Formula-1 2000 R01 Australian Grand Prix

AutosportfanTwo

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Transcript

00:00:00Sport welcomes you back to Albert Park, Melbourne.

00:00:02It's curtain up for the new season.

00:00:05Enjoy the Australian Grand Prix with Martin Brundle

00:00:08and the man affectionately described in these parts as

00:00:12Vroom Vroom Walker.

00:00:14Hiya Murray.

00:00:16Jim, thank you.

00:00:17They've designed the new cars.

00:00:19They've tested them for weeks.

00:00:21They've polished and honed every facet of their teams.

00:00:25They've qualified for the Australian Grand Prix

00:00:27and now, look down, it's almost time to race.

00:00:32Round 1 of 17 starts the 2000 Formula 1 World Championship

00:00:37here in Melbourne.

00:00:38Almost time to go.

00:00:40Perfect weather, fabulous location.

00:00:43Who's going to win?

00:00:44Well, who knows?

00:00:46I'll tell you something, Jean Alessi is in real trouble

00:00:50for his first drive for Prost.

00:00:52Into the garage, out of the car,

00:00:55with a very unhappy expression on his face.

00:00:58They've now put him in the spare car in the garage.

00:01:00He'll be starting from the pit lane.

00:01:03But there is the man.

00:01:04And Martin, he amazes me.

00:01:08You walk up to him.

00:01:09He's about to get in the car, the double world champion

00:01:12and start the Australian Grand Prix.

00:01:14You put a microphone in his face and he talks to you.

00:01:17Must be the vodka they have going through their veins,

00:01:19I think, up there in Finland.

00:01:20And yeah, Mikko does seem very cool, actually.

00:01:22And yesterday, he was particularly brilliant,

00:01:24I think, having missed most of the morning.

00:01:26To stick the car on pole was quite sensational

00:01:29and certainly gave Michael Schumacher

00:01:30something to think about.

00:01:31Michael was in the press conference saying,

00:01:33hey, third or fourth, it doesn't really matter.

00:01:35But it does matter to him.

00:01:37He was very angry about it.

00:01:38I know people who know him and saw him later on

00:01:41saw a completely different Michael Schumacher.

00:01:43But what's confusing is just how fast that Ferrari seems to be

00:01:48when they can string a few laps together.

00:01:52Michael says we didn't use our tyres properly in qualifying.

00:01:54So, you know, the paddock is pretty much expecting

00:01:57the two Ferraris, if they don't get ahead at the start,

00:01:59to be pushing the McLarens quite hard.

00:02:01But, you know, we were wrong about that yesterday.

00:02:03The amazing thing is the first five on the grid

00:02:06are absolutely identical to last year.

00:02:08Two McLarens, again, on the front row of the grid.

00:02:11Two Ferraris on the front row of the grid.

00:02:13But fourth last year was Rubens Barrichello.

00:02:17He's fourth this year.

00:02:18Last year, he was in a Stewart.

00:02:20And this year, in a Ferrari.

00:02:22Fifth on the grid hides Harold Frentzen

00:02:24and his new teammate, Jarno Trulli.

00:02:27And he's been going well.

00:02:29But no one has said this yet.

00:02:31And it needs to be said, I think.

00:02:33Jenson Button, of whom so much is expected

00:02:37and he's got so much attention being paid to him,

00:02:39was actually second fastest in the warm-up this morning.

00:02:43And that is quite incredible,

00:02:44when you bear in mind that he went off the track yesterday,

00:02:47had all sorts of problems.

00:02:49I thought he was astonishingly calm, cool,

00:02:51and collected when you were talking to him.

00:02:53Yeah, he did seem very mature, didn't he?

00:02:55I mean, I'm sure the warm-up time

00:02:56was a bit of a confidence booster.

00:02:58Probably not on full fuel,

00:03:01because, you know, he was some best part

00:03:03of one and a half, two seconds faster than teammate Schumacher.

00:03:06Well, then it's a spectacular time

00:03:08that means he should be screaming through the field.

00:03:10I think we should reserve judgment on that one.

00:03:12But nonetheless, it was a lap time,

00:03:15however much fuel he was on,

00:03:16that was within half a second

00:03:17of Ralph's qualifying time yesterday.

00:03:20So, and Ralph would have had no fuel in the car.

00:03:23Of course, nice and cool conditions this morning,

00:03:25unlike the track temperatures of 51 degrees

00:03:28towards the end of qualifying yesterday,

00:03:29which, as we've spoken about before,

00:03:31gives up an awful lot of grip.

00:03:33I can see a Lacey out of the window here,

00:03:36lining up at the end of the pit lane.

00:03:39Now, that's a drama, because that means everything is cold.

00:03:41He's not going to get an installation,

00:03:42not to go round to the grid.

00:03:44Stone-cold brakes, stone-cold engine and gearbox.

00:03:46Tyres not up to full operating temperature at all.

00:03:48They're already losing heat.

00:03:49Now the blankets are off.

00:03:51That's Salo.

00:03:52That's a different picture.

00:03:53That's Salo actually on the grid,

00:03:56of course, in the Sauber.

00:03:58So, a Lacey, and I know in 96,

00:04:00I started the second race here from the pit lane,

00:04:02and it was staggering how little grip you had

00:04:04when you arrived into those first few corners.

00:04:08But a Lacey is experienced enough,

00:04:09the most experienced man on the grid,

00:04:12to cope with that.

00:04:14Pedro de la Rosa in the new Arrows.

00:04:16A very impressive in his 2,

00:04:18and his teammate Jos Verstappen is 13th on the grid.

00:04:22So, a 58-lap race.

00:04:27And there they are, soon to start the formation lap,

00:04:32the parade lap before the start,

00:04:35the Australian Grand Prix.

00:04:42And this, of course, is the formation lap.

00:04:46Micka Hakkinen, David Coulthard, Michael Schumacher.

00:04:49And if anybody drops back, incidentally,

00:04:52or has a bad start,

00:04:53they are now allowed to take up position

00:04:56on the formation lap.

00:04:57But fortunately, that has not happened.

00:04:59Yes, they're all away nice and cleanly.

00:05:02And all of the cars on your right-hand side of the grid,

00:05:06the left of the grid, from the driver's perspective,

00:05:09have an advantage.

00:05:09That is the racing line.

00:05:11That is going to be cleaner.

00:05:13Fortunately, here, there's an awful lot of racers

00:05:15through the four-day period.

00:05:16And it does tend to even that grid up a little bit

00:05:19in terms of the level of grip.

00:05:21But still, Hakkinen's side of the grid,

00:05:23the odd numbers, will have more grip away.

00:05:27Well, fingers crossed for a good start.

00:05:29It was aborted last year.

