Roger Horton returns from the Indianapolis paddock with a few insights and reflections on the weekend's events

This year's running of the United States Grand Prix was more than just a motor racing event; it was a statement that despite the tragedies of September 11th, life has to go on. The 180,000 or so spectators that packed into this historic racing venue, the first 100,000 of whom were given a small American flag to wave, were determined that for the day at least it would be a celebration of racing, providing temporary relief from the anxieties that are currently so gripping this nation.

In the end, Mika Hakkinen emerged as a very popular winner. His day had started in just about the worst possible manner, when he seriously damaged his race car, understeering off into the barriers at turn eight during the morning warm up, and then having his fastest qualifying time disallowed after he drove out of the pitlane just seconds before the light turned green, also during the warm up. This was a totally extraordinary decision, as the punishment for this type of offence should be a simple fine, and led to much mutterings as to the motives of the Powers That Be.

But, during the race he turned on the full Mika magic that has been missing for much of this year, aided - it must be said - by the right tyre choice and pitstop strategy. Just like in Silverstone, he made a joyous return to the McLaren garage area to celebrate his twentieth career win, and none was happier to receive him than retiring McLaren man Jo Ramirez. "Absolutely fantastic, absolutely unreal," gushed the exited Mexican after the race. "So I have 114 wins today, I didn't want to go out with 113 wins, 114 is a much better number."

McLaren chose to run the softer of the two Bridgestone tyre options and Hakkinen made just one stop on lap 46, in the pitlane for just 23.350 seconds. Michael Schumacher, his main one-stopping rival, pitted some seven laps earlier and took over two seconds longer. For once, the Hakkinen/McLaren combination had turned the tables on Ferrari in the pitlane and the win was secured.

David Coulthard pretty much mirrored his teammate's strategy, but he failed to overcome the oversteer problems that plagued him all weekend and in the end drove well for a third place finish, well beaten by his teammate on this occasion.

It is still unclear just whether Mika Hakkinen's sabbatical will turn into permanent retirement. Speaking after qualifying his team boss Ron Dennis was adamant that his favourite driver was not retiring, but refused to be drawn on the 'three into two won't go' scenario that would play out if the Finn wanted to drive in 2003 and presumably replace one of the two incumbents, David Couldthard or Kimi Raikkonen. At Indianapolis, Hakkinen did not look like a driver who had lost his appetite for racing, and whichever way it plays out, Dennis will have a card up his sleeve to keep his drivers on their toes next year.

Ferrari's decision to run the harder of the two Bridgestone options may well have cost them the race. "Certainly it's one of those questions that is impossible to really answer, but we were not as competitive in the race as we expected to be," technical director Ross Brawn stated afterwards. "We knew that over one lap it (the softer tyre) was three or four tenths faster, but we didn't think it could sustain it. We had a middle part of the race that wasn't so good. Michael struggled a little bit for five or six laps when it was crucial and Rubens didn't like his second set of tyres. Considering his fuel load and tyres' history he should have really been faster on his second set and it wasn't the case."

This is the second race in succession that Rubens Barrichello has looked like a strong contender for a race win and perhaps it is no coincidence that he seems to have come on stronger as Ferrari has shifted its focus to helping the Brazilian finish in second position in the drivers' standings. "Rubens has always been very strong in races, it's just his qualifying performance compared to Michael that makes his life so difficult," Ross Brawn observed, "That's the reason we signed him again, because of his race performances."

Michael Schumacher seemed back to more or less his old self after a rather downbeat performance at Monza. He showed his normal total commitment to record his forty second pole position, but his reported admission that he didn't race to his maximum in Italy and other reports that he had considered immediate retirement, raised questions in the paddock as to whether the four-time World Champion would see out his contract at Ferrari until the end of 2004.

Juan Pablo Montoya failed in the end to win in F1 on his return to the Brickyard, where he so famously destroyed the field last year in the Indianapolis 500. He did however continue to dominate his teammate Ralf Schumacher, comprehensibly out-driving him in a race where both drivers struggled with the balance of their cars all weekend. Ralf, despite the fact that he was two-stopping and therefore carrying a lighter fuel load, never looked to be able to pressure his teammate let alone mount a serious overtaking manoeuvre.

