ATLAS F1   Volume 6, Issue 39 Email to Friend   Printable Version
Atlas F1   The United States GP Review
Indianapolis Motor Speedway, September 22-24, 2000 by Pablo Elizalde, Spain

M. Schumacher celebrates a historic winMichael Schumacher and Ferrari have been there before. Every season is different and some are better than others, but they all have one thing in common: the winner is the one who has more points at the end of the year.

Schumacher and his team know it better than anyone else, and, despite a great win - probably the most important of the season - on Sunday's United States Grand Prix, they know there is still a long and winding road to go before the party begins.

Of course, the German has a lot of reasons to be positive about ending the 21-year WC drought of the Italian team, as his situation looks definitely better than in 1997 and 1998, where he lost the title in the last race.

He has a better car, he is now eight points ahead in the championship with only two races remaining, and also luck seems to be on his side during this last part of the season. Not that he needs it very often, but at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, it was surely a great help, not only because he could get back on track after losing both his concentration and his car, but also because for the first time after twelve Grands Prix, he saw his only rival, Mika Hakkinen, retire with a mechanical failure.

The reining World Champion proved once more he is the only current driver that can fight Schumacher in a race, let alone in a Championship, and the engine failure on his McLaren deprived the viewers of what could have been an epic battle.

A moment that will be remembered for a long timeThe Finn did a great job recovering the lost ground after yet another wrong call from his team, which made both him and teammate David Coulthard come in to put dry weather tyres too early and forcing them to fight for position with the Minardis (and, ridiculous as it may sound, it was a hard fought battle that lasted more laps than the small Italian team might have dreamt).

For McLaren, the most successful team in the history of the US Grand Prix, this was probably the worst race of the season, and definitely at the worst moment: not only did they lose the lead in both championships, but they also suffered the first retirement due to a mechanical problem since March.

To add to McLaren's misfortunes, David Coulthard finally had to face the fact that he is now mathematically out of the title race and officially has to play second fiddle to Hakkinen.

The Scot made a big impact earlier this season, especially after his plane crash, and he was McLaren's main man for a couple of races but, when Hakkinen came back to his old form, Coulthard lost the team's attention and he seems to be back to his old self, as his jumped start proved.

The Jordan team, returning to the country where they made their debut in 1991, was the best of the rest this time, and they finally returned to the podium after a disappointing season marred by a big amount of retirements and an unbelievable bad luck, especially for Jarno Trulli who, once more, could not turn his amazing talent into a good result, courtesy, as it happened in Belgium, of Jenson Button.

Jenson Button impressed until his car gave upAs a race, the United States Grand Prix was good, not brilliant, but enough to show the American public the bright side of Formula One, with plenty of overtaking, incidents and a Ferrari 1-2 result.

The track itself probably did not live up the hype that racing at "The Brickyard" meant, as the infield was somewhat less than challenging and the slow part was too slow for the modern Formula One cars.

However, the famous banked turn and the long straight created a lot of overtaking opportunities that helped put on an entertaining race.

The quarter of a million people who filled up the stands satisfied both IMS President Tony George and Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone, and the event was a big success, so there is no reason not to believe that Indy is here to stay. Only time will tell.

Qualifying

Never before did the term 'teamwork' have so much significance in an F1 qualifying session as it did on Saturday during the United Stated Grand Prix, when both McLaren and Ferrari drivers towed each other along the long straight of the Indianapolis track in order to gain top speed.

And judging by the small gap between the four of them, a couple of miles per hour at the start/finish line were the difference between being in the first or the second row. Ferrari did a fine job, and Michael Schumacher ended up grabbing his seventh pole of the year and the 30th of his career.

Giancarlo Fisichella during qualifyingWith rain looming over the track at the beginning of the session, all drivers, except Schumacher, who seemed to know something the others did not, hit the track when the green light went on for an initial lap, most of them driving back into the pits. It was not much later than the circuit cleared up that the German driver jumped onto the track.

"I was fairly confident it would not (rain)," Schumacher explained. "But I saw a few drops on my visor and pushed harder to finish the lap."

And he pushed quite hard, setting a very quick time on his first attempt, just before a slight rain began to fall over the circuit. He would go faster some 30 minutes later, with the help of the tow from teammate Rubens Barrichello, improving more than two tenths over his previous best on a very slippery track.

