‘Best of the rest’ battle reaches climax

With only two races to go, Williams' 34 points puts it third in the constructors' points, just 14 ahead of Benetton, with Jordan and BAR another three points further back.

The drivers' title is equally close: Ralf Schumacher is best of the non-Ferrari/McLaren pedallers, holding the fifth spot with 24 points, but Giancarlo Fisichella is just six points adrift, with Jacques Villeneuve only four behind him.

Recent form suggests that Williams and Schumacher will hold onto their positions: Williams has scored 17 points since the season passed its halfway point at the A1-Ring, while Ralf has taken 10. BAR has accumulated eight points in the same period, including a double haul last time out at Indianapolis, but the best individual scorer behind Ralf is his team mate Jenson Button (seven points).

In contrast, early-season 'best of the rest' pace-setter Fisichella has failed to trouble the scorers for the last seven GPs.

But to put things into persepctive, McLaren has scored 61 points since the A1-Ring, with Mika Hakkinen upping his personal tally by 42...

Japanese form also gives it to Williams. The Grove-based squad has notched up an impressive 59 points at Suzuka since 1991. Benetton has 28 in the same period, Jordan 16 and newcomers BAR zero.





1 Mika Hakkinen, 42pts
2 Michael Schumacher, 32
3 Rubens Barrichello, 23
4 David Coulthard, 19
5 Ralf Schumacher, 10
6 Jenson Button, 7
7= Jacques Villeneuve, 6
7= Heinz-Harald Frentzen, 6
9= Mika Salo, 3
9= Jos Verstappen, 3
11= Ricardo Zonta, 2
11= Alexander Wurz, 2
13 Pedro de la Rosa, 1



1 McLaren-Mercedes-Benz, 61pts
2 Ferrari, 55
3 Williams-BMW, 17
4 BAR-Honda, 8
5 Jordan-Mugen Honda, 6
6 Arrows-Supertec, 4
7 Sauber-Petronas, 3
8, Benetton-Supertec, 2