The fear before the Brazilian Grand Prix was that McLaren would increase their advantage over the rest of the field and that they would run away with the race. Whilst that fear was unfounded, nobody can deny that the Woking based team were by far the best team on the track. Although after Melbourne many said that the new rules didn't make it easier to overtake, Interlagos provided a reasonable amount of overtaking and at least one move that will be marked down as a classic.

Before the race

The big news of the weekend was the "banning" of the McLaren-style braking system as used by Williams, Jordan and, of course, McLaren. In total 5 teams protested against the system with Ferrari, Minardi and Sauber all using identically worded documents with both Arrows and Tyrrell mounting their own independent protests against the three teams using the technology. Although it was known for some time that Ferrari would be lodging an official complaint, that they used their position of power over teams that have Ferrari involvement to aid their cause leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Qualifying was, as expected, a McLaren benefit, but the advantage that Mika Hakkinen held over David Coulthard was surprising. Mika was an astounding 0.665 seconds ahead of his team mate and despite Martin Brundle (F1 commentator and DC's manager) saying that this was down to a drop in confidence after a morning spin for David, it was still too large to be anything other than Mika proving that, at Interlagos at least, he is the better of the two McLaren drivers.

Another shock involved the Williams drivers with Heinz-Harald Frentzen demolishing World Champion Jacques Villeneuve, ending up 7 places and a massive 0.652 seconds in front. Villeneuve has since made serious complaints about the quality of his car, but with Frentzen so far ahead it is clear that this is entirely down to the driver, not the car.

The pre-race sessions were also notable for the large number of crashes that were so frequent it seemed that hardly 10 minutes would go by without yet another yellow flag appearing. The most serious of these were Johnny Herbert, who ran headlong into the tyre wall when the throttle stuck open on his Sauber, and Olivier Panis, who spun on a wet curb and destroyed his car against the barriers.

The race

As the time of the race drew closer it started to look more and more like we would be treated to the first wet race of 1998 with the skies over Sau Paulo threatening to carry on from where they left off in the morning.

Luckily for the drivers (who knows if any of them would have finished if it had rained) the rain stayed in the clouds and although it was extremely humid, that was the way it was going to be for the rest of the afternoon.

As the lights went out, Mika Hakkinen made a flawless start and streaked off into a lead that he would never relinquish. His team mate, David Coulthard, made a less than perfect getaway, and looked in a little danger from the Williams of Heinz-Harald Frentzen at first but managed to hold his position for the entry of the Senna-S.

Further back, Eddie Irvine passed both Alex Wurz and Michael Schumacher to slot in fourth and Jacques Villeneuve remedied some of his problems by making up three places by the first corner.

The terrible weekend for Jordan continued when Ralf Schumacher outbraked himself at Subida do Lago and ended his second race in succession in the gravel before the end of the first lap. Eddie Jordan will have been expecting more now that Ralf does not have the pressure of Giancarlo Fisichella beating him to contend with, but despite occasional flashes of form he has been disappointing so far in 1998.

At the end of the first lap Mika Hakkinen had a 1-second lead over David Coulthard who was 1.9 seconds in front of Heinz-Harald Frentzen. Frentzen was followed by Eddie Irvine, Michael Schumacher and Alex Wurz, all separated by 2.4 seconds.

It was clear that the McLaren drivers were going to run away with it and the lead that David Coulthard had over Heinz-Harald Frentzen grew at least one second per lap. Amongst the McLaren drivers there seemed to be little to separate them as the gap remained between 1.5 and 2 seconds, although Hakkinen looked to be a little more at ease than Coulthard.

On lap 3 Shinji Nakano spun his Minardi-Ford at the entry to the Senna-S and accepted the blame. The Minardi, he said, was unbalanced under braking and it caught him out this time.

Back closer to the front, it was becoming clear that even though Eddie Irvine was keeping up with the Williams in front of him, he was holding up his team mate Michael Schumacher. Schumacher had chosen to use the new development engine that was more powerful than the one in Irvine's car but possibly less reliable. With the spectre of the FIA ruling about team orders hanging over their heads, many wondered whether Ferrari would ask Eddie to move over to let the faster car through.

This was answered on lap 10 when Irvine moved over slightly and went into the first part of the Senna-S wide, allowing Schumacher to slip through. Had the #6 Benetton-Playlife of Alex Wurz been closer I am sure neither driver would have risked the manoeuvre but the Austrian was 3.6 seconds behind at this point and no danger to either Ferrari.

Once again, a relatively boring procession followed with Hakkinen making a little headway against Coulthard, eking out a 4.9 second lead by lap 16. Over 16 seconds behind this pair Frentzen was being pressured by Michael Schumacher, but by now Eddie Irvine had dropped back 4.5 seconds from the all-German battle and was maintaining a constant 3 second lead over Wurz.

