Length: 4.361 km
Number of Laps: 70 (305.270 Km)
Best Lap: J-P. Montoya - 1'15''960 (2002, BMW Williams)
Record Pole: J-P. Montoya - 1'12''836 (2002, BMW Williams)
2002 Pole: J-P. Montoya - 1'12''836 (Williams)
2002 Podium: M. Schumacher - D. Coulthard - R. Barrichello

Michael Schumacher won the GP of Canada and took over the drivers’ points lead as well as boosting Ferrari back into the lead for the constructors’ points too. This impressive and hard fought 68th win puts the German’s Formula One™ points tally to an astonishing 999!

The race ran under dry conditions and saw brother versus brother as Ralf lead from the start and until the 1st pit stop. Ferrari’s fuel strategy allowed for additional laps and subsequently for Schumacher to snap off fast laps in his patented style. He pitted and retained the lead in the process.

Montoya initially was holding 2nd place until an error saw the Columbian spin his Williams at the now infamous casino turn.

He did recover to finish 3rd, but the mistake gave Michael the opportunity to challenge and untimely win this pivotal race at the half way point of the season.

Alonso in the Renault finished a decent 4th and the young Spaniard lead more than a few laps during pit stops. Barrichello’s 5th place finish did two important things; he kept Raikkonen from scoring more points and helped Ferrari in the constructors’ points. This was especially crucial as Coulthard retired from the event after only 23 laps.

Raikkonen finished 6th and is now behind in points by 3 while McLaren now trails Ferrari by 9. The 1 point difference gathered by Barrichello doesn’t sound like much, but championships are decided by margins that close. Remember Irvine lost by 2 points to Hakkinen in 1999.

Weber for Jaguar and Panis for Toyota took the final 2 points paying positions in good runs for both drivers and teams. Verstappen, Pizzonia, Da Matta and Wilson all finished 2 or more laps down, but were impressive in their own right.

Ferrari also scored a GTS class win at the 24 hours of Le Mans with the 550, so a great result for both of the teams was accomplished.

Next race is the GP of Europe at the Nurburgring on June 29th. This circuit has been a good one for Ferrari seeing a Barrichello/Schumacher 1-2 last year.

Report by: Tony Moffett