(Eliminated: Räikkönen, Button, Webber, Barrichello, Massa, Heidfeld, M. Schumacher, R. Schumacher, Montoya, Coulthard)
Following David Coulthard's rather dominating 2003 title, McLaren joined the likes of Ferrari and Williams to pack their cars up and sit out the 2002 season. Last year's runner up Jarno Trulli in the sole Renault was thus the favourite for the title. Trulli, along with his compatriot Fisichella in the Jordan were the only drivers to keep their seats from 2003. All the other seats were shuffled with a number of rookies like Mika Salo, Eddie Irvine and Alex Yoong joining the grid.
Salo and Irvine got a great start to their F1 career by finishing on podium on their début in Suzuka - Salo in 2nd and Irvine in 3rd. Long time backmarker driver Takuma Sato had got a full time seat with Jordan and won the race. Trulli showed his class by winning in US but it was Irvine who took the early control of the championship with a brace of victories in Monza and Spa. A DNF in Hungary however meant that the challengers weren't far off.
Points after Hungary 5/17:
1. Irvine -- 27
2. Trulli -- 22
3. Sato -- 18
4. Fisichella -- 17
5. Salo -- 12
6. Villeneuve -- 12
7. Panis -- 9
...
Next race in Germany saw a new team enter F1 as Arrows fielded cars for Frentzen and Bernoldi. The high attrition race was won by Sato who now took the championship lead. Salo finished second (and last). French GP was another of high attiition as well, this time three cars saw the finish line: De la Rosa 1st, Yoong 2nd and McNish 3rd. BAR took a 1-2 victory in the rainy British GP, with Villeneuve becoming the sixth different winner in eight races so far. Panis came close in the next round also, this time losing to Trulli who had finished in top-2 in all the races he had finished so far this year. Luckily for him, other teams were suffering from poor reliability and so the Italian was now leading the standings. Irvine meanwhile had scored zero points during this four race stretch.
Points after Europe 9/17:
1. Trulli -- 32
2. Sato -- 28
3. Irvine -- 27
4. Villeneuve -- 24
5. Fisichella -- 21
6. Panis -- 21
7. Salo -- 19
...
Trulli and Fisichella took 1-2's for Italy in Canada and Monaco: Fisichella won in Canada while Trulli added a third consecutive Monaco trophy to his impressive collection. In Austria Fisichella won again with the Toyotas of Salo and McNish joining him on podium and so the championship looked to be between the two Italians with five round to go.
Points after Austria 12/17:
1. Trulli -- 48
2. Fisichella -- 47
3. Sato -- 31
4. Irvine -- 30
5. Villeneuve -- 27
6. Salo -- 25
7. Panis -- 25
...
A couple of no scores for Fisichella and only 8 points for Trulli in the next two races however turned the standings around once more. Villeneuve, who had been solid but nothing spectacular so far, took second place in Spain and won in San Marino (ahead of Trulli, the other finisher), rising him to third in points. Spain by the way was won by Heinz-Harald Frentzen in the brand new Arrows. Next two were won by Salo and McNish as Toyota took its last F1 victories before leaving F1 at the end of the season. Trulli and Fisichella scored no points and thus the points standing ahead of the finale in Australia was exciting:
Points after Malaysia 16/17:
1. Trulli -- 56
2. Villeneuve -- 51
3. Fisichella -- 47
4. Salo -- 39
5. Sato -- 38
6. Irvine -- 36
7. de la Rosa -- 27
...
Three drivers in with a chance to become the F1 World Champion. After qualifying Trulli was on pole, followed by Fisichella, Panis, Villeneuve, Salo, Frentzen, McNish, Bernoldi, Irvine, de la Rosa and Yoong. Sato, whose car had stopped in qualifying after clutch failure, started last. Tensions were high and chaos ensued in turn 1. McNish, Panis and Fisichella were collected and had to retire. Trulli was leading the race comfortably but on lap 8 he spun off on his own in turn 2. Villeneuve as the last surviving contender now had to finish in top-2 in order to win the title but was struggling with Minardi's Alex Yoong in 5th place after losing positions in the lap 1 chaos.
Sato retired in lap 12 and on lap 19 Villeneuve was already 2nd following de la Rosa's pit stop which dropped the Jaguar driver to last place. It wasn't to be Villeneuve's day though. On lap 27 the rear wing of his BAR broke spinning the BAR into the walls with no chance to react. Eddie Irvine won the race but it was Jarno Trulli who had the biggest celebration as the 2002 F1 World Champion.
2002 STANDINGS
Code: Select all
1. Jarno Trulli 56 (3 wins, 4 x 2nd)
2. Jacques Villeneuve 51 (2 wins, 3 x 2nd, 1 x 3rd)
3. Giancarlo Fisichella 47 (3 wins, 1 x 2nd, 2 x 3rd)
4. Eddie Irvine 46 (3 wins, 1 x 2nd, 1 x 3rd)
5. Mika Salo 45 (1 win, 5 x 2nd)
6. Takuma Sato 38 (2 wins, 2 x 3rd)
7. Pedro de la Rosa 30 (1 win, 1 x 3rd)
8. Allan McNish 26 (1 win, 3 x 3rd)
9. Olivier Panis 25 (2 x 2nd, 2 x 3rd)
10. Heinz-Harald Frentzen 21 (1 win, 1 x 3rd)
11. Alex Yoong 12 (1 x 2nd, 1 x 3rd)
12. Enrique Bernoldi 5 (1 x 3rd)