Schumacher criticises 'dawdling' Arrows

After dropping behind Jacques Villeneuve at the start the double champion was never in the hunt for victory.

But coming out of the second set of pit stops he came within an ace of snatching runners-up spot from David Coulthard.

'If there had not been an Arrows driver dawdling into the pits like he was heading for a coffee when I made my stop things could have been very
different.

'He cost me second place.'

In the end he ended up just eight-tenths of a second behind the Scot and just 25 yards behind the Scot as the McLaren stormed out of the pits.

'I am disappointed with third place because we did everything we could to get in front of David and it just didn't work out,' said Schumacher.

'I could have tried to overtake Villeneuve on Turn Five but I didn't know how he would have reacted so I decided not to take the risk and wait to see how the race developed.'

In the event Hakkinen built up an unassailable lead and the once-fragile McLarens failed to show the slighteest hint of weakness this time.

'I had a good race we got four more points towards the championship,' said
Schumacher.

'These guys have a good car and they were storming along today but it is a long season so we go to the next race and see what happens.'