Fisichella Declared Brazilian F1 Grand Prix Winner!
04-11-2003, 05:19 AM
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Jordan's Giancarlo Fisichella was declared winner of last Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix, instead of McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen, by the International automobile federation FIA on Friday.
The FIA ordered a review of the chaotic finish to the race after a timekeeping discrepancy emerged.
Raikkonen had been declared the winner when the race was stopped apparently on the 55th lap. Under FIA rules, the final race positions in such conditions are those in effect two laps before the lap on which the race was stopped.
Raikkonen was leading after the 53rd lap but the FIA confirmed Friday Fisichella had already started his 56th lap before the race was stopped.
That meant the result had to be based on positions at the end of the 54th lap when the Italian was leading Raikkonen and Renault driver Fernando Alonso.
FIA announced the amended result after meeting the Brazilian GP stewards here. It is the first time a Grand Prix result has been changed without a driver being disqualified or receiving a time penalty.
Team chief Eddie Jordan had prompted FIA to order a review after sending them details of Jordan's own timekeeping.
This showed Fisichella had completed one more lap than he had originally been credited for and on FIA's own countback procedure it meant Fisichella and not Raikkonen was the winner.
The third leg of the Formula One season in Sao Paulo was red flagged after two heavy accidents involving Jaguar's Mark Webber and Alonso who was taken to hospital and missed the victory celebrations.
Fisichella, whose car caught fire in the pit-lane, was convinced he had won his first Grand Prix in Sunday's chaotic race. But time-keepers declared Raikkonen the winner. The Finn also won the Malaysian GP last month.
Fisichella's first win in 101 starts was Jordan's fourth victory in their 200th Grand Prix.
He was Italy's first GP winner since Riccardo Patrese in Japan for Williams in 1992.
04-11-2003, 11:02 AM
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Hooray for Fisi, hooray for Jordan!! 
They deserved the win after a fantastic effort. (Ironic, though, that Jordan gets their first win in a long time immediately *after* Honda dumps them. 
)
On Fisi's car fire in the pits: that likely wouldn't have happened had the race continued. It was probably a case of abruptly stopping the car with no real cool-down. There IS some speculation, though, that he would have had to pit once more and surrender the lead.
They deserved the win after a fantastic effort. (Ironic, though, that Jordan gets their first win in a long time immediately *after* Honda dumps them. )On Fisi's car fire in the pits: that likely wouldn't have happened had the race continued. It was probably a case of abruptly stopping the car with no real cool-down. There IS some speculation, though, that he would have had to pit once more and surrender the lead.
04-11-2003, 01:57 PM
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Ha - I love Tracy too, good job on him not defecting to the IRL. Big fan of Greg Moore as well (RIP). Not to hijack, but Tech TV had a piece called "The Tech of a Race Car" and it featured Moore and his car - then a little blurb at the end honoring him. Damn shame with that kid, used to write a nice column for SportsCar International.
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04-11-2003, 06:32 PM
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That rocks! Especially since Fisichella passed Raikkonen on the track. Actually, he didn't just pass him, he blew by him! This year F1 is killer! You can tune in and have no clue who is going to win the race. I LOVE IT!
