F1 Race Reports

Doubted by some sceptics during a winter of private testing, Ferrari showed that it had little to hide by trouncing the opposition as the Australian Grand Prix opened Formula One 2004.

Rubens Barrichello again played the perfect back-up role to Ferrari team leader Michael Schumacher at Suzuka - but did so from the front, leading almost throughout to win the Japanese Grand Prix and prevent Kimi Raikkonen from having a shot at the German's world title.

Formula One's resident rainmeister came close to pouring cold water on what had been a red-hot world championship battle at Indianapolis, romping to a sixth victory of the year and only being kept in title check by an equally bravura performance from Kimi Raikkonen.

Michael Schumacher retook the initiative in the race for the 2003 Formula One world championship crowns today after an unchallenged performance atop the pile in front of the adoring tifosi at Monza.

Fernando Alonso completed his rout of the Formula One record book by rewriting another few pages at the end of a Hungarian Grand Prix in which he proved to be the class of the field.

The temperatures at Hockenheim frequently touched Malaysian proportions but, if anything was hotter on race day, it was surely Juan Montoya, who scorched away from what remained of the field and burnt his name firmly into the championship reckoning.

Drama, excitement, overtaking, multiple leaders including Cristiano da Matta, Michael Schumacher working through the field and battles seeming at every corner for the duration of the race, what a race the British Grand Prix 2003 was. At that's before you mention a man in an orange skirt...

Ralf Schumacher marked himself out as a genuine world championship challenger with a second grand prix victory in as many weeks, leading home Williams-BMW team-mate Juan Montoya to a second successive 1-2 result in the French Grand Prix.

They say that the Nurburgring crowd is only happy if a Schumacher wins, and it left the 2003 European Grand Prix happy even if it was Ralf, rather than Michael, that took the chequered flag after an eventful race.

If the race had been wet, he would likely have dominated it but, with dry weather gracing Montreal for the Canadian GP, paddock wisdom said that the Michelin runners - and particularly the Williams-BMWs - should have the upper hand. Michael Schumacher does not listen to wisdom...

Juan Montoya followed Williams-BMW team-mate Ralf Schumacher's timely Monaco pole position with an assured victory to end, not only his own personal win drought, but break the jinx of a team that had not won in the Principality for two decades.

Michael Schumacher completed the first hat-trick of the 2003 Formula One season, taking victory in Austria with a degree of excitement rather than the controversy which dogged last year's event.

Michael Schumacher became the first driver to win two grands prix in 2003 after giving the brand-new Ferrari F2003-GA a debut victory in the Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Catalunya.

Michael Schumacher finally broke the victory duck that has hung over both himself and Ferrari since the start of the 2003 Formula One season, but felt unable to celebrate at Imola following the death of his mother overnight.

Predicted to open the floodgates once his maiden grand prix victory was secured, Kimi Raikkonen racked up a second consecutive win when he was awarded the Brazilian Grand Prix on countback at a sodden Interlagos.

Kimi Raikkonen elevated himself to the ranks of grand prix winner - and wiped away the tag of Formula One nearly-man - by winning the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang in oppressive conditions.

David Coulthard made the most of tricky conditions, good calls from his pit-crew and errors by each of his major rivals to add a second Australian Grand Prix victory to his personal haul and head the 2003 F1 championship table.

The 2002 Formula One season ended in style at Suzuka, with the Japanese Grand Prix encapsulating everything that the rest of year had contained.....

Rubens Barrichello stood on top of the podium at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but his appearance there belied another dominant performance from Michael Schumacher in the United States Grand Prix.

Rubens Barrichello won the Italian Grand Prix today at Monza, beating Ferrari team-mate Michael Schumacher by 2.255 seconds. It was the Brazilian's third win of 2002 and his fourth in total, achieved at Ferraris home track in front of the fanatical 'tifosi'.

Michael Schumacher produced another virtuoso performance at the Belgian Grand Prix to re-write the Formula One record books once again.

The rest of the field had no answer to Ferrari once the Hungarian Grand Prix got under way and, perhaps as expected after he took pole position, Rubens Barrichello was able to lead home a Scuderia 1-2 for his second win of the year.

If there was one thing Michael Schumacher wanted more than his first pole position at the German Grand Prix, he said, it was to take victory for Ferrari in front of his adoring home crowd.

Michael Schumacher clinched an historic fifth world title with victory at Magny-Cours, but he had to rely on a huge slice of luck to overcome an uncharacteristic mistake.