Ironically, David Coulthard was the only beneficiary of McLaren's tactics, as Mika Hakkinen, who lost a lap on his first attempt by running wide and had to make do with one less try, came out only to help the Scot's cause, which at the end was bumping the Finn off the front row of the grid.

Slipstream were vital at the Indianapolis straight"Adrian Newey came across and asked if it would help for Mika to give me a tow," explained Coulthard. "To which my answer was, of course, that it would help."

His performance was good enough to jump from fourth to second place, ahead of Hakkinen and Barrichello, and behind Schumacher, something that brought flashbacks of early races and that ensured a very intersecting start.

Meanwhile, Hakkinen was philosophical about his poor position. "With the line of bricks just ahead of the front row, it might be better to start from the second row with a bit more speed over the start line," admitted the Finn. Little did he know, for before the start of the race the front row would be moved one grid row back - several feet away from the yard of bricks - in order to improve start safety.

"The driver on pole position should not be disadvantaged by something like this," said Schumacher about this part and parcel of the folklore of the legendary Indianapolis track.

Jarno Trulli, who, after having his Mugen-Honda engine replaced due to a problem during practice, outqualified Jordan teammate Heinz-Harald Frentzen once more, followed the top four drivers. Jenson Button in sixth split the Jordan drivers with his Williams-BMW, the Brit enjoying every bit of the track.

Eddie Irvine and the Jaguar team had a weekend to forget"Driving through the banked corners was good fun and I can't wait to race through it," Button admitted. "It's been a good weekend for us so far and I hope we can still improve tomorrow."

Jacques Villeneuve, the only driver who had raced at Indianapolis before (on the oval), was eighth with the BAR, complaining about the poor grip of the track, while Pedro Diniz took a surprising ninth place - his best grid position so far this season - for Sauber. Ralf Schumacher completed the top ten in the second Williams.

Qualifying Results 

Pos  Driver         Team                 Times                 
 1.  M.Schumacher   Ferrari              1:14.266  203.350 km/h
 2.  Coulthard      McLaren Mercedes     1:14.392   +  0.126
 3.  Hakkinen       McLaren Mercedes     1:14.428   +  0.162
 4.  Barrichello    Ferrari              1:14.600   +  0.334
 5.  Trulli         Jordan Mugen-Honda   1:15.006   +  0.740
 6.  Button         Williams BMW         1:15.017   +  0.751
 7.  Frentzen       Jordan Mugen-Honda   1:15.067   +  0.801
 8.  Villeneuve     BAR Honda            1:15.317   +  1.051
 9.  Diniz          Sauber Petronas      1:15.418   +  1.152
10.  R.Schumacher   Williams BMW         1:15.484   +  1.218
11.  Wurz           Benetton Playlife    1:15.762   +  1.496
12.  Zonta          BAR Honda            1:15.784   +  1.518
13.  Verstappen     Arrows Supertec      1:15.808   +  1.542
14.  Salo           Sauber Petronas      1:15.881   +  1.615
15.  Fisichella     Benetton Playlife    1:15.907   +  1.641
16.  Heidfeld       Prost Peugeot        1:16.060   +  1.794
17.  Irvine         Jaguar Cosworth      1:16.098   +  1.832
18.  de la Rosa     Arrows Supertec      1:16.143   +  1.877
19.  Herbert        Jaguar Cosworth      1:16.225   +  1.959
20.  Alesi          Prost Peugeot        1:16.471   +  2.205
21.  Mazzacane      Minardi Fondmetal    1:16.809   +  2.543
22.  Gene           Minardi Fondmetal    1:17.161   +  2.895

The Race

The start of the raceOn race morning, rain was coming down in a true Indianapolis stormy fashion, only to cease before noon and not return for the rest of the day. However, with a threatening cloudy sky above, the grid for the inaugural US Grand Prix took its place, and only Jaguar's Johnny Herbert was to start with dry weather tyres.

As all red lights were on, and the race was about to start, the McLaren of David Coulthard moved forward off its second place position on the front row. Coulthard had badly jumpstarted, and once the lights were off, he was fastest into the lead, although knowning that the penalty call is just a matter of time.

