Antonio Pizonia during the AustiranGP (picture Jaguar Racing/MarkThompson Getty images)

How lucky can the FIA and Bernie Ecclestone be? After a year or two of usually dull races, Ferrari domination and TV ratings falling as fast as dot com stocks, they change the rules and the 2003 is turning out to be one the most exciting seasons in years. No more yawning on Sunday afternoon... especially at this year Austrian GP where earth, water and even fire all played a role to spice things up!

While the FIA is keen to take credit for this new excitement, a quick look at qualifying times shows that the gap between teams has narrowed this year as some of the mid field teams have closed the gap with the top 2 and it has little to do with rules. Teams like Renault (ex Benetton), BAR and especially Jaguar have upped their game this year and can now challenge for podiums and top 5 qualifying spots if not wins. yet.

After spending most of the 2002 season battling with the underfunded Minardis at the back of the grid, Jaguar finally got its act together and leaped toward the front of the pack and now qualifies in the top 10 on a regular basis.

Austria is one of the most scenic locations on the Grand Prix circuit, with the A1 Ring nestled in the foothills of the Styrian mountains, in the Alps, providing a spectacular background of mountains, pine trees and those typical Austrian Chalets. It's also a track which often provides some excitement at the first couple of corners but sadly 2003 will be the last Austrian GP for a while. Why? Money of course... Tobacco advertising was banned earlier than in other European countries and the Austrian GP was dropped from the 2004 calendar to make room for places like Barhain and China where tobacco companies can advertise freely.

Friday qualifying may not seem very important, not having a direct impact on the final grid position, but after a few race weekends, it is clear that it not only sets the running order for the saturday session. It is also the only real test of a car, and driver, of pure raw speed around the track. On Saturday, teams can play with race setup and strategy but Friday is all about pure speed, just like Saturdays used to be and surprisingly, Jaguar has been quick this year particularly Mark Webber. Austria turned out to be no exception, with an excellent 3rd spot only 6/10th behind Michael Shumacher's Ferrari. Remember 2002 were the R3 would be as much as 3 or 4 seconds off the pace? Even Pizzonia, after feeling heat from the team, Pizzonia did manage to get his act together and grabbed 9th place.

On Saturday, all eyes were on Mark Webber to see if he could confirm the R4's pace. Unfortunately, that's were "earth" came in the picture compliments of Canadian Jacques Villeneuve who during a banzai lap late in the session ran wide in a couple of spots bringing gravel and dirt on the racing line. He paid the price with a 12th spot on the grid but as a result, caused the exit of the final corner to be more slippery when Mark took to the track. This, added to a mistake at the very first corner, dropped the Australian to 17th on the grid, outqualified for the first time by his teamate who managed to to break the top 10 with a respectable 8th place. On pole, no surprise, Micheal Schumacher in his Ferrari but just under 1/10th ahead of the Mc Laren of Kimi Raikonen.

Mark Webber during the AustiranGP (picture Jaguar Racing/MarkThompson Getty images)

Come race day, the team chose to have Mark Webber start from pitlane so that they could refuel the car just before the race and try a single stop strategy; 17th on the grid meant they were not loosing much track position. However, the strategy backfired because of a quirk in the new regulations which allows refueling once the race has started and that includes the formation lap. Unfortunately, the Toyota of CART champ Christiano da Matta stalled on the grid forcing official to scrap the start. Worst, he stalled again at the back of the pack on the second attempt, forcing another restart. This meant that the race had not started when Webber's car was refueled and it landed him a stop and go penalty later in the race...

The first laps of the race turned out to be familiar with Schumacher pullling away from the rest of the pack. Until lap 19 where our second natural element came in the picture, water, with rain falling on the circuit giving the Michelin runner an strong advantage. With the rain light enough to allow the drivers to remain on dry weather tiress, the gap at the front closed until the rain stopped and the world champion was able to pull away once again

And that's when things appeared to fall apart for the Scuderia with Barichello enduring a disastrous pit stop when the refueling rig malfunctioned, dropping him to 6th. Two laps later, when Schumacher stopped from P1 a fire erupted in the Ferrari pit as the refueling rig malfunctioned again. The pit crew reacted imediately and put the fire away in seconds all while Schumacher sat calmly at the wheel observing the potentially catastrophic events in his rearview mirror! Luckily, the car suffered no damage, except for the fire extinguisher spray and he was able to rejoin the race in 3rd, quickly closing the gap to 2nd place Raikonen, then passing him when the leading Williams BMW engine blew...

While this drama was unfolding, the Jaguars were steadily turning lap after lap with Mark and Antonio gradually climbing into the top ten and into the points for Webber with a solid 6th place right behind the Williams BMW of Ralph Schumacher. Pizzonia also saw the checkered flag, in 9th place just outside the points. It's worth noting that Webber logged the 3rd fastest lap time during the race, ony 6/10 behind the world Champion who did crank some great laps to make up for his fiery pitstop. At least the pace is there this year.

After the Austrian mountains, the F1 circus heads out to its crown jewel, the Monaco Grand Prix on the French Riviera where the guard rails lining the narrow and twisty street circuit are likely to be even more painful than the earth, water and fire seen at the A1Ring.