The win was Michael Schumacher's twelfth of the season and his seventh in succession, equalling Alberto Ascari's record. The result meant that Schumacher increased his lead in the Drivers' Championship to 38 points over Barrichello. Jenson Button, who finished fifth in the race in his BAR-Honda, remained in third but was mathematically eliminated from the championship. Ferrari's one-two finish meant that they secured their sixth consecutive Constructors' Championship.
Report
Background
Heading into the thirteenth race of the season, Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher led the Drivers' Championship with 110 points, ahead of teammate Rubens Barrichello on 74 points and Jenson Button on 65. Jarno Trulli was fourth with 46 points with his Renault teammate Fernando Alonso in fifth place on 39 points.[5] Ferrari were leading the Constructors' Championship with 184 points; Renault (85 points) and BAR (76) contended for second place with Williams in fourth on 47 points and McLaren were a further ten points adrift in fifth place.[5] Ferrari had dominated the championship; Michael Schumacher had won eleven races for the team, while Trulli had clinched the victory in the Monaco Grand Prix. Barrichello, Button, Alonso, Juan Pablo Montoya and Kimi Räikkönen had finished in second and third positions during the season.[5]
There was one driver change heading into the race. Cristiano da Matta was dropped by Toyota and was replaced by the team's third driver Ricardo Zonta. Da Matta was dropped because of his poor performance relative to teammate Olivier Panis, but remained at the team as a driver and would perform marketing work while Toyota test driver Ryan Briscoe assumed Zonta's former position.[6]
Friday drivers
The bottom 6 teams in the 2003 Constructors' Championship were entitled to run a third car in free practice on Friday. These drivers drove on Friday but did not compete in qualifying or the race.