Lap 17 saw the third retirement of the day when Jarno Trulli pulled his ailing mount off the track after suffering from oil pressure problems for most of the race. So far the Prost chassis have not been reliable, but even more worrying for Alain Prost and Peugeot, they have not exactly been fast either. With Peugeot losing $300 million in 1997, can they afford to keep spending $30 million a year to not win in F1?

The next lap Mika Salo also finished the race early after the engine on his Arrows (surely the most elegant car of the current crop) expired.

So, on lap 18, the field looked like this:
Hakkinen, Coulthard, Frentzen, Schumacher, Irvine, Wurz, Villeneuve, Fisichella, Barrichello, Alesi, Panis, Herbert, Hill, Magnussen, Rosset, Tuero and Diniz.

Damon Hill and Johnny Herbert were both having a terrible race with Hill just not being able to get any kind of speed out of the Jordan and Herbert nursing his neck after the accident on Saturday. From being the "top Brits" in previous seasons, both drivers are now in the unenviable position of fighting to not be the "bottom Brit" of 1998.

Toranasuke Takagi was had been running well all weekend proving that he has been one of the finds of the season but his race was ended abruptly when the Ford Cosworth v10 powering his Tyrrell exploded without warning. 20 laps gone and 5 retirements.

The first of the three Brazilian drivers retired on lap 26 when the gearbox on the remaining Arrows driven by Pedro Diniz decided it had had enough for the day. Yet again, Arrows have paid the price for such an innovative car, but even when it was running, the A19 was not at home on the bumpy Brazilian track.

The top 6 remained unchanged until lap 27 when the #3 Ferrari of Michael Schumacher stopped for fresh Goodyear tyres and fuel. The German driver got back underway without trouble, but was dropped down to 8th for his trouble.

The following lap both Eddie Irvine and Heinz-Harald Frentzen pitted, both without incident and they rejoined 11th and 6th respectively.

The last significant driver on a two-stop strategy to come in for rubber and gas was Jacques Villeneuve (lap 29). Again, the driver completed the stop without any difficulties, and rejoined 12th.

This left the top 6 looking like this:
Hakkinen -> 8.2s -> Coulthard -> 37.7s -> Wurz -> 9.6s -> Schumacher -> 1.3s -> Frentzen -> 3.2s -> Fisichella

With most of the Bridgestone runners and Damon Hill and Jean Alesi from the Goodyear camp intending to make one stop, it was not going to be until the last third of the race that we would see what affect the stops would have.

Goodyear had made statements that their new tyre would get them a lot closer to the pace setting Bridgestone rubber, but while it certainly appeared to have the required longevity, it certainly didn't have the pace required. The Akron, Ohio based company has said that for Argentina they will almost certainly be back on the pace, but I have my doubts.

By this point there seemed little doubt that barring mechanical failure, Mika Hakkinen would win the race and David Coulthard would come second, and this time there could be no doubting that the Finn would be a deserving victor.

With Frentzen out of the way and Wurz on old tyres, Schumacher saw an opportunity to get third place before his final stop and promptly set about demolishing the 10 second lead the Austrian driver had.

On lap 31 it was down to a little over 9 seconds and over the next 6 laps it steadily diminished until, on lap 36 it was down to 2 seconds and the Ferrari driver started to look for a way past.

Lap 36 also saw David Coulthard stop for clean Bridgestones and a tank of petrol as well as showing off the new faring that the McLaren team has installed to reduce the negative effect of the refuelling connector on the aerodynamics. As the driver approaches the pit, a section of bodywork lifts up to uncover the connector. As the driver sets off down the pitlane, either remotely or from inside the car, the closing mechanism is triggered and the hole is covered up again.

Stylish touches aside, the pit crew did their job well and the Scottish driver was back underway without trouble and was still comfortably in 2nd place.

Having taken so much time away from Alex Wurz's Benetton over such a short period, Michael Schumacher could have been forgiven for thinking that he would be able to make light work of getting past the young driver, but it didn't quite pan out that way.

Over the next 9 laps, Schumacher was constantly within a second of the Austrian, but was unable to find a gap to try and overtake. Even the ends of the two straights on the track couldn't help and the former World Champion was forced to sit behind the Benetton while Frentzen caught back up.

While this was carrying on almost a minute behind him, Mika Hakkinen stopped for fuel and tyres (lap 39), rejoining 3 seconds ahead of his team mate but still 23 seconds ahead of the nearest non-McLaren car.

Further back, Jacques Villeneuve was disproving the idea that he has lost the knack of overtaking and dispatched both Eddie Irvine and Jean Alesi on the entry to the Senna-S on laps 41 and 42 respectively. While this only moved him into the top 6, it at least showed some of the determination that marked his debut year in F1.

Lap 44 saw the demise of the second Minardi of Esteban Tuero with fly-by-wire system problems.