Michael Schumacher had a good start, while Mika Hakkinen held off the challenge of Rubens Barrichello, and Heinz-Harald Frentzen dropped to ninth behind Jacques Villeneuve and Ralf Schumacher.

Coulthard quickly began to pull away from Schumacher, and at the end of the second lap was 1.7 seconds ahead of the German. Further back, Jenson Button was putting Jarno Trulli under pressure as they both fought for fifth place, until the Brit tried to pass the Italian on the inside. The move was, perhaps, too late and both cars touched for the second time in three races. The Jordan driver was far from happy after yet another unlucky retirement.

"Jenson Button, he really is an idiot at the moment," Trulli said. "He is driving like a crazy. He was pushing me hard and he tried to outbrake me, but it was too late." Of course, Button had his own version: "I got alongside him and then maybe because of the braking, it seemed to me that he slightly crossed on to my side of the circuit and we touched."

They both ran off the track and had to pit for repairs, losing several places. For Trulli, though, the race did not last much longer and he retired on lap 12 with a broken suspension, consequence of his early incident. Two laps later, Button suffered an engine failure and retired as well.

After his initial fast pace, Coulthard slowed down dramatically, getting caught immediately by Schumacher, who tried desperately to pass the McLaren. With Hakkinen now right under his Ferrari's rear wing, the German, who eventually passed Coulthard in a great and courageous move at the end of the straight, was rather annoyed by the Scot's behaviour.

"On the overtaking side, although he is not really in the championship, in my view he really tried too hard to push me wide, and actually touched me," related Schumacher. Either way, the German was freed of the second McLaren's shadow on lap eight, when Coulthard came into the pits for his penalty (only to return to the pits a lap later to put on dry weather tyres). The Scot rejoined the race behind the Minardi of Marc Gene, definitely out of contention.

Jacques Villeneuve charged hard to finish fourthBarrichello and Hakkinen also switched to dry weather tyres before lap 10, while Schumacher continued on wets, as did Heinz-Harald Frentzen, who was now second. It soon became apparent that the track was not dry enough, something that was highlighted by the fact that Hakkinen was struggling behind Gaston Mazzacane in the Minardi. In fact, the Flying Finn only overtook the Argentine driver when the latter came into the pits on lap 14...

Frentzen also pitted on lap 14, giving Schumacher a lead of more than 40 seconds ahead of Hakkinen, who was now second and starting to lap faster than the leader.

Schumacher finally stopped on lap 16, rejoining the track with a lead of ten seconds over his rival, who was setting one fastest lap after another and closing the gap at an amazing pace. By lap 23, Hakkinen was only five seconds behind Schumacher, with his brother Ralf up to third place in the Williams. Frentzen was fourth, ahead of Jos Verstappen in the Arrows, and Herbert, who was benefiting from his decision of starting the race on slicks.

Hakkinen's speed rate showed that, assuming no changes, he was to catch up with Schumacher within 10 laps; that's when the challenge for the lead of the race was to take place. However, it was not meant to be: a rare engine failure on lap 26 forced Hakkinen to retire, for the first time in no less than 12 Grand Prix.

Let alone at the front, Michael Schumacher now had a huge gap to his brother Ralf, and all he had to do was keep his car on the track and pray for reliability.

Frentzen had a very busy race to third placeFurther back, both Barrichello and Coulthard were making up lost ground, in the Brazilian's case a consequence of a pit stop too early. When Verstappen slid off the track on lap 35, Rubens was promoted to fifth place behind Jacques Villeneuve, who was gaining rapidly on Frentzen.

On lap 39, Ralf had to come into the pits to repair a mechanical problem, which eventually forced him out the race.

The scheduled round of pit stops began around lap 41, and the only important change in order was that Barrichello got the better of Frentzen, who was now under pressure by Villeneuve, desperately seeking his first podium finish with the BAR team.

The Canadian tried to pass the German on lap 65, but he left his braking miles late and overshooting the first corner and having to fight his way up to Frentzen's car once more. Jacques recovered the lost ground, but was unable to overtake the German and had to settle for fourth.

"I wasn't really close enough to pass Frentzen but I just decided there was no sand trap and no tyre wall, so I'd take a chance," Villeneuve said. "I lost track of where the corner was and as soon as I touched the brakes I knew I was not going to be able to stop."

