Motor Sports: Ferrari and Bridgestone dominate at Silverstone

Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichelo gave Ferrari a one-two finish in Sunday's British Grand Prix at Silverstone Raceway. The Scuderia continued their dominant form of the 2002 season, as their competitors struggled badly in the variable weather conditions.

Juan Pablo Montoya, who took his fourth consecutive pole, led the early stages of the race, holding off a determined, but patient, Schumacher. Then the rains came.

Unfortunately for Montoya and all of the Michelin clad teams, the French tire manufacturer has not yet developed a competitive intermediate tire yet. While the Bridgestone teams, including Ferrari, happily switched immediately to their intermediates, the Michelin runners had a difficult decision to make: Stay on slicks and hope the rains ended soon or opt for the full wet and pray it kept on raining.

The result was chaos for the Williams and McLaren teams. Out of the four cars, all in the top six in qualifying, only Montoya (3rd) managed to remain competitive. David Coulthard was the biggest loser choosing to remain on slicks for a few laps, which instantly dropped him to the back of the field and out of the hunt.

With the rains and the tire dilemma, the British GP was by far the most entertaining of the season. There was more overtaking on this day than there had been in the rest of the races combined. Barrichelo, who sat on the front row with Montoya, stalled it on the warm-up lap and was relegated to the last row for the race. The result was watching the lightning fast Ferrari slice through the field. Barrichelo went from p.21 to p.2 in just 16 laps.

The biggest beneficiary of the weather turmoil was BAR. Before the race, the British team had not yet earned a point in the 2002 season, struggling with an underpowered Honda engine and poor aerodynamics. The combination of a revised aero package and Bridgestone tires gave the BAR squad a competitive car for the first time all year. Jacques Villeneuve and Olivier Panis both finished in the points, fourth and fifth respectively, and gave the home crowd something to get excited about.

Other British contingencies did not fare as well. Coulthard battled his tire troubles all afternoon and finished a woeful 10th (out of only 12 finishers). Crowd favorite, Jenson Button, struggled with his Michelin wet tires and simply couldn't compete with the Bridgestone clad teams. Alan McNish, the first year Toyota driver, couldn't even complete the first lap after engine troubles.

For the day, the combination of Ferrari and Bridgestone was far too strong for the competition to cope with. Michael Schumacher won his 60th Grand Prix and can clinch the 2002 World Championship at the next race, the French Grand Prix at Magny Cours. Rubens Barrichelo took hold of sole possession of second place in the Driver's Championship, one point clear of Montoya, two of Ralf Schumacher and six of David Coulthard, and Japanese tire manufacturer Bridgestone proved that Michelin has a mountain to climb in terms of matching their wet and intermediate tire performance.

Once again, Schumacher has demonstrated that with the best car underneath him, there is no one in the world who can beat him consistently. The remainder of the season has been relegated to a race for second place in both the Driver's and the Constructor's Championships.