US GP - Indianapolis 24 September 2000

Most drivers opted to start the US GP on wet tyres. Coulthard shot off very quickly from then grid, raising suspicions that he had moved before the lights had changed, and took the lead ahead of M. Schumacher, Häkkinen, Barrichello, Trulli and Button. Before the end of the first lap Button collided with Trulli and both had to go back to the pits. At about the same time the race officers announced that they were investigating Coulthard and Fisichella for a suspect jump start. Coulthard, who had set the fastest time, slowed down considerably to allow his team mate Häkkinen to catch up with his title rival M. Schumacher. The German Ferrari driver kept on trying to attack Coulthard, but the Scot, who was aware that he was very probably going to be penalised for jumping the start, kept on blocking the German. M. Schumacher managed to go alongside the Scot on the straight and get ahead at the first chicane. Coulthard immediately made way for his team mate Häkkinen. At the same time the second Ferrari driver Barrichello went back to the pits for dry tyres. Like several other drivers, Häkkinen too went back to the pits, while M. Schumacher stayed out on wet tyres. Coulthard and Fisichella were both given a 10-seconds stop-go penalty for jumping the start. With Coulthard out of the picture because of his 10-seconds stop-go penalty, after ten laps from the start M. Schumacher lead in front of Frentzen, Diniz, Mazzacane and Häkkinen. By lap 12 M. Schumacher, who was still on wet tyres, was lapping faster than everybody else, showing that the other drivers might have been too quick in deciding to move onto dry tyres. On the following lap Trulli, who had rejoined the race after having been struck by Button, went into the pits for new tyres and found that his mechanics were not there with his tyres. The mechanics had to go and look for them, losing the Italian precious time. Trulli went out of the pits and immediately slowed down and stopped, retiring. In the meantime Mazzacane, who was ahead of Häkkinen on full laps, refused to let the World Champion pass for seven laps, until he too went back to the pits for dry tyres. Häkkinen later complained that Mazzacane should have let him pass, but the Minardi team replied that Mazzacane was on full laps, was defending his position and he had a right to race too! Button stopped by end of the pit lanes and retired. M. Schumacher, who was about 43 seconds ahead of Frentzen, prepared to stop as the track became drier and drier and the other drivers started putting in increasingly faster laps. M. Schumacher had his pit stop (7.0 seconds), put in dry tyres and managed to get back out in the lead ahead of Häkkinen, who had moved up to second place thanks to the drivers in front of him going for their tyre changes. Back into the field, Barrichello was out of the points, battling with R. Schumacher. Coulthard, after his stop-go penalty, was in 14th place and Fisichella, for the same reason, in 22nd place. Diniz went too long at the chicane and went onto the grass, rejoining just in front of Barrichello, who used his Ferrari's superior straight line speed to go alongside the Sauber and go ahead. The second Sauber driver, Salo, span on bend four, went into the sand, stalled his engine and retired. On lap 21 M. Schumacher, who had been losing out to Häkkinen for a few laps, set the fastest lap again. On the following lap Häkkinen replied by setting the new fastest lap. On lap 27 drama struck McLaren as flames started coming out of the back of Häkkinen's car, perhaps as a consequence of him pushing his car so much in his chase of M. Schumacher. The Flying Finn slowly drove back to the pits and retired. On the same lap Herbert went to the pits for his stop (26.7 seconds) where the mechanics decided to change his nosecone too. Häkkinen's retirement put R. Schumacher in second position (12.3 seconds behind his older brother), Frentzen in third, then Verstappen, Villeneuve and Barrichello. On lap 36 Fisichella span, managed to keep the engine running and rejoined the race. On the same lap Verstappen span out and retired, allowing Villeneuve and Barrichello to move up one place and Diniz to move into the points. Coulthard, in eighth place, was battling with De La Rosa for position and finally managed to take advantage of a mistake of the Arrows driver to go ahead. Before the end of the lap Coulthard tried to attack Diniz for sixth place, but Diniz fought back. R. Schumacher, in second position, made a mistake and went on the grass, losing almost two seconds. Coulthard found an opening and overtook Diniz for sixth position. R. Schumacher went back to the pits (11.3 seconds) for new tyres. On lap 39 Coulthard showed that he meant business by putting in the fastest lap. On lap 40 Villeneuve went into a spin, Barrichello managed to avoid hitting him and gained a position, going third behind Frentzen. On lap 42 Coulthard had his second pit stop (9.6 seconds) and rejoined just behind