The 2002 Austrian Grand Prix (formally the Grosser A1 Preis von Österreich 2002)[4] was a Formula One motor race held on 12 May 2002 at the A1-Ring in Spielberg, Styria, Austria.

The safety car was deployed twice during the race, which included a major accident on lap 28 involving Jordan driver Takuma Sato and Nick Heidfeld of the Sauber team, who both sustained light injuries.

At the post-race podium ceremony, Michael Schumacher implored Barrichello to mount the stand reserved for the race winner and gave the first-place trophy to his teammate.

That led the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA, Formula One's governing body) to fine Ferrari, Michael Schumacher and Barrichello $1 million on 26 June; each paid a third immediately, while the remainder was suspended.

His teammate Barrichello, Felipe Massa and Nick Heidfeld of Sauber, Jordan drivers Giancarlo Fisichella and Takuma Sato, Coulthard, Arrows' Heinz-Harald Frentzen, and the British American Racing (BAR) duo of Jacques Villeneuve and Olivier Panis, were second through tenth.

[17] Some drivers—including Barrichello, Massa and Fisichella—ran off the dusty, slippery track into a gravel trap during the session because of a low amount of grip; none sustained damage to their vehicles.

Montoya, Kimi Räikkönen of the McLaren team, Allan McNish for Toyota, Arrows driver Enrique Bernoldi, Jaguar's Pedro de la Rosa, Panis, Coulthard and Sato were third to tenth.

[34] A misfiring engine prompted Montoya in fourth to switch to the spare car setup for his teammate Ralf Schumacher; he made a minor tyre-pressure adjustment to record his fastest lap.

A lack of speed restricted the McLaren duo of Räikkönen and Coulthard to sixth and eighth; they were separated by Massa who made two driver errors in an unbalanced car through high-speed turns.

[44] Heidfeld ran wide at Castrol Kurve at the beginning of the second lap and the Williams pair of Ralf Schumacher and Montoya demoted him to fifth.

[52] As the field entered the right-hand turn two situated atop a hill,[51][53] Heidfeld noticed smoke coming from Yoong's Minardi and applied his cold brakes heavily, locking his rear wheels and sending him out of control about 100 yd (91 m) from the apex.

[54] At high speed,[54] Heidfeld narrowly avoided hitting Montoya's front wing,[46] and the rear of his Sauber sustained a side collision against the right-hand sidepod of Sato's car,[43][55] causing heavy damage to both vehicles and littering carbon fibre and titanium debris over a wide area of track.

[48] Heidfeld's rear structure and titanium gearbox punctured a hole in Sato's car; his knees struck the steering column breaking it in half.

[46] Under safety car conditions, every team apart from Ferrari and Williams brought their drivers to the pit lane for additional fuel and a set of tyres.

[62] Personnel on the Ferrari pit gantry observed the television screens and noticed Michael Schumacher could not get close enough to pass Barrichello in the final seven laps.

[49] When Barrichello braked in the final 100 to 50 yd (91 to 46 m) to comply with Ferrari's instruction,[48][52] Michael Schumacher slowed more than his teammate because he had hoped that no team orders would be applied.

[63] Schumacher passed Barrichello for his fourth win in a row in 2002, and the 58th of his career in a time of 1 hour, 33 minutes and 51.562 seconds at an average speed of 196.334 km/h (121.996 mph).

"[65] Michael Schumacher said he understood Ferrari's decision as "the team is investing a lot of money for one sort of target and imagine in the end it wouldn't be enough by this amount of points, how stupid would we look?

"[54] That the injuries Sato sustained in the accident were minor was cited as a consequence of improved safety standards undertaken by the FIA, racing teams and medical experts since the 1970s.

[56] Ralf Schumacher praised his car for allowing him to finish fourth, "Due to the action packed race and the different strategies it is difficult to say how big Ferrari's advantage really was here on the A1-Ring.

[51][55] Reuters cited it as the most "particularly blatant" application of team orders applied to favour one driver over another since Coulthard relinquished first position to his McLaren teammate Mika Häkkinen in the final laps of the 1998 Australian Grand Prix to comply with a prior agreement.

[70] This and other team orders during the season, such as the 1998 Belgian Grand Prix,[69] prompted some discussions about the issue but did not lead to any ban;[71] in both cases, Coulthard and Barrichello decided to slowdown only at the last moments of the final lap, which made it even more controversial,[7] and Couthard also allegedly received threats over the radio.

[68] Ferrari were heavily condemned by fans on the internet,[72][73] some members of the Formula One community,[74][75] the world press, and Brazilian president Fernando Henrique Cardoso.

[78][79][80] Jody Scheckter (the 1979 Formula One World Champion) and Ron Dennis defended Ferrari's application of team orders as a means of enhancing Michael Schumacher's position in the championship.

[85] At the meeting, the FIA deemed Ferrari to have transgressed series regulations when Michael Schumacher chose not to mount the first position on the podium and handed the trophy given to him by the Chancellor of Austria to his teammate Barrichello.

[86] It imposed a fine of $1 million on Ferrari, Michael Schumacher, and Barrichello, half of which was paid immediately and divided into equal amounts between the trio; the remainder was suspended for one year on the condition a similar offence did not occur.

[86] In response to the controversy, Mosley established a four-member working group to discuss team orders and invited the public to lend their opinion on the practice on the FIA's website.

[93] The parallels between how Michael Schumacher and Alonso won those races was the catalyst of the FIA rescinding the regulation barring team orders because it was deemed difficult to enforce.

[106][107] In November 2010, Todt admitted to La Stampa he should have avoided invoking team orders on Barrichello due to his subsequent belief Michael Schumacher would have won the championship without significant competition.

[57][N 4] In February 2017, Brawn reiterated Todt's opinion to British magazine Autosport and stated the negative consequences for Formula One outweighed the positives, calling it "on reflection ... a mistake".