Crowd Boo as Schumacher Gets Gifted Win

Brazilian Rubens Barrichello was forced to move over for his teammate Michael Schumacher in the final lap to concede victory to the World Champion in a dramatic Austrian Grand Prix which saw Jordan's Takuma Sato taken to hospital after a heavy crash.

Barrichello looked like taking a controlled victory ahead of his Ferrari teammate as the Italian team dominated the race, but a note passed from team boss Jean Todt to technical director Ross Brawn looked to seal the Brazilian's fate.

And coming out of the final corner, Barrichello pulled over to award Schumacher his first Grand Prix victory at the A1-Ring, and allow him to complete his set of race victories which has seen him win on all 17 tracks on the calendar.

On the podium after the race, the farce was completed when Barrichello stood on the top step of the podium and took the winner's trophy. Behind the dominant pair, Juan Pablo Montoya claimed the final podium place after holding off his teammate to claim the final place on the podium, and the younger Schumacher was fourth.

Earlier, the troubled times of team boss Eddie Jordan were worsened by a terrible crash for his driver Sato, but they were boosted a little by news that the Japanese driver was merely concussed and by the performance of Giancarlo Fisichella, who finished fifth for the team.

Briton David Coulthard completed the points scorers with sixth, just ahead of countryman Jenson Button. Barrichello made the perfect start from pole position to take the lead into the first corner, closely followed by his teammate Schumacher after the Williams drivers Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya failed to get away well.

German Heidfeld made a great start to climb up from fifth to third, behind the two Ferraris as the field made it through the first corner cleanly. In turn two, however, German Heinz-Harald Frentzen's Arrows was barged off the track by the BAR of Jacques Villeneuve.

By the end of lap one, Barrichello led the two Schumachers, Michael and Ralf, with Montoya in fourth as Heidfeld dropped back to fifth ahead of the two McLarens of Coulthard and Kimi Raikkonen. Enrique Bernoldi ended his race on lap two, while Finn Raikkonen was out on lap six, when his engine emitted a huge plume of smoke and he parked his powerless McLaren on the side of the track after the first corner.

Villeneuve made the early moves to climb up to seventh from outside the top ten, but the leading order remained the same until the safety car was introduced on lap 23 when Olivier Panis spun on the pit straight. By then, the two Ferraris had lapped all the cars up to ninth place, but their advantage was immediately wiped out and both went into the pits on lap 24 to capitalise on the safety car period.

Such was Barrichello's lead over the rest of the field and over his teammate that he remained in front after his 11.4 second stop, with Schumacher slotting in behind his brother Ralf in third after a quicker stop of 8.8.

But no sooner had the safety car gone into the pits that it was out again, when, on lap 28, Heidfeld lost control of his Sauber and speared the Jordan of Sato at the Remus curve.

Sato remained in the car for ten minutes as he was tended to by a medical team while Heidfeld recovered at the side of the track. But the safety car pulled in at the end of lap 36 and the racing resumed.

Barrichello led again with Ralf Schumacher remaining ahead of Michael until the end of lap 47, when he pitted and his elder brother moved into second, with Montoya third, Villeneuve fourth and Schumacher junior down in fifth.

Barrichello lost the lead to Schumacher when he pitted on lap 62, but regained it immediately when the German stopped for tyres and fuel one lap later and the pair went on to record Ferrari's second one-two of the season.

PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS The Austrian Grand Prix A1-Ring, Spielberg; 71 laps; 3307.146km; Weather: Windy and overcast. Classified: Pos Driver Team-Engine Tyres Time 1. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1h33:51.562 2. Barrichello Ferrari (B) + 0.182 3. Montoya Williams BMW (M) + 0:17.730 4. R.Schumacher Williams BMW (M) + 0:18.448 5. Fisichella Jordan Honda (B) + 0:49.965 6. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes (M) + 0:50.672 7. Button Renault (M) + 0:51.229 8. Salo Toyota (M) + 1:09.425 9. McNish Toyota (M) + 1:09.718 10. Villeneuve BAR Honda (B) 1 Lap 11. Frentzen Arrows Cosworth (B) 2 Laps 12. Webber Minardi Asiatech (M) 2 Laps Fastest Lap: M.Schumacher, 1:09.298, lap 68 Not Classified/Retirements: Driver Team On Lap Trulli Renault (M) 45 Yoong Minardi Asiatech (M) 43 Irvine Jaguar Cosworth (M) 39 Heidfeld Sauber Petronas (B) 27 Sato Jordan Honda (B) 27 Panis BAR Honda (B) 23 Massa Sauber Petronas (B) 7 Raikkonen McLaren Mercedes (M) 5 Bernoldi Arrows Cosworth (B) 3 de la Rosa Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1 World Championship Standing, Round 6: Drivers: Constructors: 1. M.Schumacher 54 1. Ferrari 66 2. Montoya 27 2. Williams-BMW 53 3. R.Schumacher 23 3. McLaren-Mercedes 14 4. Barrichello 12 4. Renault 8 5. Coulthard 10 =. Sauber-Petronas 8 6. Button 8 6. Jaguar-Cosworth 3 7. Heidfeld 5 7. Minardi-Asiatech 2 8. Raikkonen 4 = Toyota 2 9. Irvine 3 = Jordan-Honda 2 = Massa 3 10. Arrows 1 11. Webber 2 = Fisichella 2 = Salo 2 14. Frentzen 1 All timing unofficial