Schumacher jubilant following win

The double champion outfoxed his McLaren rivals with a two stop strategy to their one but he admitted it might have not been so easy had Mika Hakkinen not retired.

"If he had still been there it would have been tight. I was struggling in the second stint with a problem we need to define," said Schumacher.

His amazing Sao Paulo record continued as he picked up his third victory in nine years.

But he cut it fine, as a late charge by David Coulthard took the Scot within 4.3 seconds of the German in the final few laps.

Schumacher knows he still does not have the fastest car even though he has a perfect 20 point score and a 14 point lead as the world championship leads back to Europe in two weeks time.

"Third place on the grid must be my lucky position because I have won from there twice now," he said.

"Actually I am very pleased with this result. In the past McLaren have won whatever their strategy has been but now it is a lot closer and we had a different strategy this time and it worked out."

Asked what he thought of the statistic that the winner of the Brazilian Grand Prix for the last six years has gone on to win the world championship he added: "I don't care too much for statistics, they have been proved wrong too often in the past.

"I was told in Australia whoever wins the first race wins the championship. Does that mean I go home and miss out the rest of the year? I don't think so.

"I had a vibration problem as the tyre came off the rim after the first stop just as it did in Melbourne.

"There was another little problem towards the end so I slowed up - I didn't need to slow up that much but I had such a lead I could afford to."