The season got off to an exciting start in Melbourne where Michael Schumacher had a rare moment of bad luck when the Ferrari�s bargeboards became stuck under the car. Michael lost a lot of time and David Coulthard eventually won the race. McLaren�s good fortune continued at Sepang where Kimi Raikkonen claimed his first win of the season. It looked like Raikkonen had won the race in Brazil after it was red flagged following heavy crashes from Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso. However, the race win was later handed to Giancarlo Fisichella, who would claim Jordan�s only podium finish this year.

Michael Schumacher was back on form at the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola, taking his first win of the season. He followed this with his first win in the F2003-GA at Barcelona. After the controversy surrounding the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix, Schumacher finally won at the A1 Ring without assistance from his teammate.

Juan Pablo Montoya became only the second man ever to win both the Indy 500 and the Monaco Grand Prix this year. It was also Williams� first win at Monaco for 20 years. Montoya could have won again in Canada had he not spun and handed the win to M. Schumacher. It was Ralf Schumacher�s turn to win at the Nurburgring with Montoya making it a Williams 1-2. This result was repeated at the French GP and put Williams just 3 points behind Ferrari in the constructors� championship.

This year�s British Grand Prix was memorable for the track invasion by a Welsh priest. Luckily nobody was injured and Rubens Barrichello took his first win of the season after 2 safety car periods. A controversial accident at the start of the German GP put Ralf Schumacher, Rubens Barrichello and Kimi Raikkonen out of the race at the first corner and eventually handed victory to Montoya.

Fernando Alonso became the youngest GP winner in Hungary this year and gave Renault a much-deserved first place. However, Michael Schumacher was back at the top in Italy and then went on to win at Indianapolis despite qualifying in seventh place. A poor race for Montoya put him out of the championship, leaving Schumacher and Raikkonen to fight it out in Japan.

Raikkonen needed to win the race and Michael not score a point. Mid way through the race it could have gone either way. Schumacher spent much of his time in 8th and Raikkonen was stuck in 2nd behind Barrichello. The reliability of the Ferrari gave Barrichello an easy win and Schumacher took a record breaking 6th World Drivers� title. Ferrari also claimed their 5th consecutive Constructors� Championship.

Review by Laura Collier MOTORSOC President 2003-04