Friday March 3rd, 2000

By Alan Baldwin

Mika Hakkinen enters his 10th season in Formula One determined to beat Michael Schumacher in the race for a third title but with history stacked against him.

The Finn has dominated for the last two years in his silver McLaren and another title in 2000 would make him the only living driver to be champion three years in a row.

Just one other did it, the late Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio who took four successive titles from 1954 to 1957.

Schumacher won with Benetton in 1994 and 1995 and the German Ferrari driver has long been hailed as the greatest driver of his generation.

But despite 35 race wins to the Finn's 14, how will Schumacher feel if Hakkinen has more titles than him?

If the new Ferrari F1-2000 is as good as Schumacher has suggested, and we will not really know until the flag comes down in Melbourne on March 12, that question may be redundant and Ferrari could be heading for its first drivers title since 1979.

"I don't know where McLaren is right now but I'm confident that the gap between us at the first race will not exist any more," Schumacher said after recent testing in Italy.

Indy Puts America Back On Map

Once again, the German and the Finn are favourites but there is plenty of change elsewhere and one newcomer is likely to have a greater impact among fans than any driver.

Never mind Jenson Button, the 20-year-old Williams driver set to become the youngest Briton ever in Formula One, or Germany's Nick Heidfeld, making his debut at Prost.

It is not Jaguar, Stewart-Ford's replacement, or carmaker BMW who are returning after 12 years out.

The biggest event will be the arrival of Formula One at Indianapolis, the circuit which will host the first U.S. Grand Prix since Phoenix, Arizona, in 1991.

"Indianapolis will be an enormous event," says Jaguar spokesman Cameron Kelleher, whose team looks to Eddie Irvine - championship runner-up last year with Ferrari - and fellow-Briton Johnny Herbert.

"There is a big amount of interest already building up around the race and the challenge for Formula One is huge."

Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone has long wanted an American round on the calendar as have the sponsors and manufacturers. Indy, home of the famous 500, fits the bill.

Irvine Aims For A Third

Irvine, Schumacher's number two who became Ferrari's main hope after the German broke his leg at Silverstone in July, is not hoping for much more than to pick up points at Jaguar.

"If we can come out at the end of the championship in third place it will be like winning the title," said Irvine, who helped Ferrari to the constructors' title in 1999.

"We can't really expect to get any further than that in our first year."

Button, who has never even performed a racing pitstop before, is fast but a genuine novice and his priority will be to get to the finish without mishap.

The Briton's lack of competition experience has prompted several drivers to voice misgivings about him.

"I hope he can handle it because if he can't he will hurt himself or somebody else," said Finland's experienced Mika Salo, who returns to a regular starting role with Sauber after a season acting as stand-in at BAR and Ferrari.

This will also be a make or break season for David Coulthard, Hakkinen's team mate who should have done better than fourth place last year.

Germany's Heinz-Harald Frentzen will be leading Jordan's challenge to the big two teams.

He has a new team mate in Italian Jarno Trulli, who arrives from Prost and has been acclaimed by team leader as a potential champion and his "jewel in the crown".

While Hakkinen sets his sights on a distant triple, a more humble driver is also dreaming of emulating Fangio rather sooner than the Finn.

Gaston Mazzacane will not win races with Minardi.

But, as Argentina's only driver, the newcomer will join the likes of Fangio and Carlos Reutemann in his country's motor racing annals as soon as the lights change in Melbourne.

For some, simply taking part is cause for celebration.