GRAND PRIX : SILVERSTONE : SCHUMACHER SNATCHES VICTORY
Silverstone, Sunday 12th July

Michael Schumacher proved he is indeed the undisputed rain master with a beautifully judged drive in treacherous and changeable conditions to win the British Grand Prix, closing to within two championship points of Hakkinen who came second after leading most of the race. Irvine racked up yet another podium finish in third - he is now the driver with the highest number of podiums for a driver who has never won a race. His drive also helped bring Ferrari to within three points of McLaren in the chase for constructors' honours.

The start was given on a damp track with high winds blowing from behind the cars down the pit straight and the entire field opted to start on intermediate tyres. Hakkinen got away cleanly from pole to lead Michael Schumacher. Eddie Irvine had a very bad start, dropping from 5 to 10 but he moved up to 8 on lap 4. Meanwhile, Schumacher's Ferrari appeared to be closing on the leader but Coulthard chanced a heroic move on the Ferrari and took second place at Abbey corner. Ralf Schumacher, who had to start from the back row, passed five cars at the start and was 13th at this stage. On lap 7, Irvine got past Hill for 7th place.

Then conditions worsened as it started to drizzle. On a charge, Irvine now dispensed with Villeneuve's Williams to move into the top six. Schumacher Junior was obviously smarting at his qualifying penalty and was now poking his nose alongside Fisichella as he tried to take 11th place off the Benetton. Irvine was also fun to watch, getting rid of Frentzen for fifth place on lap 11.

One lap later, Michael Schumacher set a fastest lap and began to close on Coulthard. The rain and wind came down with a vengeance in the pit area at this point and at the back of the circuit two laps later. Frentzen's race was over on lap 15 after a spin. The rain meant unscheduled pit stops to fit wets, Fisichella and Barrichello being the first to do so and Michael Schumacher fitted new intermediates on lap 19 dropping him to fifth behind team-mate Irvine. Coulthard pitted on lap 21 and Alesi and Irvine on 22. Brilliant work from the Ferrari crew saw the Irish driver exit the pits just ahead of Alesi's Sauber to move up a slot. He made another move to take fourth away from Herbert. The leader now pitted and at just over the third distance the order was; Hakkinen, Coulthard, Schumacher, Irvine, Herbert, Alesi. Only 11 cars were on the same lap as the leader.

British hopes were further dashed on lap 27 when Herbert was caught out by the conditions and spun off going into Luffield and a close following Alesi almost wiped out the entire Sauber effort. Amazingly, Ralf Schumacher was now in sixth! The gap between the two leading McLarens was fluctuating around the two second mark as they fought their way through the traffic.

Lap 37 is one David Coulthard will remember for a long time, when he lost it at Brooklands, trying to lap Fisichella, ending a nightmare weekend for the Scot.

The rain was much heavier now and Irvine made his second stop on lap 39 and Hakkinen and Schumacher followed one lap later, the German making up a second on the McLaren in the pits. In the atrocious conditions, there were several spinners, Wurz even managing to swap ends at the entrance to the pit lane. On lap 42 Hakkinen aquaplaned off at incredibly high speed at Bridge, but even more incredibly, he ended up back on the track and pointing in the right direction.

When there were only 2 laps to go before three-quarter distance (45 laps), the Safety Car was brought out. After five laps the race was on again. The rain had stopped but the track was still a river and while Hakkinen got away cleanly, Schumacher had to deal with Fisichella (ahead on the track but one lap down) before setting off in pursuit of the sole remaining McLaren. On lap 51, Hakkinen cracked under pressure, went off at Becketts and the Ferrari was in the lead. The Finn had an excuse as his aerodynamics had suffered as a result of his earlier spin. Villeneuve was also a spinner in the late stages while third placed Irvine was beginning to threaten Hakkinen. Alesi's best performance of the season came to end when he lost fourth place with an electrical fault in the gearbox. Irvine got to within less than a second of the McLaren but with three laps to go he eased off and settled for third after his car began to lose grip and traction. The Benetton boys were next up with Wurz fourth and Fisichella fifth, while Ralf made it a great day for the Schumacher brothers, scoring his and Jordan's first point of the season.

Confusion reigned on the last lap when it was obvious Ferrari were getting ready for a pit-stop. Schumacher had apparently overtaken someone when a yellow flag was being shown. The official handed the team the Stewards decision but it was not clear whether 10 seconds would be added to Schumacher's time or whether he actually had to come in for a stop-go penalty, which would take much longer than the actual ten seconds. The team decided to play it safe and call him in on the very last lap, which was within the permitted period of three laps from notification of the offence. He won the race, effectively taking the chequered flag in the pit-lane, although McLaren attempted to protest this decision.

Click here to return to the Ferrari Happenings page.