Hakkinen Wins the US Grand Prix

Finn Mika Hakkinen showed the Formula One world he still has the will to win as he took a clever victory at the United States Grand Prix on Sunday to claim his second win of the season.

As the expected Williams domination failed to materialise, McLaren out-thought Ferrari in the strategy stakes to allow the departing Hakkinen to take victory in the penultimate race before his one-year sabbatical.

Michael Schumacher claimed second after Rubens Barrichello dropped back in the dying laps with a terminal engine problem and, after struggling to get past the Brazilian on the final two laps, David Coulthard finally moved through to claim the final podium place.

But before the start, things looked bad for Hakkinen when he was demoted to fourth place after a misdemeanour in the morning warm-up leaving the Schumacher brothers together on the front row of the grid as the field lined up. Elder brother Michael Schumacher out-powered Ralf off the line as Juan Pablo Montoya shot off the second row to become the lead Williams while the Ferrari of Rubens Barrichello moved into third.

Mika Hakkinen held on to fourth with teammate David Coulthard fifth, while as usual the two Arrows cars made storming starts towards the rear of the field. With just one lap completed Kimi Raikkonen's race turned to disaster as his Sauber clashed with the Jordan of Jarno Trulli, leaving his nose cone in need of replacement, and soon after he became the first retirement of the race.

One lap after that clash and it was Barrichello making the moves as he shot past second-placed Montoya on the main straight to make it Ferrari one and two, while Montoya seemed to drop back with a problem. On lap five Schumacher let what appeared to be a lighter car of Barrichello past to assume the lead and the Brazilian soon set the pace to build up a gap on his German teammate.

The two Jordan and two Benetton cars diced on the early laps and Jean Alesi used slipstream help on the main straight to move past both Giancarlo Fisichella and Jenson Button in two consecutive laps and claim ninth place, one behind teammate Jarno Trulli.

On lap 25 the Williams of Ralf Schumacher shot into the pits from fourth place and disaster struck as the gun on the left rear failed and he left the pits after 12.5 seconds. At the end of lap 27, leader Barrichello pitted for the first of two stops and in 8.6 seconds he returned to the racetrack in fifth place, leaving Montoya hounding Schumacher's Ferrari for the lead.

Montoya's tyres seemed to be fading and he slid sideways several times as he tried to stay on the tail of the lead Ferrari, but he pushed again and made a spectacular move at the start of lap 34 to steal the lead. He was close enough on the final corner of the preceding lap to take a massive tow from the rear of the Ferrari and he made the pass as he pulled out alongside Schumacher into the first turn.

Immediately Montoya pulled away from Schumacher and with a new lap record he began to assert his authority on the field, but it was not to last long as he pulled into the pits soon after. A 13-second stop did not help his cause, and Schumacher assumed the lead once again with Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard chasing, but all were yet to stop.

On lap 38 it was the end of the race for Montoya's teammate Ralf Schumacher who spun off the track backwards on the approach to turn six, leaving him beached in the gravel trap. And in a matter of one lap the Williams team's American disaster was complete when Montoya, who was looking good for a victory battle, came to a halt on the pit straight to end his dreams of an oval and road course double at the Indianapolis track.

The very lap Montoya went out, Schumacher came in and pitted to leave Hakkinen a surprise leader of the race, with Coulthard in second, just five seconds behind, with Schumacher coming out one place behind teammate Barrichello in fourth.

Alex Yoong struck problems which a pit stop could not cure and he cruised slowly around the track before pulling in to post his first-ever retirement and join teammate Fernando Alonso, who had retired earlier, back in the garage.

David Coulthard pitted for 10.2 seconds and despite the rush of his crew he could not get out ahead of either Ferrari and ended up back in fourth place with 29 laps remaining. A battle between Pedro de la Rosa and Jacques Villeneuve ended in contact when the Jaguar driver clipped Villeneuve at turn nine and the pair were sent into a slow spin before both re-joining.

Leader Mika Hakkinen came in for his pit stop on lap 45 and, after taking three seconds out of Schumacher in a high speed chase before his pit, shot out in second place ahead of his rival to set himself up with the chance of victory. Barrichello remained 21 seconds ahead, but still had one stop to make before the race positions were stabilised and the swift stop effectively put McLaren in charge with Ferrari apparently out-thought.

Hakkinen hit traffic to allow Barrichello to extend his lead but his stop was not fast enough to get him out ahead of Hakkinen and he slotted in just ahead of teammate Schumacher in second place. Despite dropping back after a pit stop, Eddie Irvine fought back to pass Sauber's Nick Heidfeld and move into the top six as he brightened Jaguar's hopes and brought them into a points-scoring position.

Enrique Bernoldi ran over some debris from Pedro de la Rosa's Jaguar in the middle of the main straight which caused concern in the final laps as the incident left shards of sharp carbon fibre all over the track. Barrichello avoided that, but he could not cope with the engine problem which beset his Ferrari and a valiant effort to struggle to the end was halted on the penultimate lap when he stopped on the track to leave him pointless.

Jarno Trulli capitalised on Barrichello's problems to complete a lonely race and claim fourth place with Irvine fifth for Jaguar and the final point going to Nick Heidfeld and the Sauber team.

PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS The United States Grand Prix Indianapolis Motor Speedway; 73 laps; 306.016km; Weather: Dry, sunny. Classified: Pos Driver Team-Engine Tyres Time 1. Hakkinen McLaren Mercedes (B) 1h 32:42.840 2. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) + 11.046 3. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes (B) + 12.043 4. Trulli Jordan Honda (B) + 57.423 5. Irvine Jaguar Cosworth (M) + 1:12.434 6. Heidfeld Sauber Petronas (B) + 1:12.996 7. Alesi Jordan Honda (B) + 1 Lap 8. Fisichella Benetton Renault (M) + 1 Lap 9. Button Benetton Renault (M) + 1 Lap 10. Frentzen Prost Acer (M) + 1 Lap 11. Panis BAR Honda (B) + 1 Lap 12. de la Rosa Jaguar Cosworth (M) + 1 Lap 13. Bernoldi Arrows Asiatech (B) + 1 Lap 14. Enge Prost Acer (M) + 1 Lap 15. Barrichello Ferrari (B) + 2 Laps * Fastest Lap: J.Montoya, 1:14.448, lap 35 Not Classified/Retirements: Driver Team On Lap Villeneuve BAR Honda (B) 46 Verstappen Arrows Asiatech (B) 45 Montoya Williams BMW (M) 39 Yoong Minardi European (M) 39 R.Schumacher Williams BMW (M) 37 Alonso Minardi European (M) 37 Raikkonen Sauber Petronas (B) 3 World Championship Standing, Round 16: Drivers: Constructors: 1. M.Schumacher 113 WC 1. Ferrari 167 CC 2. Coulthard 61 2. McLaren 95 3. Barrichello 54 3. Williams 73 4. R.Schumacher 48 4. Sauber 21 5. Hakkinen 34 5. Jordan 19 6. Montoya 25 6. BAR 17 7. Villeneuve 12 7. Benetton 10 =. Heidfeld 12 8. Jaguar 9 =. Trulli 12 9. Prost 4 10. Raikkonen 9 10. Arrows 1 11. Fisichella 8 12. Frentzen 6 =. Irvine 6 14. Panis 5 =. Alesi 5 16. De la Rosa 3 17. Button 2 18. Verstappen 1 All timing unofficial