00:05:32Michael Schumacher stole his engine

00:05:34and had to start from the back of the grid.

00:05:36And then the two stewards nearly burst into flames.

00:05:39Interesting tactics here.

00:05:41Look how hard the two McLaren boys

00:05:43are taking that field round.

00:05:44That's very unusual.

00:05:46Normally, I mean, they'll have to back off

00:05:48in another couple of corners and bring the field together.

00:05:50Otherwise, they'll be standing at the front of the grid

00:05:53for the best part of a minute.

00:05:54They've got to hold the field up towards the end.

00:05:57But they really did scream away.

00:05:58Looked pretty much like a tactic to me.

00:06:01This is the approach of turn 11 and turn 12,

00:06:04the right-hander there.

00:06:06They accelerate up to about 165 miles an hour

00:06:10as they go past the powerhouse exhibition center,

00:06:14the one with the white roof there.

00:06:16Then down, this is a 16-turn course.

00:06:20The lap is 3.27 miles.

00:06:23Everybody, my understanding is everybody

00:06:25except Jenson Button on the softer tires.

00:06:28And I'm also expecting very long first runs here,

00:06:31probably mid-30s in terms of laps before they come in.

00:06:35I think Ferrari were experimenting

00:06:37with two-stop fuel this morning,

00:06:39probably more to rattle the cage of McLaren than anything.

00:06:42I'm really fully expecting them all to one stop.

00:06:45And as the tires appear to give more grip

00:06:47as they get older around here, for whatever reason,

00:06:50the compound has changed this year.

00:06:51It seems a bit more durable.

00:06:53We're expecting them really to try and stay on those tires

00:06:56as long as they can.

00:06:57That means the cars are very heavy on the line, Murray.

00:07:00Yep, and a credible thing in the warm-up this morning.

00:07:03Rubens Barrichello in the Ferrari was fastest.

00:07:06An amazing 1.6 seconds faster than anybody else.

00:07:11Quite what that means, I don't know.

00:07:12What it means exactly is the difference

00:07:14between running a one-stop fuel load and a two-stop fuel load.

00:07:18That weight put into the computer equates exactly.

00:07:21And what it also means is,

00:07:22there's very little in the pace between Ferrari and McLaren.

00:07:26We'll see. There are the two McLarens.

00:07:29World champion Micah Hackenden driving through the heat haze.

00:07:33David Coulthard peels off behind him.

00:07:36Michael Schumacher pulls up behind Hackenden.

00:07:38Barrichello behind David Coulthard.

00:07:41There are the two yellow Jordans in their new brighter livery.

00:07:45Yes, Coulthard.

00:07:46Alessi.

00:07:47Coulthard and Frentzen have lined themselves up at a slight angle

00:07:51to try to get over on that cleaner line as soon as possible.

00:07:54And Alessi patiently waiting in what must seem a very quiet pit lane.

00:07:58Well, he was starting 17th on the grid.

00:08:00He's now effectively starting 22nd.

00:08:03A big penalty. Not as bad as it might have been, though.

00:08:06And just look at the heat.

00:08:07It's about 40 degrees on the track down here.

00:08:11Lights are on. The red lights are on.

00:08:12Three lights. Four lights. Five.

00:08:15And then it'll go out and it will be...

00:08:17go in Australia!

00:08:19Lovely start by Micah Hackenden.

00:08:20David Coulthard's going well.

00:08:22David Schumacher is third.

00:08:24And coming up very well is Haight.

00:08:26Harold Frentzen in the yellow Jordan.

00:08:28He's passed Rubens Barrichello.

00:08:30Rubens Barrichello goes down the place.

00:08:33And it looks to me as though everybody's through the first sequence of corners.

00:08:37And Micah Hackenden has got David Coulthard riding behind him.

00:08:41There is Rubens Barrichello.

00:08:43A terrific long jam of cars.

00:08:45Are they all going to get round this corner?

00:08:47Yes, they do.

00:08:48Round the Sports Centre corner.

00:08:50And so it is McLaren leading as it was last year.

00:08:54McLaren second as it was last year.

00:08:56Michael Schumacher is third.

00:08:58Frentzen is fourth.

00:08:59Barrichello is fifth.

00:09:00Trulli is sixth.

00:09:01And in seventh position, well up, is Jacques Villeneuve in the BAR.

00:09:06Yes, despite all of their practice and testing to get away,

00:09:09the Ferraris were both particularly tidy off the line.

00:09:12And fortunately, Michael Schumacher was able to stay ahead of the Jordans.

00:09:16But Rubens Barrichello dropping down to fifth place.

00:09:19Well, I tell you, Jenson Button is going through this field like a hot knife through butter.

00:09:23I saw the last five together, and he was not amongst them.

00:09:26Indeed, I believe he's up with his teammate, Ralf Schumacher.

00:09:30We'll have to look down the field.

00:09:31He's up in the 15th position.

00:09:33Jenson Button has moved up from 21st on the grid to 15th before the end of the first lap.

00:09:39Mikko Häkkinen, there he is, from Finland in the McLaren.

00:09:43And now, look, this is very different to last year.

00:09:45Last year, the two McLarens, Häkkinen and Kullfarn,

00:09:49majestically strode away from Michael Schumacher.

00:09:53They're not doing it this time.

00:09:54But the first three are stretching away from the first Jordan.

00:09:59Lap one completed.

00:10:00Look at the gap there.

00:10:02This is great stuff already, and we've got to have 58 laps of this.

00:10:08It's going to be a long, hard, tiring race.

00:10:11Hard on brakes.

00:10:12When are the fuel stops going to come?

00:10:14Mattara, McLaren, Ferrari, Jordan, Ferrari.

00:10:18Marc Genet has gone into the pits already, and at the end of the first lap,

00:10:23Jenson Button is in 15th place.

00:10:26Behind, Rubens Barrichello.

00:10:28Trotty is 6th.

00:10:29Neil Nerve is 7th.

00:10:30Mikko Salo is in 8th position.

00:10:32Eddie Irvine and the Jaguar has dropped down two places tonight.

00:10:36And Herbert is out of the race.

00:10:38Johnny Herbert, who's had an appalling weekend, is already out of the race.

00:10:42He's at the end of the pit lane here.

00:10:43So he's passed the white line, now in vision with you.

00:10:46And, well, no way they can recover that car.

00:10:50And there's no point in doing so anyway.

00:10:51And Johnny, well, what's he got to do?

00:10:53We say this every year, don't we?

00:10:54We do.

00:10:55Well, Jaguar have got a very special oiling system,

00:10:58combining the oil in the engine and the gearbox.

00:11:02It's given a lot of trouble, and it's continuing to do so.

