Race: Schuey finishes with a flourish

The 53-lap race always looked like it would be won by either Schumacher or Montoya, leaving the outpaced McLaren-Mercedes of David Coulthard and Mika Hakkinen to take third and fourth, enabling the Scot to hold onto his second place in the drivers' championship, albeit 58 points behind the world champion.(Click here for more on Schumacher's records.)

"I am very pleased that we could finish the season with a first position," said Schumacher, "That is what we wished to do. We had a couple of bad races at Monza and Indianapolis but now we are back to normality and that is a good end to the championship for the team and for everyone."

Poleman Schumacher fended off Montoya into the first corner and then disappeared from the pack. Behind him, Montoya, his team mate Ralf Schumacher and Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello held station, while Benetton's Giancarlo Fisichella made a good start, jumping from sixth to fifth, although the Italian spun out of contention on lap three. (Click here for separate story).

Barrichello was the man to watch in the early laps, and was all over the back of Ralf Schumacher's Williams-BMW, having a look up the inside at the hairpin but eventually getting the measure of the German into the super-fast 130R corner to snatch third on lap two. He then attacked Monotya for second, making a bold dive up the inside at the final chicane, but the Colombian had better momentum on the exit of the corner and Barrichello had to yield at the first corner of the next lap.(Click here for more on Ruben's strategy).


While Schumacher Sr extended his lead out front, Jean Alesi's Formula 1 career came to a violent end on lap seven after the Jordan ace collided with Sauber's Kimi Raikkonen (click here for separate story). "It is a shame not to finish my last race, but that's racing," said Alesi.

On lap 15, the reason for Barrichello's early speed became clear, as he made the first of what would be three pit-stops, rejoining ninth from third. The strategy did not really work out for the Brazilian, who was still fighting for second in the championship, with the extra stop putting him behind rival Coulthard late in the race.

Ralf Schumacher was the only other frontrunner on a three-stop strategy and he too would pay the price, although his longer first stint may have worked out better had it not been for a 10-second stop-go penalty which he picked up for cutting the final chicane just after the first round of stops.

As Ralf came in to serve his penalty on lap 29, Barrichello was making his second stop of the afternoon. They emerged as one but Ralf suddenly put the boot in as the pair rejoined the circuit, passing the Ferrari and risking a second penalty for crossing the white line on the exit of the pitlane. That never materialised, possibly because Barrichello re-took him two laps later. The Ferrari number two had a go at the chicane, causing Schumacher to cut the corner once again, but got past the Williams with another gutsy move around the outside at Turn 1.

During the first round of pit-stops, Montoya, Ralf Schumacher and Hakkinen in the second McLaren all took turns at leading, but it was Michael Schumacher who always emerged at the head of the field. He said: "We had the advantage because we were fast in the early laps. But I could not use that advantage because every time I exited the pits, I was behind Mika."

Indianapolis race winner Hakkinen certainly did not make it easy for the World Champion, defending hard during his stints at the front.

While the leaders made their second stops, Barrichello was back in for his third, which left him in fifth. In the closing stages, it looked like the huge Japanese crowd might be in for an exciting finish, as Montoya started closing in on Michael Schumacher. The gap came down to 5.6s while the leader was in traffic but, once he was through the backmarkers, Schumacher pulled away again, Montoya's Michelin rubber starting to go off as the race wore on.(Click here for separate story).


With five laps to go, Hakkinen allowed Coulthard through into third to help him consolidate his second place in the standings. Behind the two McLarens, Ralf was right on the tail of Barrichello after making his third stop, but ended up having to settle for sixth behind the Ferrari.

For full race results, click here.