Up in front, Schumacher was probably already thinking about the next Grand Prix. With five laps to go, he spun his Ferrari at the eighth turn, but fortunately for him he was able to keep his engine running and went on to win the race.

"I wasn't concentrating anymore," he confessed. "I was cruising and I had such a big gap that the team asked me all the time to go slower and slower. So I did ... and I just caught a bit of grass, which was still damp - and it spun me around. These things so happen if you are not concentrating properly."

Hakkinen´s hopes At Indy expired along with his engineDespite the scare, Ferrari could celebrate a fantastic 1-2 victory, as Barrichello ended second after a hard fought recovery. This result not only meant that the Italian team regained the lead in both championships, but also meant a new record of victories and points in a single season for the Scuderia.

Third place went to the Jordan of Heinz-Harald Frentzen, who returned to the podium for the first time since the Brazilian Grand Prix. "We have had many chances to finish on the podium this season but luck has not gone our way," said the German. "I'm very happy with this result for the team, everyone has been through difficult times and this give us a great boost."

Villeneuve was finally fourth, ahead of a very disappointed David Coulthard who, 25 points adrift of the leader, has waved goodbye to his title options once more.

"I'm sorry and frustrated that I jumped the start, which meant I received a 10 second stop-and-go penalty," he explained. "I worked my way through traffic but my second set of tyres was not as good as my first one and as a result I couldn't push as hard as I would have liked and had to settle for fifth."

As in Monza two weeks earlier, the last point was awarded to Ricardo Zonta in the second BAR, good enough to keep his team tied with Jordan in the Constructors' Championship, in a frantic battle between the two Honda powered outfits.

The podiumDespite the hype and the success of the US Grand Prix, there is still a championship to decide and Michael Schumacher will have his first of two opportunities at the Japanese Grand Prix in two weeks time. Mika Hakkinen has won there the last two races and more importantly - the last two championships. He must finish ahead of the German to keep his hopes alive. Schumacher, on the other hand, is no slouch at Suzuka himself, and he merely needs to gain two more points over Hakkinen to have the Championship wrapped up.

The stage is set; fasten your seat belts - the Formula One roller coaster is still running wild.


Race Results 

CLASSIFIED

Pos  Driver         Team                                
 1.  M.Schumacher   Ferrari                 1h 36:30.883
 2.  Barrichello    Ferrari                 +     12.118
 3.  Frentzen       Jordan Mugen-Honda      +     17.368
 4.  Villeneuve     BAR Honda               +     17.935
 5.  Coulthard      McLaren Mercedes        +     28.813
 6.  Zonta          BAR Honda               +     51.694
 7.  Irvine         Jaguar Cosworth         +   1:11.105
 8.  Diniz          Sauber Petronas         +      1 Lap
 9.  Heidfeld       Prost Peugeot           +      1 Lap
10.  Wurz           Benetton Playlife       +      1 Lap
11.  Herbert        Jaguar Cosworth         +      1 Lap
12.  Gene           Minardi Fondmetal       +      1 Lap

Fastest Lap: D.Coulthard, 1:14.711 (201.994km/h), Lap 40

NOT CLASSIFIED / RETIREMENTS                                
                                                              
     Alesi          Prost Peugeot        64     engine     
     Mazzacane      Minardi Fondmetal    59     engine     
     R.Schumacher   Williams BMW         58     pneumatics 
     de la Rosa     Arrows Supertec      45     gearbox    
     Fisichella     Benetton Playlife    44     engine     
     Verstappen     Arrows Supertec      34     accident   
     Hakkinen       McLaren Mercedes     25     engine     
     Salo           Sauber Petronas      18     spun off   
     Button         Williams BMW         14     engine     
     Trulli         Jordan Mugen-Honda   12     suspension 

World Championship Standing, Round 15:                

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  M. Schumacher 88        1.  Ferrari            143
 2.  Hakkinen      80        2.  McLaren            133
 3.  Coulthard     63        3.  Williams-BMW        34
 4.  Barrichello   55        4.  Benetton-Playlife   20
 5.  R.Schumacher  24        5.  Jordan-Mugen Honda  17
 6.  Fisichella    18        =   BAR-Honda           17
 7.  Villeneuve    14        7.  Arrows               7
 8.  Frentzen      11        8.  Sauber               6
 9.  Button        10        9.  Jaguar               3
10.  Trulli         6                                  
 =   Salo           6                                  
12.  Verstappen     5                                  
13.  Irvine         3                                  
 =.  Zonta          3                                  
15.  de la Rosa     2                                  
 =   Wurz           2