After the race, Williams's Chief Operations Engineer Sam Michael put Montoya's performance into perspective: "Juan Pablo did a fantastic job, absolutely above expectations. Our problems started on Friday when we didn't get enough good mileage to find out how far the tyres would go, so one of the things we found out today was that they were actually a lot stronger than we thought and Juan Pablo used them perfectly. He came back from a very difficult start to the weekend, he managed to qualify only a couple of tenths slower than Ralf, but in the race he really outshone his teammate, there is no doubt about that."

He also made an overtaking move for the lead on the track, without the need to wait for the pitstop and rely on the mechanics to help him out. As Michael Schumacher observed in the post-race press conference, he had been taken by surprise by Montoya's move. "I don't where he was coming from. I mean, I looked in my mirrors and he was quite far back when I left turn eleven, and then I saw him come flying at me down the straight," the German said.

Indeed he did, and it looked as if a combination of factors came together for the Colombian at just the right time.

Montoya had been running directly behind the Number One Ferrari from lap 5, the lap that Schumacher let his teammate through to take the lead, so as to benefit from his two-stop routine. The gap between the two was just over 3.3 seconds at the end of lap 6. Thereafter, Montoya struggled to close the gap and the pair's lap times remained pretty even until around lap 20, when the Williams began to close in. By lap 24 the gap was below one second and Schumacher had to drive every lap on the limit to keep his rival at bay.

The stalemate continued through lap 31 as the pair lapped in almost identical lap times. Schumacher in 1:14.844 and Montoya in a 1:14.834 and the gap was just 0.697 seconds. On the following lap Montoya slowed to a 1:15.366 and the gap almost doubled to 1.222 seconds. Whether this caused Schumacher to relax his pace is now impossible to say. But he then dropped his pace on the next lap to a 1:15.469 whilst Montoya punched in his second fastest lap of his race to stop the clocks at a 1:14.508 and as he crossed the line to start lap 34 he trailed the German by just 0.261 and was well and truly in the Ferrari's slipstream.

For the second time this season Montoya made a clean pass on Michael Schumacher to take the lead in a race, and although the World Champion moved over to protect his position, he wisely left Montoya just enough room to avoid an accident and make the pass stick if the Colombian could hold it all together, which he duly did.

The season may be all but over, but Juan Pablo Montoya once again left his calling card with the world's number one driver, that he is now firmly up to speed with the finer points of Formula One, and that next year Schumacher may be forced to dig deep if he wants to win that fifth crown, provided, of course, that the Williams team can provide Montoya with a more reliable car.

If one former Indy 500 winner left Indianapolis with his reputation enhanced, Jacques Villeneuve had one of his worst race weekends ever in Formula One. The French Canadian could only manage eighteenth on the grid, one place behind the Minardi of Fernando Alonso. He spent his entire race looking at the rear wing of the Arrows of Enrique Bernoldi who had managed to get ahead of Villeneuve at the start. His race ended when he collided with the Jaguar of Pedro de la Rosa on lap 43, who was clearly tired of being held up by the embarrassingly slow Honda-powered BAR.

For once the team's official post race press releases went some way to accurately describe their Indianapolis experience. "The race weekend started off badly and has unfortunately ended in much the same way," it intoned, quoting team principal Craig Pollock. There have surely been far too many 'bad weekends' for a team that at least should be finding its feet in Formula One after nearly three years experience and with the resources at their disposal. It is one thing to have a one-off qualifying problem, but Villeneuve, or his car, was slow in every session whilst teammate Olivier Panis's speed was at least respectable. One can only wonder just whether Villeneuve fully had his mind on the job at Indianapolis and how much longer this marriage between team and driver can last.

Last year there was much discussion over whether the president of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Tony George, had done the right thing in bringing the F1 circus to race at a facility that respects tradition over almost everything else. At last year's race one of the icons of IMS, the 'Gasoline Alley' sign, was covered over by a sponsor's logo. This year, it re-emerged to once again dominate the F1 paddock and remind those who cared to notice that they were racing in the wheel tracks of many legendary racers who had passed beneath this sign on their way into the history books.

But, on race day, as you looked around the still packed spectator grandstands, full of flag waving fans, the impression emerged that perhaps the Speedway was in the process of building a new tradition.