00:11:05And I don't know what's going to happen here.

00:11:07It looks like...

00:11:08Oh, and this is why Johnny's out of the race.

00:11:10Look, he's going, minding his own business, going around the outside.

00:11:13And a Sauber, or probably a BAR on the inside touch,

00:11:16had just run into him and clearly damaged his car.

00:11:19Yeah, just looking to see where Herbert was at the time.

00:11:23What's interesting here, Murray,

00:11:24is the McLarens are actually just stretching away gently.

00:11:27Look, it was 1.4 second lead that Hakkanen had over Schumacher

00:11:31at the end of the first lap.

00:11:32Let's see what it is this time around.

00:11:342.2, look, so he's a full eight tenths up.

00:11:37So, Michael Schumacher not showing that blistering face yet.

00:11:41You heard what James Allen was saying,

00:11:43that it was sensible strategy, see, to a lot of people,

00:11:46to put Micah Hakkanen on a two-stop strategy,

00:11:49David Coulthard on a one-stop strategy,

00:11:52between Hakkanen and Schumacher, which is where he is now.

00:11:56That would fit the circumstances at the present moment,

00:11:59with Micah Hakkanen definitely making the pace,

00:12:01and a gap developing between Schumacher, who is third,

00:12:05and Fritzsen, who is fourth.

00:12:06That gap, 3.4 seconds.

00:12:08Yeah, I'd be surprised if Hakkanen's on a two-stopper, to be honest,

00:12:11because I think that means,

00:12:12unless he can really skate off into the distance,

00:12:14at some point, he would have to overtake at least one of the Ferraris.

00:12:18So, I think Hakkanen is just blisteringly fast in these early stages,

00:12:22which, almost Senna-esque, he's tended to be in the last few years.

00:12:26Yeah, Micah Hakkanen has got this incredible ability,

00:12:29which he demonstrated yesterday,

00:12:30to pull out something very, very special when it's needed.

00:12:34He did it for qualifying yesterday,

00:12:36when he took that pole position for the 22nd time in his career.

00:12:40He's doing it again right now.

00:12:42Both McLarens failed on Saturday morning,

00:12:45but Ron Dennis assures me they know exactly what the problem was,

00:12:48and it can't reoccur.

00:12:49Remember, the Ferrari was far more bulletproof last year

00:12:52in the reliability stage than McLaren could achieve.

00:12:55So, Michael will be probably reasonably happy sitting there,

00:13:00slightly disappointed the McLarens are pulling away from him,

00:13:03but it seems like he's pegged it this time around.

00:13:06Well, the thing that's interesting me at the moment

00:13:08is that I did not expect the gap has increased very slightly

00:13:12to 2.4 seconds between Hakkanen and Schumacher.

00:13:15I did not expect Heinz-Harald Frentzen

00:13:17to get ahead of Ruben Barrichello in the Ferrari

00:13:21as quickly as he has had to stay there.

00:13:23They're battling very closely on the track.

00:13:26We haven't seen them,

00:13:27but the Jordan is tucked right up under and behind

00:13:33is Riano Trulli in 6th position.

00:13:35So, the two Jordans are 4th and 6th.

00:13:38Here are the leaders, McLaren, McLaren, Ferrari,

00:13:40then Frentzen, then Barrichello, then Trulli.

00:13:43Yes, I expect to see more of Barrichello later in this race.

00:13:46He's particularly good around this racetrack.

00:13:48Plus, he's been so mature all through the weekend

00:13:51and so calm, he seems to be completely under control.

00:13:54Louise is with Jonny Herbert.

00:13:56Jonny, that was hardly worth doing your seatbelts up, was it?

00:13:59Well, it's been a weekend like that, to be honest.

00:14:02It's been very difficult for everybody.

00:14:04We knew we had an engine sort of problem.

00:14:08We hoped we'd come here and obviously got rid of most of that,

00:14:12but we still haven't.

00:14:13So, we've got to put ourselves together, obviously,

00:14:16regroup, really delve into it and find the problem, of course.

00:14:20We have a few other reliability issues as well we need to do.

00:14:24But generally, we know the car, when it runs,

00:14:27is actually a capable car.

00:14:29But obviously, it's just a bit frustrating, like today,

00:14:31where you get a good start, you get in a little bit,

00:14:34or it was a bit...

00:14:36I think Pedro got pushed by someone who got pushed into me,

00:14:39but then the clutch went directly after that,

00:14:42so I was already on my way out,

00:14:44which is just a shame because we need the mileage now.

00:14:48Things can only get better.

00:14:49Well, you're watching now the Jordan followed by the Ferrari.

00:14:53It's Fredson and Barrichello.

00:14:55Just behind them in sixth position is Jarno Trulli.

00:14:59Where is Jonny Herbert's teammate, Eddie Irvine, in the other Jaguar?

00:15:03He started seventh.

00:15:04He's been passed by both the arrows of Verstappen at Della Rosa

00:15:09and Mika Salo's Sauber and Villeneuve's BAR.

00:15:14So, Eddie Irvine, the man who won this race for Ferrari last year,

00:15:18he's down in 11th place.

00:15:20And Mika Häkkinen has now just made another fastest lap of the race.

00:15:26He's really flying.

00:15:271 minute 33.9.

00:15:30Well, Barrichello's got a job on to pass that Jordan,

00:15:33which is not too slow in any part of this racetrack.

00:15:36Barrichello's got the fastest car at the moment.

00:15:38That's clear to see.

00:15:39But has he got enough of an advantage?

00:15:41There really are so few places around here.

00:15:43The braking and turn-in areas are short and very high-speed turn-ins.

00:15:48For example, into this chicane and doesn't offer any overtaking opportunities.

00:15:53That's Alessi trying to make up ground, trying to overtake the Sauber

00:15:57and clearly blocks the rear wheels,

00:15:59probably on downshift as he headed into the apex with a bit too much speed.

00:16:04And that will put him probably straight to the rear again.

00:16:06Yeah, he's down there as well and truly up.

00:16:09He has made his way up from last to 18th.

00:16:13As we look at Jacques Villeneuve now, 7th position in the BAR

00:16:17and right behind him is Mika Salo in the Sauber,

00:16:20the man who drove for Ferrari at BAR last year.

00:16:23Salo in the Sauber with the Ferrari engine.

00:16:26And Jacques Villeneuve will be looking not just for another finish,

00:16:30he didn't have many of those last year,

00:16:32but for BAR's first point as Pedro de la Rosa of Verstappen.

00:16:37Have a look at Mika Salo.

00:16:39The new orange arrows are going magnificently.

00:16:43With the super-tech engine, they've got a brand-new chassis,

00:16:46they've got two very tidy drivers,

00:16:48and one of them, Pedro de la Rosa, you can see in 10th position,

00:16:52is swarming about all over Salo.

