Farcical United States Formula 1 Grand Prix
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Image Gallery ( 9 images )During the middle stint, Michael cut that to 2.1s but it then went back up to 3.0s before the second round of pit stops. Barrichello was first to stop for the second time on lap 49, and Michael Schumacher again stopped two laps later, taking fractionally less time at rest.
But Michael came out of the pit virtually side by side with Rubens as they braked into the first corner, and with Michael refusing to give way on the inside, Rubens suddenly took avoiding action and drove onto the grass on the outside of the corner which gave Michael the lead.
Rubens proved to be the quicker driver, however, and soon cut his deficit to Michael until lap 62, 11 from the end, when the gap suddenly rose as Rubens settled for second place. He was 1.5s behind Michael when the chequered flag came out.
Sadly, the Ferrari drivers and Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn received a hostile reception on the rostrum, in spite of the fact that they had raced whereas seven teams had not. Jordan’s Tiago Monteiro completed the top three.
The result moves Ferrari up to third place in the Constructors championship on the same score as second placed McLaren, while Michael Schumacher is now up to third in the championship, three points behind Kimi Raikkonen. Barrichello is in fourth place, a further five points behind.
Selected quotes following the race
Jean Todt, Ferrari: “This was our first win and our first one-two finish of the season, obtained under very unusual circumstances. To be put this result in boxing terms, we and Bridgestone won with a technical knock-out. We witnessed a very close race between our two drivers, even if today’s main aim was to bring the cars home without any problems, whatever the finishing order. I am particularly happy that this is the hundredth win for a car produced under the technical direction of Rory Byrne, that coincides with the eightieth victory for the Scuderia since I have been running it. For Ferrari, this is an important win, coming as it does in a country that is our number one market. It was pleasing to see that, even in these circumstances there were so many of our fans and so many Prancing Horse banners in the grandstands right to the end of the race. I am very surprised by the situation that arose today, but would prefer not to comment on things that are not directly my responsibility. Bridgestone is doing an extraordinary job. There are now ten races to go to the end of the season and, as usual, we will do our utmost to reach our targets.”
Michael Schumacher, Ferrari, first place: “This was a strange grand prix and it was odd seeing the other cars go into pit lane at the start. But then Rubens and I had a close race – there was only the two of us really. I suppose it was not the best way to take my first win of the season and it was sad for the fans. But I am glad so many of the Ferrari supporters stayed to the end to see how this strange race would end. It is just a shame we could not fight in a normal way, because I think that, even with the other cars, we could have won as we had a strong car. The situation we had today was out of our hands and I don’t know all the details of the problems the others had. But I do know that we left at home tyres that had more performance and less durability, but we and Bridgestone made our choice knowing how much stress there is here on the tyres. I lost the lead to Rubens because we had long pit stops to check the tyres and mine was longer than his and he was pushing very hard.”
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