testing, no need to rush it for first race when you can spend a few extra weeks perfecting it on track elsewhere.

I wouldn't say Williams were the quickest, but they were at least on par, I think you put Kimi/MSchumacher in that Williams and they walk away with the title, Ralf was bafflingly inconsistent. It's funny with a lot of drivers you think "oh theres another chance" or "they were unlucky there, they'll win again" and when you look back you think "huh that was their peak, they never actually had that extra step" Ralf was so quick and had so much promise, but he never really seemed to kick on.

Ralf was always the same. He was blindingly quick and inch perfect on one given weekend, but couldn’t do that in any regularity and never put together a season where he didn’t go missing for half of it. In 1999 he was good but I think his performance was flattered by the struggles of Zanardi alongside, so even on the weekends where he wasn’t particularly stunning he was still well ahead of his team-mate. I’d say other than ‘99 2001 was his best season, but again he took advantage of having a team-mate who was still acclimatising to F1 and JPM finished the season better.

I can’t really think of too many other drivers who’ve been capable of looking so strong ‘on their day’ but have never really put a truly impressive season together.

Edited by messy, 10 May 2020 - 18:03.

[azza200]

https://youtu.be/bOArH45z_yw

Edited by azza200, 10 May 2020 - 20:02.

[Atreiu]

All title contenders had their fair share of brainfades, and the F2003GA/Bridgestone combo carried Schumacher across the finish line (after Tyregate, Indy rain and Montoya was gutted at Indy - classic maFIA).

Part of me thinks 2003 alone made the tyre war worth it, but then I remember 2002 and 2004.

16 GPs will always be a perfect amount of GPs.

Edited by Atreiu, 10 May 2020 - 20:37.

[Bleu]

It was also worth of note that in 2003 Bridgestone was way better wet-weather tyre, which Indianapolis showed well (not only for Schumacher but Button and Frentzen had very strong races also) while couple of years later situation was completely upside down.

[Touchdown]

Ralf was always the same. He was blindingly quick and inch perfect on one given weekend, but couldn’t do that in any regularity and never put together a season where he didn’t go missing for half of it. In 1999 he was good but I think his performance was flattered by the struggles of Zanardi alongside, so even on the weekends where he wasn’t particularly stunning he was still well ahead of his team-mate. I’d say other than ‘99 2001 was his best season, but again he took advantage of having a team-mate who was still acclimatising to F1 and JPM finished the season better.

I can’t really think of too many other drivers who’ve been capable of looking so strong ‘on their day’ but have never really put a truly impressive season together.

I've always thought that Ralf had as much ultimate speed as Michael, but Michael was streets ahead pretty much everywhere else.

[Jellyfishcake]

I've always thought that Ralf had as much ultimate speed as Michael, but Michael was streets ahead pretty much everywhere else.

 

As someone who was actually a Ralf fan (probably little brother syndrome from me) I think looking back mentally he was much weaker than Michael and that led to his inconsistency etc 

Also his distractions out of the car with the 'supermodel' wife rather than Michaels more low-key normal family life possibly paid a part.

 

The three races spell in 2003 was amazing, albeit helped by Kimi's breakdown (if I remember correctly?) which probably was the one race that really cost him the title. 

[PlatenGlass]

Montoya and Ralf Schumacher had an agreement that only one of them could be any good on a given weekend.

[dierome87]

I don't think the FW25 was the best car at all. Just look at how things were prior to Monaco.

 

JPM was very consistent (just like Kimi obviously) and made the most of his inferior equipment more often than not. None of them had any business fighting for the championship. They both lost three potential wins due to unreliability (Austria and Japan for JPM, and Europe for Kimi). Michael won it because he won almost every race in which he or the team didn't choke.

 

2003 was one of the best seasons in recent memory. When will we get something close to this again?

Edited by dierome87, 11 May 2020 - 12:53.