00:16:54And behind the second one, Jos Verstappen, is Eddie Irvine in the down.

00:16:58Yes, and I'm expecting that arrows to be quick through the entire race.

00:17:02Looking at it, remember I said in qualifying yesterday,

00:17:04it's very supple at the rear.

00:17:06Seems like it rides the track and the bumps and the curbs,

00:17:09and I think that'll pay dividends if they're doing very long stints

00:17:13to keep the tyres better intact.

00:17:15Running quite wide there, Verstappen,

00:17:17but the arrows seeming to be confirming their winter-seizing pace.

00:17:22Salo doing very well there in 8th place too in his first race for Sauber.

00:17:26Lap 6 out of 58.

00:17:27There's the leader, Mika Häkkinen.

00:17:29You can see how far he is ahead of David Coulthard.

00:17:32Look now for the Ferrari of Michael Schumacher.

00:17:35It's about 2.8 seconds down the road

00:17:38as Häkkinen comes through to complete his sixth lap,

00:17:41but Michael Schumacher is still very, very much in touch with the leaders.

00:17:46Princeton is still fourth, then Barrichello and Trolley.

00:17:49Mika Häkkinen's just done another fastest lap,

00:17:52and Michael Schumacher goes quicker again.

00:17:54Michael Schumacher is piling on the pace.

00:17:57He's closing slightly. He's got it down to 2.7 seconds.

00:18:00Yes. Schumacher's very fast in the last section of the racetrack,

00:18:04over half a second a lap faster than McLaren's,

00:18:06and that's where he's able to make it up.

00:18:08So Michael beginning his charge now.

00:18:10Barrichello's still tucked up behind Princeton by just two tenths of a second.

00:18:15Button dropped back to 16th place.

00:18:17He's lapping about two and a half seconds slower than the leaders per lap.

00:18:25And that is nothing to be ashamed of in his first race.

00:18:29Incidentally, it's the first race, of course,

00:18:31with a BMW V10 engine in the two Williams cars

00:18:36of Jenson Button and Ralph Schumacher,

00:18:38who is in 13th position, Ralph Schumacher.

00:18:42And David Coulthard is now taking up the attack.

00:18:45Fastest first sector.

00:18:47This lap of 3.8—3.3 miles is split into three sectors.

00:18:53Eddie Irvine has spun, and it looks as though both Jaguars are likely to be able to shove off,

00:18:59says Eddie Irvine to the marshal.

00:19:02Now, well, the engine's stalled, so Eddie's just trying to manoeuvre it,

00:19:05three-point turn it out of the way,

00:19:07and he wanted to decide which direction it was going in.

00:19:10So the safety car is standing by, we see from the computer here,

00:19:13but I think they'll clear that more than quickly.

00:19:16Oh, wheel off.

00:19:17There's a wheel off there too, so whose wheel is that?

00:19:20Somebody else must have crashed in there too, you know,

00:19:22because Eddie Irvine had four wheels.

00:19:25Eddie Irvine had four wheels on his car.

00:19:27Look, there it is.

00:19:28So somebody else, not enough.

00:19:29Safety car is out.

00:19:30Safety car did put, and we think it's Della Rosa, has gone off into the wall.

00:19:35Well, that makes sense, because they were together in 10th and 11th places.

00:19:40And as in 1999, so in the year 2000,

00:19:45the safety car goes out, which gives Michael Schumacher

00:19:49the opportunity to close up on David Coulthard,

00:19:52and David Coulthard to close right up on the race leader, Mika Häkkinen.

00:19:57There they are, first, second, and third.

00:19:59What I suspect happened is Della Rosa's gone off

00:20:01and collected Irvine, or distracted Irvine, in the process.

00:20:05But we're waiting for a replay of that.

00:20:07Now let's have a look.

00:20:08Here, we're going to find out.

00:20:09Della Rosa running wide, look.

00:20:11And he's lost control there.

00:20:15That's very strange.

00:20:15Is that the same car?

00:20:17I think that's Verstappen, actually.

00:20:18That was Verstappen, not Della Rosa.

00:20:20Yeah, and this is the front suspension failure on Verstappen's car.

00:20:26I wonder if it was the same problem for Della Rosa.

00:20:29So both arrows off in the same lap.

00:20:32Well, a bad, bad opening Grand Prix for Jaguar,

00:20:36with Johnny Herbert and Eddie Irvine both out by the 8th lap.

00:20:40Don't be too discouraged, though.

00:20:42There's a long, long and very steep climb in Formula 1 to reach the top.

00:20:49And Jaguar are right at the bottom of the ladder now,

00:20:52starting with what was the Stewart team.

00:20:55But there's a lot of new things in it and a completely new motor car.

00:20:59So we're now on lap 8 out of 58.

00:21:03The field will close right up while they remove the broken bits of motor car.

00:21:08And the race will effectively restart, but from a rolling start instead of a standing start.

00:21:13Good news for Jenson, of course.

00:21:14That's moved him up to 13th place and enables him to close back up to the leading pack.

00:21:20So at the moment, he's tucked up.

00:21:22He was just six tenths of a second behind Wurz before the safety car came out.

00:21:27Now, one of the problems in this sort of a situation is to make the safety car go faster than.

00:21:33Well, we'll soon see.

00:21:35But whilst this temporary lull is happening, we're going to take a break.

00:23:35Into lap 10 of the 58 lap Australian Grand Prix.

00:23:53The safety car is still out.

00:23:55And as I said, the race effectively restarting and sprinting out from the pit lane.

00:24:02Here comes Pedro Diniz in the Sauber.

00:24:06And bringing up the rear is Marc Genet there in the newly liveried Minardi.

00:24:12Very much improved motor car.

00:24:14And the news, incidentally, that the takeover by the Spanish Telefónica organisation is almost completed.

00:24:23And it's quite likely that it will have been by the time of the Brazilian Grand Prix in two weeks time.

00:24:29In which case, the Minardi team will all move out to Spain from Italy.

00:24:34And the safety car is coming in at the end of this lap.

00:24:39You know that when you see the lights go out on the roof.

00:24:43The safety car comes into the pit lane.

00:24:45And mark this very carefully.

00:24:48The drivers are not allowed to pass until they have crossed the line.

00:24:53And Eddie Irvine realised that very smartly last year.

00:24:57By hanging back when Mette Hacken and the race leader actually faltered.

00:25:03Eddie Irvine passed him after the line and took over the lead.

00:25:06Well, they put Verstappen back out on the track.

00:25:09They have repaired that apparent suspension damage.

00:25:12So hopefully they can understand exactly what the failure was all about.