Williams brought Heinz-Harald Frentzen in for his second stop on lap 45 getting him out quickly and efficiently. Although the stop was a little early, it was clear that the team and driver wanted to try and get some clear running in to see if they could pass Wurz and Schumacher when they stopped.

Alex Wurz stopped a lap later (46) having done over 65% of the race on one set of tyres. Amazingly, Giancarlo Fisichella had also not stopped yet and followed his team mate in on lap 47. They got back into the race in 7th and 8th places respectively, but more importantly, Wurz was within striking distance of Frentzen.

Lap 48 saw Villeneuve stop for the second, and final, time. Prior to the stop he had been running in 4th place, comfortably ahead of Irvine's Ferrari, but this was the highest he would run for the remainder of the race and rejoined 8th.

With Wurz on fresh Bridgestone rubber and a similar fuel load to the fleeing Williams, Heinz-Harald was always going to have difficulty staying ahead and true to form, the gap diminished steadily. So by lap 51, Wurz was within 1 second of the German driver and started to look for a way past.

On lap 51 Ricardo Rosset retired after spinning with a gearbox problem. This weekend was one to forget for Rosset who will have been hoping to perform well on home ground. Martin Brundle commented that the young driver "couldn't even drive a nail into a plank on some weekends" and this certainly seemed to have been one of them.

At the end of lap 52 Michael Schumacher arrived in the Ferrari pits for his final stop and with the battle raging hard behind him, it seemed he would be well clear by the time Frentzen and Wurz were any danger to his 3rd place.

Typically the Ferrari luck struck and Schumacher stalled after suffering a clutch problem. True to past form, the German sat implacably in his car while the mechanics restarted the engine and he was able to carry on, but would he manage to get out ahead of the Williams-Benetton scrap?

As Frentzen reached the first corner on lap 53 he seemed to revert to the wide, ideal racing line that he would have usually driven had there not been a car breathing down his neck. To anyone watching it was obvious what was going to happen and the closest observer of all, Alex Wurz, also saw his chance and braked right on the limit to stick his car in the gap left wide open by the Williams.

All the way through the left hander, the inside wheels on the Benetton remained locked and, for a moment, it looked like they might run into each other, but both cars made it through the next 2 corners and onto the Reta Oposta straight without touching.

Without a doubt, this was one of the best moves seen in F1 for some time and will rightly go down as an example of the perfect way to outbrake an opponent. If the mature way he handled the races in 1997 and the stunning way he withstood Schumacher earlier in the race don't mark him down as a star in the making, this surely does and he will be high on the shopping lists of many teams when his contract expires.

Schumacher, for all his trouble had just managed to squeeze out ahead and finished up just 0.8 seconds ahead of the Benetton at the end of the lap. Sadly for Austria, Wurz was unable to repeat his move and from that point Schumacher started to disappear up the road at about 1 second per lap.

On lap 56 Irvine stopped for the 2nd time and dropped from 3rd to 8th behind the Williams of Jacques Villeneuve.

Also on lap 56, the last of the home drivers retired. Rubens Barrichello retired from a broken gearbox on his Stewart, the second retirement of the season and more than likely just the second of many he will suffer this year.

This left the field, on lap 57 as follows:
Hakkinen, Coulthard, Schumacher, Wurz, Frentzen, Fisichella, Villeneuve, Irvine, Alesi, Panis, Herbert, Hill and Magnussen.

The McLaren pair were by now enjoying a 1 minute cushion to the nearest non-McLaren car and had lapped everyone up to, and including, 6th place. Despite this huge gap, they were within 5 seconds of each other and still setting a fast pace (apparently despite requests from the team to back off).

Lap 63 saw the retirement of Olivier Panis from 10th place after the cap came off the oil reservoir for his gearbox causing his transmission to seize.

On lap 67, Johnny Herbert drove into the pits to end his race after deciding he was a danger to other drivers. This was because he was unable to drive properly owing to the amount of pain he was suffering after injuring his neck in the shunt in free practice.

As seems usual, once all the stops were over, the race slipped into a virtual procession, all drivers maintaining station.

As the race drew to a close Mika Hakkinen slowed dramatically, giving rise, briefly, to thoughts that he was about to "give" the points that David Coulthard gave up when he let Mika pass in Melbourne. In the end it appeared to be so that the photographers would have a nice shot of the McLaren team getting their third successive 1-2 finish.

After the race, Damon Hill was disqualified from the race after it was discovered that his Jordan-Mugen Honda was underweight. Although unfortunate, it was a fitting end to a farcical weekend for Eddie Jordan's boys.

All in all, the Brazilian Grand Prix was infinitely better than the Australian race and proved that the advantage McLaren enjoy is not down to any one part of the car, but can be attributed to the perfect blend they have achieved. Other teams (Ferrari in particular) would do well to stop looking to others for the reason they can't compete and look at themselves first.

The Times