Fastest Race Laps 

Pos Driver         Team                Lap  Time             
 1.  Coulthard     McLaren-Mercedes    40   1:14.711          
 2.  Barrichello   Ferrari             51   1:14.822  +  0.111
 3.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari             48   1:14.901  +  0.190
 4.  Villeneuve    BAR-Honda           68   1:15.117  +  0.406
 5.  Diniz         Sauber-Petronas     69   1:15.305  +  0.594
 6.  Frentzen      Jordan-Mugen Honda  69   1:15.521  +  0.810
 7.  Wurz          Benetton-Playlife   70   1:15.560  +  0.849
 8.  R.Schumacher  Williams-BMW        55   1:15.598  +  0.887
 9.  Irvine        Jaguar-Cosworth     72   1:15.675  +  0.964
10.  Hakkinen      McLaren-Mercedes    25   1:15.773  +  1.062
11.  Zonta         BAR-Honda           48   1:15.812  +  1.101
12.  Herbert       Jaguar-Cosworth     69   1:15.812  +  1.101
13.  Gene          Minardi-Fondmetal   72   1:16.044  +  1.333
14.  Heidfeld      Prost-Peugeot       72   1:16.074  +  1.363
15.  Alesi         Prost-Peugeot       44   1:16.124  +  1.413
16.  Fisichella    Benetton-Playlife   42   1:16.234  +  1.523
17.  Verstappen    Arrows-Supertec     34   1:16.252  +  1.541
18.  de la Rosa    Arrows-Supertec     36   1:16.276  +  1.565
19.  Mazzacane     Minardi-Fondmetal   41   1:16.711  +  2.000
20.  Salo          Sauber-Petronas     18   1:20.244  +  5.533
21.  Button        Williams-BMW        12   1:22.977  +  8.266
22.  Trulli        Jordan-Mugen Honda   4   1:24.770  + 10.059

Pit-Stops Times 

Pos  Driver        Team                Time  Lap
 1.  Coulthard     McLaren-Mercedes    19.9   9
 2.  Hakkinen      McLaren-Mercedes    20.5   7
 3.  de la Rosa    Arrows-Supertec     21.0   8
 4.  Gene          Minardi-Fondmetal   21.1   8
 5.  Diniz         Sauber-Petronas     21.1  12
 6.  Salo          Sauber-Petronas     21.2   6
 7.  Heidfeld      Prost-Peugeot       21.3   4
 8.  Mazzacane     Minardi-Fondmetal   21.4  14
 9.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari             21.8  16
10.  Verstappen    Arrows-Supertec     22.0   7
11.  Barrichello   Ferrari             22.0  53
12.  Barrichello   Ferrari             22.2   6
13.  Diniz         Sauber-Petronas     22.2  50
14.  Frentzen      Jordan-Mugen Honda  22.3  14
15.  Irvine        Jaguar-Cosworth     22.3   7
16.  Villeneuve    BAR-Honda           22.3   8
17.  Alesi         Prost-Peugeot       22.5   4
18.  Frentzen      Jordan-Mugen Honda  22.5  50
19.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari             22.6  49
20.  Button        Williams-BMW        22.7   2
21.  R.Schumacher  Williams-BMW        23.5   7
22.  Villeneuve    BAR-Honda           23.6  51
23.  Coulthard     McLaren-Mercedes    23.7  41
24.  Alesi         Prost-Peugeot       24.0  47
25.  Zonta         BAR-Honda           24.1   7
26.  Zonta         BAR-Honda           24.1  49
27.  Diniz         Sauber-Petronas     25.0  58
28.  Heidfeld      Prost-Peugeot       25.1  43
29.  Coulthard     McLaren-Mercedes    25.7   8
30.  Irvine        Jaguar-Cosworth     26.0  41
31.  Trulli        Jordan-Mugen Honda  26.2   2
32.  R.Schumacher  Williams-BMW        26.3  39
33.  Wurz          Benetton-Playlife   26.3  36
34.  Fisichella    Benetton-Playlife   26.6   8
35.  Wurz          Benetton-Playlife   26.8   7
36.  de la Rosa    Arrows-Supertec     27.6  40
37.  Fisichella    Benetton-Playlife   30.8   6
38.  R.Schumacher  Williams-BMW        30.8  53
39.  Mazzacane     Minardi-Fondmetal   35.5  49
40.  R.Schumacher  Williams-BMW        39.7  42
41.  Trulli        Jordan-Mugen Honda  42.3  12
42.  Herbert       Jaguar-Cosworth     42.6  27
43.  Gene          Minardi-Fondmetal   51.4  45