00:25:17But they're going around there now.

00:25:18Their tyres are going to be 16 degrees centigrade.

00:25:21They need to be about 90.

00:25:23Their brakes are going to be 3 to 400 centigrade.

00:25:26They need to be 6 to 700.

00:25:28So they have to be very careful when they start this new lap.

00:25:32Because as the tyre temperatures go down, so do the pressures.

00:25:35They're running normally about 20, 21 psi.

00:25:38They're probably 15 or 16 now.

00:25:40So the car runs lower.

00:25:41And now they've got to try and build up some kind of temperature as they lead in to the restart.

00:25:48Hacken is in control.

00:25:50Once that safety car pulls off, Mika Hakkinen becomes the new safety car.

00:25:54And he has the control as to when to move over the line.

00:25:58Hakkinen leading, Coulthard second, Schumacher third.

00:26:02Fourth is Frentzen in the yellow car.

00:26:04Fifth is Barrichello in the Ferrari.

00:26:07Sixth is Trulli in the second Jordan.

00:26:09Seventh is Jacques Villeneuve in the VAR.

00:26:12Eighth is Mika Salo in the Salvo.

00:26:14Ninth is Fisichella.

00:26:15Tenth is Ralph Schumacher.

00:26:17And the safety car is in.

00:26:20And the Australian Grand Prix again is go.

00:26:24Hakkinen, Coulthard, Schumacher.

00:26:27And the gap between them, 1.4 seconds.

00:26:30I can never understand that.

00:26:31Why they don't bury the nose of their cars under the gearbox of the one in front.

00:26:35Why they allow the restart to take place without being as close as possible to the car in front.

00:26:41I know you have to, to a certain extent, react to when, for example, in this case, Hakkinen decides to pull away.

00:26:46But they don't, not like the IndyCar drivers, where they really seem to maximize this opportunity to overtake.

00:26:52And the F1 drivers seem quite happy to go in, line astern.

00:26:57As they are now.

00:26:58There's the McLaren leading.

00:26:59McLaren second. Ferrari third.

00:27:01Jordan fourth. Ferrari fifth.

00:27:03Jordan sixth.

00:27:04The top three rows on the grid are the top six cars in the race,

00:27:10albeit in a slightly different order,

00:27:12because Frentzen is ahead of Barrichello.

00:27:15And in seventh position, there's Villeneuve.

00:27:17Right behind him is Salo.

00:27:19Right behind him, Fisichella and Ralf Schumacher in the leading BMW.

00:27:23Williams, that is in tenth position.

00:27:25Jenson Button, by the way, is 13th in the race.

00:27:29Lap 11 out of 58. Here they come.

00:27:31Michael Schumacher very close to David Coulthard this time around.

00:27:34Not close enough to have a stab in the braking area,

00:27:37but he's certainly giving David something to look at in his mirrors.

00:27:40And Schumacher making a better fist of this early part of this restart,

00:27:46when, as I said, all the temperatures are down,

00:27:48and Hakkinen, as ever, scampering away.

00:27:50And Barrichello challenging the Jordan in front of him of heights.

00:27:53Coulthard in.

00:27:55In comes David Coulthard.

00:27:56Now, this is a very, very early stop.

00:27:59Good heavens.

00:27:59Whatever strategy he's on,

00:28:01I wouldn't have expected a two-stop strategy to come in before another eight laps.

00:28:05I wonder if he's got a puncture.

00:28:07There was a lot of debris on the track from the Della Rosa accident.

00:28:10I've got a feeling it's a left rear puncture for David Coulthard.

00:28:14It looked a little bit out of shape, that tyre.

00:28:16Bit of a guess on my part there,

00:28:18but I can only assume it's a puncture from Coulthard.

00:28:21Well, it sure, it must be that.

00:28:24And Coulthard, of course, is losing place after place after place.

00:28:27And Michael Schumacher has now only got one McLaren in front of him,

00:28:31and it is the McLaren of reigning world champion Micah Hakkinen.

00:28:35Mechanics are having a look at something else at the back there.

00:28:37David's obviously reported in.

00:28:39Hey, I've got a funny handling and...

00:28:42What are they doing now?

00:28:43They're working on some kind of inlet on the side pod there.

00:28:48So, they normally put some kind of electrical umbilical cord in there.

00:28:52He's got a fire in there, look.

00:28:53He's got a fire.

00:28:54James, can you see anything?

00:28:56Yeah, huge amount of smoke coming out, as you say, from the left side pod.

00:28:58Trying to clear something.

00:28:59I think he may have picked up some debris.

00:29:01It may well just be moisture.

00:29:02Mechanics happy.

00:29:03Car is on its way.

00:29:04It wasn't a fire.

00:29:05It was just a precaution.

00:29:06A little bit of a blast of the carbon fire extinguisher,

00:29:08just to keep the underside of the floor cool.

00:29:10And of course, he is now very much last in the race.

00:29:14David Coulthard came in on lap 14 last year to retire with broken throttle assembly.

00:29:22Micah Hakkinen followed him later on during the race.

00:29:25And now, Coulthard down last of all.

00:29:29Now, look, there's a lot of smoke coming out there, Murray.

00:29:31Sorry to interrupt you, but a lot of smoke coming out of the back of Coulthard's car

00:29:35as he turned into that corner.

00:29:36Oh, yes, there it is.

00:29:38That's it.

00:29:38David Coulthard out of the race.

00:29:41Well, it's a brand new Mercedes engine produced by Ilmore over the winter.

00:29:46Oil pouring out from underneath.

00:29:47I saw fluid dripping out from underneath.

00:29:50So the oil in the water jackets have been mixed up in the middle there somewhere.

00:29:54And a fairly terminal engine failure for Coulthard.

00:29:57He's about as lucky as Johnny Herbert, isn't he?

00:30:00Lap 13, Hakkinen leads Schumacher by just over two seconds.

00:30:04Fredson is up into third place.

00:30:05Challenged by Rubens Barrichello.

00:30:08There is the leader.

00:30:09Fifth is Jarno Trulli.

00:30:10He's moved up a place.

00:30:11In the points is Jacques Villeneuve in the B.A.R., followed by Micah Sarlow.

00:30:16Fisichella is eighth.

00:30:17Schumacher is ninth.

00:30:19Jenson Button is up into twelfth position.

00:30:21I tell you, anybody can score points today.

00:30:23I think anybody has got a chance.

00:30:25As you see, the engine letting on Coulthard's car.

00:30:28People have just got to stay on the racetrack this afternoon somehow,

00:30:32because, look, we've already got...

00:30:35How many cars left in the race?

00:30:36We're just 16, I think, at the moment.

00:30:38Yeah.

