Schumacher retires in 99 2002 Season

Here is an overview of the 2002 teams and drivers

West McLaren Mercedes

1. David Coulthard

2. Kimi Raikkonen

After winning the 2001 title McLaren kept the World Champion David Coulthard in for 2002. Alongside him, the Finnish Kimi Raikkonen was signed after a successful first outing at Sauber, in place of the retiring (not taking a Sabbatical three-times World Champion Mika Hakkinen)

Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro

3. Jacques Villeneuve

4. Fernando Alonso

After the disappointment of 2000 and 2001 Ferrari decided to get rid of both its drivers, Frentzen and Irvine, since their internal conflict was pointed as the reason to why they lost the previous years' championships. Ferrari then decided to sign the only World Champion avaliable in the grid (Villeneuve) and alongside him they gave the opportunity to the young Spaniard Fernando Alonso. Todt decided to sign him already instead of other options preferred by the rest of the Ferrari management (Trulli, Fisichella and Heidfeld) in order to keep him from signing with Renault.

BMW Williams F1 Team

5. Ralf Schumacher

6. Juan Pablo Montoya

There is no change in the Williams line-up after a very successful 2001

Sauber Petronas

7. Jean Alesi

8. Felipe Massa (Nick Heidfeld in USA)

After initially thinking about retiring at the end of 2001, Alesi decided to remain at Sauber for one more year after a very successful team for him and the team (7th in the WDC and 4th in the WCC). Alongside him, Ferrari junior and rookie Felipe Massa. Heidfeld subbed on Massa in the USA. 

DHL Jordan Honda

9. Heinz-Harald Frentzen

10. Pedro de la Rosa

After deciding to not renew Salo's contract and having Trulli leave, Jordan went on to sign Pedro de la Rosa in a two-year deal, after the Barcelona driver had given good results to Arrows. When it was announced that Frentzen was leaving Ferrari, Eddie Jordan wasted no time in to bringing the most successful driver in his team's history back home.

Lucky Strike BAR Honda

11. Giancarlo Fisichella

12. Olivier Panis (Takuma Sato in USA and Japan)

After losing Villeneuve to Ferrari, BAR decided to sign Fisichella, who saw Benetton as a team in a very downward trend. Alongside him, kept from 2001 was Olivier Panis, who would go on to be replaced by Honda-backed Takuma Sato in the last two races of the season.

Mild Seven Renault F1 Team

14. Jarno Trulli

15. Jenson Button

After losing Alonso to Ferrari and Fisichella to BAR, Renault went on to sign Jordan's Jarno Trulli. Alongside him Button was kept for another season.

Jaguar Racing F1 Team

16. Rubens Barrichello

17. Jos Verstappen

Despite disappointing in their first two F1 seasons, Jaguar decided to keep their good driver line-up for 2002.

Orange Arrows

17. Nick Heidfeld

18. Enrique Bernoldi

Arrows kept German Heidfeld for 2002, even though he was linked to half of the grid. Alongside him, Brazilian Bernoldi was signed.

Phoenix Finance

19. Tarso Marqués

20. Gastón Mazzacane

After buying out the Prost team, Phoenix competed from Malaysia onwards

KL Minardi Asiatech

21. Alex Yoong (Anthony Davidson in Hungary and Belgium)

22. Mark Webber

Minardi kept Yoong for 2002 although he was replaced in some races due to bad performance. Alongside him, Australian Mark Webber made his F1 Team

Panasonic Toyota Racing

23. Eddie Irvine

24. Mika Salo (Ricardo Zonta from Hungary onwards)

New F1 Constructor Toyota signed 1999 and 2000 WDC runner-up Eddie Irvine who was out of Ferrari. Alongside him, veteran Mika Salo was signed although he left the team after the summer break, meaning that Ricardo Zonta returned to Formula 1.