The United States Grand Prix, Lap by Lap

Lap 1: At the start David Coulthard anticipates the start and takes the lead. He is later given a 10-second stop-go penalty. On the run down to the first corner Michael Schumacher is second while Mika Hakkinen holds off a challenge for third from Rubens Barrichello. Heinz-Harald Frentzen is forced wide in the early part of the infield and drops from seventh to ninth, losing out to Jacques Villeneuve and Ralf Schumacher. At the end of the lap Coulthard is over a second ahead. At the back of the field Johnny Herbert is struggling on dry tyres, the only driver to start on them. The rest of the field starts on intermediate rubber as the track is still damp in places. There were no incidents at the first turn

Lap 2: Coulthard sets the fastest lap of the race as he increases his lead to 1.7secs. At the end of the back straight Jenson Button challenges Jarno Trulli for fifth place and the two cars touch. Button understeers off but rejoins. At the next corner Trulli goes wide as well. Both men pit for repairs at the end of the lap and rejoin in 21st and 22nd positions. In the course of the lap Frentzen gets ahead of Ralf Schumacher and Ricardo Zonta passes Pedro Diniz for eighth place. Further back Jos Verstappen overtakes both Eddie Irvine and Alexander Wurz to move to 10th.

Lap 3: The order at the front remain the same but the sorting out continues further down the field with Pedro de la Rosa passing Nick Heidfeld for 13th and Marc Gene overtaking Giancarlo Fisichella for 17th.

Lap 4: Coulthard slows down dramatically, losing a second to Schumacher. De la Rosa's progress continues as he passes Alexander Wurz to take 12th. At the back of the field Jean Alesi is the first man to switch from intermediates to dry tyres.

Lap 5: Schumacher tries to pass Coulthard in Turn 1 but the attack is repulsed. This enables Hakkinen to close in so the top three are running together. Barrichello is fourth ahead of Villeneuve, Frentzen, Ralf Schumacher and Zonta. Heidfeld is the second driver to stop for dry tyres.

Lap 6: Barrichello is the first of the frontrunners to stop for tyres. Further back de la Rosa moves ahead of Irvine to take 11th.

Lap 7: Michael Schumacher challenges Coulthard for the lead at Turn 1, passing the McLaren on the outside. The two cars touch slightly and Schumacher emerges ahead. At the end of the lap he is already building up a lead. Hakkinen stops for dry tyres and is followed into the pits by Ralf Schumacher, Zonta, Verstappen, Irvine and Wurz.

Lap 8: Coulthard stops for his stop-go penalty. At the tail of the field Giancarlo Fisichella also stops for a penalty because of a jumped start. Pit callers include Villeneuve, de la Rosa and Gene.

Lap 9: Michael Schumacher stays ahead with the others who have yet to stop in his wake. Frentzen is second with Diniz third and Gastone Mazzacane fourth. Hakkinen is fifth with Villeneuve sixth. Coulthard stops again to change to dry tyres and drops down to the order to 16th. In the midfield Zonta passes de la Rosa for 12th.

Lap 10: De la Rosa repasses Zonta for 12th.

Lap 11: Ralf Schumacher passes Barrichello to take seventh position while Zonta retakes de la Rosa for 12th. Pedro de la Rosa

Lap 12: Third-placed Diniz pits and drops to sixth place. Hakkinen is stuck behind Mazzacane. In the drying conditions the two Williams-BMWs are the fastest cars on the track. Jenson Button and Ralf Schumacher both setting fastest laps.

Lap 13: Schumacher, Frentzen and Mazzacane stay out again while a frustrated Hakkinen tries to find a way to pass the Minardi. Ralf Schumacher passes Diniz to grab fifth position. Further back Barrichello is overtaken by Verstappen. Trulli has a bad pit stop and then retires almost immediately when he pulls off the track.