00:30:38Herbert is out.

00:30:39Irvine is out.

00:30:40De la Rosa is out.

00:30:42Coulthard is out.

00:30:4422 started.

00:30:45So there are 18 left in the race.

00:30:48We're on lap 13.

00:30:50Michael Schumacher is speeding up.

00:30:52Micah Hakkinen.

00:30:53I can see him in his mirrors.

00:30:55And there is the fin.

00:30:56The flying fin, as he calls himself.

00:30:58Yes, and we're not even a quarter of the way through the race yet.

00:31:01So plenty of action to come.

00:31:03And reliability seeming a big issue.

00:31:05Yeah, look at the side pods, incidentally, of that leading McLaren.

00:31:08There's a new design feature.

00:31:10You see the kind of couple of trumpets sticking up out of the back?

00:31:13There they are.

00:31:14Thank you very much.

00:31:16That is to get rid of the hot air from the radiators

00:31:19without affecting the airflow over the wings.

00:31:22If it works, the others will have it soon.

00:31:25If it doesn't, McLaren will drop it.

00:31:27But they've done a lot of testing, so it must work.

00:31:30Hakkinen a full 6 tenths of a second faster on that lap than Michael Schumacher.

00:31:35His lead up to 2.9.

00:31:37He's no longer got a rear gunner in the form of David Coulthard to help him out.

00:31:40So he's decided to pick up the pace.

00:31:43Obviously very bad news for McLaren in the Constructors' Championship.

00:31:47The most points they can hope for now are 10 from Micah Hakkinen winning this race.

00:31:52And it's by no means certain he's going to do it.

00:31:55And Ferrari could score 10 points

00:31:57if they could get Rubens Barrichello behind Michael Schumacher up into third position.

00:32:03But that's speculation.

00:32:04There's a long, long way to go.

00:32:06And Hakkinen is now leading Schumacher by an increased margin of 2.9 seconds.

00:32:11Clear track behind Schumacher.

00:32:13Frentzen and Barrichello pretty close together.

00:32:16There they are, rounding Turn 12 on their way to the Golf Course corner.

00:32:23And in 5th and 6th position.

00:32:25Both V.Georges, incidentally, are doing well.

00:32:27Jarno Trulli is 5th.

00:32:29Yes, Coulthard's car must have been incredibly hot.

00:32:31Having had the safety car laps where they can tend to pick up a lot of engine temperature,

00:32:36not much air going through the side pods.

00:32:38And then that awfully long pit stop.

00:32:40And it doesn't surprise me at all.

00:32:42He had engine failure on the way out.

00:32:43Whether it was his reason for going in or not is another matter.

00:32:46And Louise is down with Eddie Irvine.

00:32:48Eddie, from the camera angles that we could see,

00:32:50it's a bit difficult to tell who collected who.

00:32:52Talk us through it.

00:32:53No-one collected anyone.

00:32:55De La Rosa just hit the wall and bounced out in the middle.

00:32:58I lifted to slow down.

00:33:00The car just spun the minute I lifted.

00:33:03It's the handling thing we've been talking about.

00:33:07So, and there is Frentzen.

00:33:10And behind him, Barrichello.

00:33:12Now, this is looking good for Jordan.

00:33:14I was talking to Mike Gascoigne, the designer, just before the race started.

00:33:19And he was very, very optimistic about their chances.

00:33:22Heinz-Harald Frentzen, who joined Jordan last year and won two races for them,

00:33:27finished second here in Australia and showed how happy he was in his then-new team.

00:33:34And he's now a completely rejuvenated driver,

00:33:36showing all the class and style that we always thought he'd got.

00:33:40Keeping ahead of Rubens Barrichello in the Ferrari.

00:33:43Now, we are with...

00:33:46You're on board, Barrichello.

00:33:46...the Ferrari of Barrichello now in fourth position.

00:33:50Looking at Frentzen ahead of us, what's he thinking, Martin?

00:33:53He's thinking, I need to get past this Jordan in a hurry.

00:33:55I'm already 10 seconds behind the leader.

00:33:58And he's currently lapping 1.3, 1.4 slower than Michael Schumacher, his teammate.

00:34:03So that gives you a gauge of how much time it's costing him in the turbulent air,

00:34:07coming off of the back of that Jordan.

00:34:09And there's a few areas of this racetrack where it's very difficult to follow another car

00:34:14and actually see your line, too.

00:34:15So Rubens needs to really have quite a big stab anytime soon.

00:34:20And just to translate what Eddie Irvine said,

00:34:23basically, Delarosa went off in front of him,

00:34:26he lifted the throttle in avoidance and spun off.

00:34:30So that's quite an alarming handling trait that Eddie referred to as having spoken about before this weekend.

00:34:37Great to see that on-board stuff from the car, incidentally.

00:34:40We hope to show you a lot more of that this year.

00:34:43And Barrichello crowding Heinz-Harald Frentzen's Jordan with Trulli behind him.

00:34:49Trulli is another driver, of course, who has moved from the Prost team last year to Jordan.

00:34:55And news from James Allen.

00:34:57I'm just looking at the situation, same as you guys, with Barrichello stuck behind Heinz-Harald Frentzen.

00:35:00It seems to me that Ferrari and McLaren are very much on the same pace.

00:35:03Lapping in the 1.32s, the 1.33s, on roughly the same strategy.

00:35:06But I'm pretty sure that Jordan's got a lot of fuel on-board.

00:35:09They did it a lot last year.

00:35:10Frentzen was strong with a heavy car.

00:35:13He was able to push it right to the limit.

00:35:14And, of course, that safety car period will really have helped him.

00:35:17He'll have been able to go longer into the race.

00:35:19We might even see him coming in around lap 40, 45 even,

00:35:21with that fuel conservation he was able to do under the safety car.

00:35:25He is a player in this race because, of course,

00:35:27we've got Ferrari and McLaren still have some question marks about their reliability.

00:35:32We've just reached just over a quarter distance of this race, Murray.

00:35:36And we've got a situation where Hakkinen, 3.4 seconds ahead of Schumacher,

00:35:41who's a further eight ahead of Frentzen.

00:35:44And Barrichello, as you can see, just four-tenths of a second behind.

00:35:48Now, the race could be transformed by drivers being on different strategies.

00:35:52We don't know what the situation is.

00:35:54It's difficult to see, I think, Hakkinen and Schumacher being on different strategies to each other.

00:36:00But they might well be.

00:36:01New fastest lap for Michael Schumacher,

00:36:03taking three-tenths of a second out of Hakkinen that time around on a 1.32.4.

