2002 Spanish Grand Prix

Championship standings

Schumacher leads with 34 points. The Williams pair of Ralf Schumacher (20) and Montoya (17) occupy second and third. Renault’s Button is fourth on 8, Barrichello fifth on 6. Ferrari lead the Constructors’ Championship by three points over Williams.

Previous race

At Imola, Schumacher led from pole to flag for his third win of the four races and 56th of his career. Barrichello finished second for his first points of the season after retiring from the lead in each of the previous three rounds. Montoya’s fourth place left him frustrated; Button hailed his fifth-place result as “the best race of my F1 career.”

Between-race developments

Teams tested at multiple circuits after Imola. McLaren and Ferrari spent three days at Mugello; Ferrari also ran at Monza and Fiorano. Arrows, BAR, Jaguar, Jordan, Minardi, Renault, Sauber, and Williams tested variously at Silverstone.

Car upgrades

Ferrari brings new torsion bars, revised screens behind the front wheels, and new front and rear wings. McLaren improves the MP4-17’s rear suspension layout. Williams receives a more powerful BMW engine specification and a new rear wing. Both Cosworth and Honda introduce new engine versions; Jaguar races the more powerful Cosworth unit. Mercedes introduces a new, more reliable engine specification increasing power and driveability.

Practice

Four sessions at a circuit where the long, fast corners suited the Ferraris — both Schumacher and Barrichello led most of the four sessions.

On Friday, Sato’s session ended after only six laps when an electrical connection failure brought him to a halt at the pit lane exit and spare cars are prohibited on Fridays. In the third session, Webber’s front wing detached at the upper mounting points on the start/finish straight; the wing folded under the car and shattered, scattering carbon fibre debris. The session was stopped for eight minutes while marshals cleared the track, and Minardi switched to a different front wing design for the final session.

In the fourth session, Sato spun 360 degrees through the gravel trap at Renault corner and hit the tyre barrier lightly, losing the nose cone. Montoya also lost control under braking for La Caixa corner.