Lap 14: Frentzen and Mazzacane pit, leaving Hakkinen in second place with Ralf Schumacher third. Further back Button passes Barrichello for ninth.

Lap 15: Hakkinen sets the fastest lap of the race as he chases after Schumacher, who still has to pit. Michael, however, has a lead of 43secs. Button pulls off and stops with a mechanical problem.

Lap 16: Michael Schumacher finally stops for tyres. He rejoins still in the lead around 10secs ahead of Hakkinen. In the midfield Johnny Herbert passes Barrichello for eighth place - evidence that his strategy of starting on dry tyres from 19th on the grid is a good idea.

Lap 17: Ralf Schumacher sets another fastest lap. Verstappen takes fifth place from Diniz. Herbert passes Villeneuve to take seventh place while further back Irvine overtakes Zonta.

Lap 18: Hakkinen continues to close on Schumacher while further back in the field Herbert overtakes Diniz to move into sixth place. Diniz also drops behind Villeneuve. Alex Wurz

Lap 19: Hakkinen chops Schumacher's lead to eight seconds. Ralf Schumacher remains in third ahead of Frentzen, Verstappen Herbert and Villeneuve. Barrichello begins to recover, moving ahead of Diniz to take eighth place. Further back Irvine passes de la Rosa to take 10th. Mika Salo spins into a sandtrap in the infield.

Lap 21: Hakkinen's series of fastest laps has taken him to within seven seconds of Schumacher. Further back Irvine is pushed back to 11th by a recovering de la Rosa. Near the tail of the field Coulthard finally manages to pass Marc Gene's Minardi after five laps stuck behind the Spaniard.

Lap 23: Hakkinen has reduced Schumacher's lead to five seconds while further back Coulthard moves ahead of Zonta to take 12th.

Lap 26: Hakkinen is only four seconds behind Schumacher when his engine fails. This puts Ralf Schumacher up to second and Frentzen to third. Verstappen is fourth in his Arrows with Herbert fifth and Villeneuve sixth.

Lap 27: Herbert pits and has the nose of his car replaced. He drops back to 17th place.

Lap 28: Coulthard passes Irvine to move up to ninth place.

Lap 35: After a period of stability in the race order, Verstappen slides off the track and retires. This promotes Villeneuve to fourth with Barrichello fifth and Diniz sixth.

Lap 37: Barrichello closes up to Villeneuve while further back Coulthard overtakes de la Rosa to take seventh.

Lap 39: Ralf Schumacher pits and drops from second to seventh. The German appears to have some mechanical trouble just before his stop.

Lap 40: Coulthard's charge continues as he overtakes Diniz to move to fifth place. The midfield begins to stop for fuel and tyres with de la Rosa beginning the sequence of stops.

Lap 41: Coulthard stops and drops from fifth to 11th.

Lap 42: Ralf Schumacher stops again and drops from sixth to 15th.

Lap 46: De la Rosa stops on the main straight with a mechanical problem.

Lap 47: Tail-ender Fisichella retires with an engine problem.

Lap 49: With the midfield stops having finished, Michael Schumacher stops again. He rejoins with a lead of over 10secs. At the back of the field Mazzacane comes in and misses his stopping point and hits one of his mechanics. Frentzen leads Villeneuve

Lap 53: The second pit stops end with Schumacher and Barrichello running 1-2, Rubens having got the better of Frentzen during the pit stop sequence.

Lap 58: Frentzen and Villeneuve battle for third place while sixth-placed Diniz pits and drops out of the points, promoting Zonta to sixth position.

Lap 65: Villeneuve challenges Frentzen at Turn 1. He gets ahead but overshoots the turn and rejoins behind Frentzen. In the midfield eighth-placed Alesi suffers a blown engine and spins out. This promotes Heidfeld to eighth.

Lap 67: Diniz passes Heidfeld to take eighth.

Lap 69: Michael Schumacher spins after snagging a wheel onto the grass on the inside of one of the infield turns. He is able to rejoin without losing the lead.

Lap 73: Ferrari scores a popular 1-2 victory with Heinz-Harald Frentzen third.

Pablo Elizalde© 2000 Kaizar.Com, Incorporated.
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