00:36:10Now, it's a pity we can't see it because from ninth place down to 13th,

00:36:17there is a colossal battle going on between Ralf Schumacher in the BMW Williams,

00:36:23Zonta in the BAR,

00:36:27Mertz in the Benetton, Jenson Button is tucked up underneath his rear wing,

00:36:31and Jean Alessi is up there as well.

00:36:34But we look now at the Ferrari of Michael Schumacher.

00:36:39Now, where is he in rally?

00:36:40You can see he's out of sight of Mikko Hakkinen on this part of the course, but he's quicker.

00:36:46The gap between the two is now 3.2 seconds.

00:36:50The fastest lap we've had is Michael Schumacher,

00:36:531.32.47.

00:36:57Fastest lap we had last year was three-tenths of a second slower than that by Michael Schumacher himself.

00:37:08We're on lap 17.

00:37:10There's a long way to go.

00:37:12We're going to leave you, but be back soon.

00:37:23We're going to leave you, but be back soon.

00:37:53We're going to leave you, but be back soon.

00:38:23We're going to leave you, but be back soon.

00:38:53We're going to leave you, but be back soon.

00:39:23Here is the newly liveried B.A.R. of Riccardo Zonta from Brazil.

00:39:29Hakkinen out, Murray. I think that's Hakkinen slowing.

00:39:30Yes!

00:39:31Mikko Hakkinen out of the race.

00:39:34Both McLarens, as they were in 1999, retiring,

00:39:39and Michael Schumacher goes into the lead,

00:39:43and it looks as though if he can keep going,

00:39:46he's in a very strong position to do well in Australia,

00:39:49which is something he has never done before.

00:39:52He mustn't get too excited about the situation,

00:39:55but a very, very unhappy race for McLaren as it was last year.

00:40:00Last year, they had the fastest car,

00:40:03but they had problem after problem through the season,

00:40:06and there's no doubt about the fact that it was reliability

00:40:09that cost them the Constructors' World Championship.

00:40:13Schumacher leads.

00:40:14The flags are flying. There is the proof.

00:40:17Schumacher leads the Australian Grand Prix.

00:40:20Hakkinen is out of it. Coulthard is out of it.

00:40:23Frentzen, as he was last year, is in second place,

00:40:27but behind a different Ferrari.

00:40:30Last year, it was Eddie Irvine's car.

00:40:32This year, it is that man's car, Michael Schumacher.

00:40:36Rubens Barrichello is third in the second Ferrari,

00:40:38and James Allen is in the pit.

00:40:40Oh, Murray, I watched that drama unfold down here in the McLaren garage.

00:40:43Actually, it was just beginning to kick off,

00:40:45just before we went to the break.

00:40:46I had everything crossed that Mikko Hakkinen wouldn't retire during a break.

00:40:50But basically, I think it's some form of power problem.

00:40:53The engineers started to sense there was some difficulties.

00:40:55They were looking at the computer screens.

00:40:57They had some batteries ready.

00:40:58On the lower left-hand side of the side pod,

00:41:00there was something that they were going to hopefully top up,

00:41:03or it was something to do with power, electricity, I feel.

00:41:05It's a problem Hakkinen had, of course.

00:41:07Yesterday morning, he only got about four or five laps in

00:41:09of the morning practice session.

00:41:10They had to change the whole back end of the car.

00:41:12I think it's the same problem, possibly revisited.

00:41:15Something to do with power failure, anyway.

00:41:16McLaren mechanics, of course, completely gutted.

00:41:18Worked very hard this weekend.

00:41:20Thought they were onto something here.

00:41:21But again, once again, second year in a row, going home with nothing.

00:41:24I suspect they were trying to recharge the air valve system, probably, James.

00:41:29And in that case, judging by the amount of smoke coming out of the back,

00:41:33may well be similar to Coulthard's car,

00:41:36in that it was running out of compressed air for the valve system.

00:41:39And another retirement now.

00:41:41Pedro Diniz.

00:41:41Dinitz in the Sauber.

00:41:43So that means we're going to be down to just 15 cars.

00:41:47Only eight finished last year.

00:41:50Mikko Häkkinen.

00:41:53Mikko Häkkinen adjusting his new hairstyle as he takes his helmet off.

00:41:58But Michael Schumacher, now with some 38 laps still to go,

00:42:04leads by a comfortable 17 seconds.

00:42:07From Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Rubens Barrichello right behind Frentzen's Jordan.

00:42:12And by keeping an eye on Jenson Button for Britain,

00:42:16because he's now moved up into 11th position

00:42:20as a result of the disappearance of Mikko Häkkinen.

00:42:24Just one place off for top ten.

00:42:26And he's lapping within three tenths of a second of Ralf Schumacher,

00:42:29so a pretty impressive start to Jenson Button's career here in Melbourne.

00:42:36Now last year, as I was saying, just eight cars finished the race.

00:42:40I said earlier on that they've designed entirely new cars.

00:42:44Formula One is always changing them.

00:42:46They've tested, tested, tested.

00:42:48They've tested in Barcelona.

00:42:49They've tested in Jerez.

00:42:51Williams went out to South Africa, where it rained most of the time.

00:42:56But you can test until you're blue in the face or red in the face in the case of Ferrari,

00:43:01and you don't get the same pressure that you get in a race.

00:43:05Maybe we've had that proof here today with the two McLarens going up.

00:43:09And the pressure now is on Heinz-Harald Frentzen in the yellow Jordan.

00:43:13There is Rubens Barrichello third behind him.

00:43:16The next car you see is Jarno Trulli, who is in fourth position.

00:43:21Now there is only 1.3 seconds between that Jordan of Frentzen coming through to complete the lap

00:43:28and his teammate Jarno Trulli in the second Jordan, who is behind him in fourth position.

00:43:35Ron Dennis said at a press conference this week that even if he didn't win the race,

00:43:38but having led by a lap or something, as they have done in the last couple of years here,

00:43:43he'd rather that than break down and not be well ahead.

00:43:48Well, he's got exactly that scenario.

00:43:49He didn't appear to have a pace advantage as they have in previous seasons.

00:43:54And I think Michael breaking his leg last year certainly helped them out

00:43:58in terms of making up for the lack of reliability they had.

00:44:02But I think they'll be concerned by more so this season by Ferrari's pace.

00:44:06And they're still apparent lack of reliability.

00:44:09Yeah, there is no doubt about the fact that Ferrari is much closer to McLaren than it was last year.

00:44:14Last year, Hackingham was 1.3 seconds faster than Schumacher on the starting grid.

00:44:21This year, it was only half a second.

00:44:23And that is confused a bit by the fact that Michael Schumacher had a very quick lap at the end of qualifying,

00:44:31which he wasn't able to complete, which would have possibly given him pole position.

00:44:36So I would say that it's even-stevered between the McLaren and the Ferrari this year so far.

