Race: Mika breaks his duck

Hakkinen drove a faultless race to take victory, while team mate Coulthard had to sit and watch after colliding with the Jordan of Jarno Trulli on the first corner of the first lap. The impact was strong enough to cause the Scot's suspension to break two laps later, bringing his race to a premature end.

If that wasn't enough, championship leader Schumacher went on to finish second, taking his points lead over DC to 37, with only 60 still up for grabs.

Worries of a wet race had been cast away as the Northamptonshire track was blessed with blue skies and sunshine for almost the entire day. And with a dry track ahead of them, the battle for the win was purely tactical, with McLaren's one-stop strategy proving to have the measure of Ferrari's choice of two stops.

Schuey's number two Rubens Barrichello took the final step on the podium after just managing to keep a flying Juan Pablo Montoya in fourth place as the Williams-BMW team proved more of a force than its qualifying performance had suggested.

Hakkinen showed his pace from the off and despite slotting in behind poleman Schumacher into Copse corner for the first time, the Finn kept finding himself underneath the heavier Ferrari's rear wing under braking. Before long, in a move initiated at Copse, he managed to find a way past on the entry to Becketts - an unlikely overtaking spot - indicating a much lighter fuel load in the McLaren.

"My car wasn't really the way I would have liked," said Schumacher after the race. "I got sideways a couple of times, then Mika got beside me and there was nothing I could do."

Obstacle cleared, the double world champion immediately began to stretch his legs and made the most of his MP4-16's superior pace to pull away from his old adversary, and despite dropping back to third after his first pitstop, he was able to maintain a superior race pace throughout.

Schumacher, meanwhile, was markedly slower due to his extra fuel load. But even though the triple world champ opted for a very long first stint, meaning his single pitstop fell on exactly the same lap (38) as Hakkinen's second visit to pitlane, he was unable to make up the deficit and had to settle for second.

The battle for third was less clear cut and despite qualifying eighth and 10th, Juan Pablo Montoya and Ralf Schumacher proved to be a force in the race, finding themselves in third and fifth after the first few laps.

Montoya was another to opt for two stops, enabling the Colombian to lead the race when Hakkinen first pitted. He too had managed to muscle his way past Schumacher into Copse on lap 17, proving how much performance had been traded off by Ferrari's strategy. After his first stop, however, Montoya dropped back, running into traffic problems in the form of team mate Schuey Jr and Barrichello that would ultimately cost him a place on the podium.

The younger Schumacher did not even manage to salvage a finish. After holding up his team mate, Ralf's race ended in the gravel at Priory as his Williams gave up the ghost on the 37th lap, ending a frustrating weekend for the man who is now more used to running at the front.

"We still have to figure out whether it was the engine or the gearbox," said Schumacher. "It was the right strategy (one-stop) and I could have ended up on the podium, maybe."

Kimi Raikkonen managed to stay out of trouble to take yet another impressive points finish. The Finn out-raced his Sauber team mate Nick Heidfeld as the young driver pairing continued to mix it with the frontrunners, taking an eventual fifth and sixth.

Heinz-Harald Frentzen's Jordan-Honda failed to live up to its qualifying and warm-up pace. The German started from fifth on the grid and dropped back to eighth early on. Despite a lunge down the inside of Heidfeld into Abbey late on, he couldn't make the move stick and had to settle for seventh.

Jacques Villeneuve completed a disappointing weekend for the British American Racing team in eighth after managing to keep a frustrated Eddie Irvine behind him in the closing stages.

Michael Schumacher did not seem too put out at having to relinquish the top step of the podium to Hakkinen. The German knew that Coulthard was out of the running and as such cruised round to six more points, taking his tally to 84. The triple world champ even managed a cursory 180mph wave to fellow German Frentzen as he lapped him in the closing stages of the race.

Coulthard's championship chances, however, have taken something of a bashing and despite optimistic words from all concerned, the Scot has his work cut out. But at least he now has an effective team mate to lend a hand: Hakkinen is now officially unable to take the title.

The world championship continues in two weeks' time at Hockenheim, Schumacher's home asphalt. The German gets another chance to equal Alain Prost's record of 51 wins and, more importantly, to move the destination of the title even further from Coulthard's clutches.

For full race results, click here.

For latest drivers' championship standings, click here.

For latest constructors' championship standings, click here.