MOTOR SPORTS: Formula One - It's Schumacher again!… but Ralf!

Ralf had already struck against his brother and the Ferraris in the qualifying of the San Marino Grand Prix on Saturday. Coming just behind Michael on their final lap he took the third place of the starting grid from him. Now he only had the two McLarens remaining to get to first place.

David Coulthard, the polesitter: “To be honest I thought I was going to be swamped at the start.”

With Häkkinen, and Michael Schumacher on his right, Coulthard was sure the attack was coming from that side when the five red lights went off.

But none of the ‘big contenders’ had a good start, both having too much wheelspin on their Bridgestone tires. Not as Ralf’s Michelins, which started perfectly allowing him to win the space necessary to get pass the Scotsman by his left, right before the first turn of the race.

“I sensed Ralf was on the inside and then obviously I had to move to make sure there was enough space for us all.” Coulthard pointed out in the post race press conference. “Then I was interested to know just how quick he would be in the race. And obviously to my great disappointment I found out he was quicker than I was.”

The Scottish managed to finish in second place, scoring enough points to tie Michael Schumacher for the first place in the championship race.

On track the younger Shumacher enjoyed his driving in the first place. Constantly making the fastest lap of the race and gaining easily on the rest of the field behind him.

“Everything went perfect. The car setting was great, the engine obviously so you know that's why we have the result.” A very happy Ralf said after his first victory in Formula One.

Meanwhile Jarno Trulli on the Jordan in third place was the barrier holding the field as the two leaders scaped, followed by Häkkinen, Montoya, Barrichello, and Michael Schumacher, who on lap 26 blew his left front tire, and then on the next lap retired due to problems with his car.

Barrichello in the other Ferrari with a good strategy of going with harder tires than the other teams, grabbed third place after the first pit stop saving the day for the ‘Scuderia’ with some points for the constructors championship.

Montoya’s bad luck

The fuel supplier got stucked on the car. The engine stopped, and while the mechanics tried to restart the Williams, the clutch on his front right wheel showed how bad it was as some fire came out of it, making Montoya loose what appeared to be a solid fifth place before the second pit stop.

The team managed to get the Colombian out of the pits, but only for one lap. As the clutch burned, his car was stuck on first gear, forcing him to retire.

Hakkinen arrived fourth, followed by both Jordans and Nick Hedfield on the Sauber who almost managed to get some points.

News and notes

- Sauber’s Finn Kimi Raikkonen had a big surprise while driving the race. He found that his steering wheel was loose from the car, what made him go out of the track, and into a wall.

- The British American Tobacco company seems to be looking for someone to buy their Formula 1 team, BAR. It’s said that the price might be $175 million dollars, that’s 77 less than A-rod.

- The Argentinean racer Gaston Mazzacane from Prost will be replaced for the next race in Spain after his poor performance in the first four races of the season. He didn’t qualified better than 20th in any of the races.