M. Schumacher, though one lap down, in 11th position. At the same time Barrichello was pushing, reducing his gap on Frentzen. R. Schumacher went back to the pits for the third time for tyres and with engine pressure problems (24.3 seconds), losing any hope of a good position finish. On lap 48 De La Rosa stopped by the pit wall, causing the yellow flags to be displayed, so that Barrichello could not attack Frentzen despite being of the Jordan's tail. On the same lap Fisichella went back to the pits and retired. On lap 49 M. Schumacher was in the lead ahead of Frentzen, Barrichello, Villeneuve, Diniz and Zonta. With 44 seconds advantage on Frentzen, M. Schumacher went for his second pit stop (7.7 seconds) on lap 50. The German easily rejoined in the lead. On lap 51 Frentzen went for his second pit stop (7.3 seconds), allowing Barrichello, who had been unable to overtake him, to go second. Mazzacane went for his pit stop but overrun his stopping position and hit the mechanic who held the sign, who had to be given medical attention. Villeneuve had taken advantage of Frentzen blocking Barrichello go up to the Ferrari's tail. The Canadian could not try and take advantage of his position though, as he had to go for his pit stop too. On lap 53 Barrichello too went for his second pit stop (7.4 seconds) and rejoined easily in second position. The Minardi mechanic who had been hit by Mazzacane, Sandro Barrini, got up and showed that he was OK, though he had bruises to his ankle. After the round of pit stops M. Schumacher was still in the lead with a 40 seconds advantage on Barrichello, then Frentzen, Villeneuve, Coulthard and Diniz. Zonta had fallen out of the points in seventh position, the last car on full laps. With 12 laps to go R. Schumacher went to the pits for fifth time and finally retired. On the same lap Mazzacane stopped on the grass with smoke coming out from the car and retired. Zonta, in the meantime, had moved up to sixth position after Diniz had gone for his pit stop. On lap 64 Villeneuve decided to go for it and overtook Frentzen on the inside, but then braked late and went on the grass. Frentzen went back in front and Villeneuve found himself over three seconds behind the Jordan, with only seven laps left to try and catch the German up again. On the same lap Alesi suffered from a blown engine which sent him spinning, almost taking his team mate Heidfeld out too. With four laps to go M. Schumacher relaxed due to his safe position (main rival out and good advantage on his team mate in second position) and lost his concentration, went on the grass and span, but kept his engine running and managed to retain his first place. Villeneuve, meanwhile, had managed to catch up with Frentzen again and was looking for a last-minute chance to put himself on the lowest step of the podium, but failed to find it. Nothing else happened until the end, with M. Schumacher winning the US GP in font of his team mate Barrichello, Frentzen, Villeneuve, Coulthard and Zonta. Today's result was Ferrari's eighth victory this year. It is the first time that Ferrari wins that many races in one season. M. Schumacher goes back to the top of the Drivers Championship table, eight points ahead of his rival Häkkinen, while Ferrari retakes the lead in the Constructors Championship by 10 points. With Häkkinen out of the picture and a one-two finish, it was almost the perfect race for the Maranello outfit, despite Coulthard bringing in two point for McLaren and the scare of M. Schumacher spinning in the final stages of the GP. If the first Indianapolis F1 GP was a good race for Ferrari, it could hardly have been worse for McLaren, who had their driver in the lead removed from his position due to the jump start and then saw Häkkinen retiring with his engine on fire. Their only consolation was Coulthard's two points, which will help the Woking team in the Constructors Championship, but certainly not in the Drivers Championship. Häkkinen denied that team orders were in place in the McLaren team, despite Coulthard clearly blocking M. Schumacher while he was in the lead to allow the Flying Finn to catch up. Häkkinen's frustration was obvious when he complained that Mazzacane should have let him pass, though the Minardi was, for once, not lapped. Jordan consoled themselves of Trulli's misfortune with Frentzen's podium place. Button defended himself from Trulli's accusation of having caused the accident by denying that it was his fault. Villeneuve was faster than the Jordan, but perhaps too eager to go ahead, which caused him to make mistakes. Today's result foretells another exciting end of the season. Häkkinen must win next race to keep his chances of winning the Drivers Championship open, and hope that M. Schumacher finishes no higher than third. If the last few season are anything to go about, it is not unlikely that the Championship will be decided on the last race. Next appointment is in Japan on 8 October.

Images from La Gazzetta dello Sport Online and Raisport