The 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 6 April 2003 at Autódromo José Carlos Pace (Interlagos). It was attended by 120,000 spectators. It was the third round of the 2003 Formula One World Championship, the 32nd Brazilian Grand Prix and the 700th Formula One World Championship race.
The race was scheduled to run for 71 laps, but was stopped on lap 56 after two major crashes blocked the circuit. Due to confusion about the timing of the red flag, the win was initially awarded to Kimi Räikkönen of McLaren, with Giancarlo Fisichella of Jordan in second and Fernando Alonso of Renault in third. However, following a post-race appeal by the Jordan team, eventually heard in court, it was established that Fisichella was leading when the race results were declared, and he was awarded the win with Räikkönen demoted to second. Alonso remained in third place; he had missed the podium ceremony at the time as he was receiving medical attention.
The race was Fisichella's first Grand Prix victory. It was also Jordan's fourth and final victory, and the team's 200th Grand Prix. This was the first victory for a Ford engine since the 1999 European Grand Prix, and the first victory for an Italian driver since Riccardo Patrese won the 1992 Japanese Grand Prix. As of , this is the last victory for a Ford-powered car to date.
Background
The 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix was the third of sixteen scheduled single seater motor races of the 2003 Formula One World Championship, the 32nd edition of the event and the 700th Formula One World Championship round. It took place at the 15-turn Autódromo José Carlos Pace in the Brazilian city of São Paulo on 6 April 2003. The bumpy track placed a large amount of strain and g-force onto a driver. To compensate for cars being driven over its bumpy surface, teams employed a computer programme fed into a chassis to reconstruct every movement under undulation. Under a Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA; Formula One's governing body) regulation mandating Formula One's two tyre suppliers Bridgestone and Michelin to bring a single wet-weather tyre compound to each race to lower operating costs: Michelin brought the full wets and Bridgestone the intermediates.
After winning the Malaysian Grand Prix two weeks earlier, McLaren driver Kimi Räikkönen led the World Drivers' Championship with 16 points, six ahead of his teammate David Coulthard in second. Juan Pablo Montoya of Williams, Ferrari driver Rubens Barrichello and Fernando Alonso for Renault tied for third with eight points each. In the World Constructors' Championship, McLaren led with 26 points; Ferrari and Renault were tied for second position with 16 points. Williams were a further two points behind in fourth and Sauber in fifth had four points. Following the 2002 edition, race organisers invested $1.7 million in resurfacing of track surface in an attempt to reduce its bumpiness, rebuilt its drainage system and introduced run-off areas in the first seven turns.
In preparation for the race, the majority of teams conducted in-season test sessions at the Circuit de Catalunya (now called the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya) in Spain from 25 to 28 March 2003 and worked to alter the aerodynamic performance of their cars. Sauber and Williams evaluated revised chassis components and both teams assessed their selection of tyre compounds from the Malaysian Grand Prix, optimising the setup of their vehicles to better suit it. A lap of 1 minute and 17.288 seconds topped the time sheets for the Williams test driver Marc Gené on the first day. Pedro de la Rosa, the McLaren test driver, set the second day's fastest time, a 1-minute and 15.506 seconds. Williams's Ralf Schumacher set the quickest lap on the third day, lowering the overall best time to a 1-minute and 15.352 seconds. On the final day (held in heavy rain in the morning and sunshine for most of the afternoon) Ralf Schumacher remained fastest overall with a lap of 1 minute and 17.591 seconds. Toyota test driver Ricardo Zonta drove a Toyota TF102B for three days at the Circuit Paul Ricard evaluating its tyres.