Schumacher Grants Indy Win to Barrichello

Ferrari continued to astonish the world of Formula One when Michael Schumacher handed his Brazilian teammate Rubens Barrichello victory in the United States Grand Prix after trying to orchestrate a dead heat finish.

The Italian team continued their impressive season with a fourth consecutive one-two finish but their decision to orchestrate the result yet again simply demonstrated the ease at which they are slicing through the Formula One field.

Ferrari were called before the FIA to explain their actions in Austria last may, which saw Barrichello move over to hand Schumacher the win, but Schumacher risked further controversy when he did the same for Barrichello.

It was the dominant duo's eighth one-two of the season, equalling McLaren's great partnership of Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost in 1988 and 1989, and left them with one race to win to equal the most victories in a year.

The pair, who remained in formation throughout the entire race, came home 7.7 seconds ahead of Briton David Coulthard's McLaren, with Williams-BMW star Juan Pablo Montoya in fourth.

Jarno Trulli claimed two points for Renault, with Canadian Jacques Villeneuve, a former Indy 500 winner at the famous Brickyard, sixth for British American Racing Honda.

Schumacher made a clean getaway to lead the field through turn one as the rest of the pack filed through without any incident, leaving the two Ferraris in the lead with Coulthard behind.

Ralf Schumacher moved to fourth after getting the better of teammate Montoya into turn one, but at the start of the second lap the pair were side by side going into the first corner, with Montoya taking the outside line.

The Colombian was ahead but Schumacher left it late to brake and spun, his rear wing clipping Montoya's car forcing them both off the track and down the running order.

Ralf, who has taken a tough approach to beating his teammate in the last few races, was forced to pit for 69.1 seconds as the team replaced his rear wing while Montoya dropped to seventh behind Trulli, Raikkonen and Villeneuve.

As Schumacher reeled off continued fastest laps, Barrichello remained in contention, lurking just over a second behind the German as the scarlet pair pulled away from the pack.

Behind the Ferrari pair, Coulthard and Trulli, Villeneuve managed to pass Raikkonen for fifth and the McLaren driver dropped further back behind Montoya on lap 17.

With 20 laps gone and Schumacher and Barrichello now trading fastest laps, the leading German was 1.6 seconds ahead of his Brazilian teammate and 21 seconds clear of Coulthard, the leader of the chasing pack.

Schumacher made an 8.0 seconds stop on lap 27 and when Barrichello came in the following lap and remained stationary for exactly the same time, the pair remained in their original order with the same one second gap between them.

Coulthard, however, remained in contention as he played out a one-stop strategy to Ferrari's two, and with 40 laps gone, he was within a second of Barrichello's second placed Ferrari, with teammate Raikkonen fourth but 25.4 seconds behind.

Coulthard finally pitted on lap 41, stopping for 10.8 seconds but dropping only one place behind his teammate Raikkonen, but the Finn, also on a one-stop strategy, pitted one lap later and dropped to sixth.

That left Schumacher leading Barrichello by three seconds with Coulthard 35 seconds back and Montoya a further ten seconds behind him in fourth with fifth-placed Villeneuve in hot pursuit.

By this point, Pedro de la Rosa, of Jaguar and Minardi's Mark Webber were the race's only retirements, but the second Minardi, of Alex Yoong, added to the list when his Asiatech engine let go as he headed into turn one.

The Ferrari pair of Schumacher and Barrichello pitted for a second time on laps 49 and 50 respectively, but with the methodical perfection of the Italian team's mechanics there was no lead change and Schumacher was left to run to the flag.

One lap later Raikkonen retired from sixth place when his engine appeared to blow up, leaving Villeneuve promoted into the points behind the Ferrari pair, Coulthard, Montoya and Trulli.

The top six then remained in position until the final corner, when Schumacher slowed to create a formation finish and let Barrichello past to finish less than one tenth of a second behind.

PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS The United States Grand Prix Indianapolis, Indiana; 73 laps; 306.016km; Weather: Hot and dry. Classified: Pos Driver Team-Engine Tyres Time 1. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1h 31:07.934 2. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) + 0.011 3. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes (M) + 7.799 4. Montoya Williams BMW (M) + 9.911 5. Trulli Renault (M) + 56.847 6. Villeneuve BAR Honda (B) + 58.211 7. Fisichella Jordan Honda (B) + 1 lap 8. Button Renault (M) + 1 lap 9. Heidfeld Sauber Petronas (B) + 1 lap 10. Irvine Jaguar Cosworth (M) + 1 lap 11. Sato Jordan Honda (B) + 1 lap 12. Panis BAR Honda (B) + 1 lap 13. Frentzen Sauber Petronas (B) + 2 laps 14. Salo Toyota (M) + 2 laps 15. McNish Toyota (M) + 2 laps 16. R.Schumacher Williams BMW (M) + 2 laps Fastest Lap: Barrichello, 1:12.738, lap 27 Not Classified/Retirements: Driver Team On Lap Raikkonen McLaren Mercedes (M) 50 Yoong Minardi Asiatech (M) 46 Webber Minardi Asiatech (M) 38 De la Rosa Jaguar Cosworth (M) 27 World Championship Standing, Round 16: Drivers: Constructors: 1. M.Schumacher 134 WC 1. Ferrari 205 CC 2. Barrichello 71 2. Williams-BMW 89 3. Montoya 47 3. McLaren-Mercedes 61 4. R.Schumacher 42 4. Renault 22 5. Coulthard 41 5. Sauber-Petronas 11 6. Raikkonen 20 6. Jaguar-Cosworth 8 7. Button 13 7. Jordan-Honda 7 8. Trulli 9 =. BAR 7 9. Irvine 8 9. Toyota 2 10. Fisichella 7 = Arrows 2 = Heidfeld 7 = Minardi-Asiatech 2 12. Massa 4 =. Villeneuve 4 14. Panis 3 15. Webber 2 = Salo 2 = Frentzen 2 All timing unofficial