00:44:43And Ferrari, of course, is fabled for its reliability.

00:44:48Well, this is a curious lap from Barrichello.

00:44:50We just happened to go on board with him.

00:44:51He's done two green sections on the computer, his fastest two sections of the race so far

00:44:57after 22 laps completed on their 23rd, coming towards the end of it now.

00:45:02And he's suddenly zoomed right up to the back of Frentzen,

00:45:05probably he's been told to pick the pace up a little bit.

00:45:09Yeah, let's look at the constructors.

00:45:11Ferrari is leading this race.

00:45:14Jordan are in a very strong position, with Frentzen in second position and Trulli in fourth place.

00:45:20Ferrari, of course, have got Barrichello in third position.

00:45:24VAR are on target for at least one point at the present moment,

00:45:30because Jacques Villeneuve is in fifth position.

00:45:33And he's more likely to finish the race this year than he did last year.

00:45:36By this time last year, he was out with a broken rear wing, which brought the safety car out.

00:45:42And he's got the Honda engine this year in the VAR.

00:45:45And it's been very, very reliable all through testing.

00:45:49VAR are looking good at the moment for their first point.

00:45:52And Sauber are on a single world championship point if they finish this race,

00:45:57which has still got 36 laps to run,

00:46:00because Mika Salo, the Finn, who joined them from Ferrari as a result of Michael Schumacher coming back

00:46:07for that absolutely sensational drive at Malaysia last year.

00:46:12Mika Salo is in the Sauber team.

00:46:14Now, seventh is Fisichella. Eighth is Ralph Schumacher. Ninth is Zonta.

00:46:18Tenth is Alexander Woertz. Eleventh, Jenson Button.

00:46:21We're watching Trulli in fourth place there.

00:46:24But remember, Salo could have and should have won in Hockenheim last year.

00:46:28He had to give the race up to teammate Eddie Irvine when he stood in for Michael Schumacher.

00:46:33And I have to say, Salo hasn't shown this kind or that kind of performance earlier on in his Grand Prix career.

00:46:39So Mika has clearly stepped up a gear somewhere.

00:46:4322 started, 16 left, six retirements. Here they are in retirement order.

00:46:48Jonny Herbert out in the Jaguar. Eddie Irvine out in the Jaguar.

00:46:53De La Rosa out in the Arrows. David Coulthard out in the McLaren.

00:46:58Jos Verstappen out in the Arrows. Mika Häkkinen out in the McLaren.

00:47:03Both McLarens out of the Australian Grand Prix.

00:47:06Both Arrows out of the Australian Grand Prix.

00:47:09And both Jaguars. Three very unhappy teams with a lot to do.

00:47:15And leading still Michael Schumacher.

00:47:19Well, is this going to be the brilliant double world champion Michael Schumacher for Germany's race?

00:47:27It is 127th Grand Prix, of which he has won an incredible 35.

00:47:34I can see a Prost in the pit lane, stationary in the pit lane, Murray out of the window.

00:47:38So I can't see which driver it is from here.

00:47:42But it looks like we may have yet another airing on the radio.

00:47:47It's Heidfeld. So we've got yet another retirement from this motor race.

00:47:52Yes, I was talking earlier on and I think got distracted.

00:47:56This is the first race of the year. Although testing is one thing, racing is another.

00:48:02Particularly in this sort of heat. It's not nearly as hot as it was yesterday.

00:48:06The track temperature yesterday at one point nudged up to 50 degrees.

00:48:11It's 35 degrees now, but it's still mighty hot.

00:48:15And when David Coulthard and Mika Häkkinen got out of their cars at the end of qualifying,

00:48:20they looked like a couple of boiled lobsters in silver suits.

00:48:24James Allen, news?

00:48:26Yeah, Murray, I'm just trying to get a little bit closer to the bottom of what happened to the two McLarens.

00:48:29It appears that both cars went out with the same problem, and it appears it's engine-based.

00:48:35They both had misfires. Coulthard came in to try and fix some form of misfire.

00:48:40The little flash of flame you saw under the car and the flash of the fire extinguisher

00:48:43was because the bodywork was getting hot, but the basic problem was to do with a misfire.

00:48:48The mechanic was working on the same area of the car that they were going to have to work on on Häkkinen's

00:48:52had he made it into the garages. So, same failure, both cars engine-related.

00:48:56Thanks for that, James. Clearly a lot to do.

00:48:59And here is Schumacher coming up to lap Pedro Diniz, who is in 14th place.

00:49:0715 cars left now.

00:49:09Nick Heidfeld out of his first Grand Prix for Prost,

00:49:12performing a 3,000 champion of last year.

00:49:15But I think he's... I've just had news that we think he's actually rejoined the race.

00:49:20Yes, he's out on the pits, I see on my screen in front of me.

00:49:25Nick Heidfeld has rejoined, so there are 16 runners still left.

00:49:30Michael Schumacher is leading Frentzen now. There is Frentzen by 20 seconds.

00:49:35There is Barrichello in third position and Trulli very much in touch in the second yellow door.

00:49:41Yes, but we're seeing a performance similar to Michael Schumacher's, really,

00:49:44especially now the McLarens have disappeared off the scene,

00:49:47similar to last year in Malaysia, because he's been lapping a full one,

00:49:521.3 seconds faster than his pursuers. He's 20 seconds ahead of Frentzen and Barrichello.

00:49:59I mean, Michael was quicker on that last lap, despite the traffic you saw him overtaking,

00:50:04and just setting a new fastest first sector of the race already, as I'm speaking,

00:50:09and Michael just really in a league of his own at the moment.

00:50:12Martin, your thoughts on the fact...

00:50:17No, not your thoughts on that, because with the news that on lap 26,

00:50:22it is still Schumacher, Frentzen, Barrichello, Trulli, Villeneuve and Salo in sixth position.

00:50:27We're going for a break.

00:52:17Lap 28

00:52:38Lap 28 out of 56, which, unless I'm very much mistaken,

00:52:42is half the distance for the Australian Grand Prix.

00:52:46Track temperature, 34 degrees, it's going down,

00:52:49and Louise Goodman is with Ron Dennis, the boss of McLaren.

00:52:53Ron, I understand both cars have gone out of the race with an engine-related problem.

00:52:56What can you tell me about that?

00:52:58This is quite correct.

00:53:01They suffered exactly the same failure, which was a pneumatic failure in the valve gear,

00:53:07which is exactly the problem we had with two engines in qualifying yesterday,

00:53:12or practice in the morning.

00:53:15What's obviously frustrating is that we complete thousands of miles of testing

00:53:20to avoid these sorts of problems at a Grand Prix,

00:53:23and probably some spec change has occurred between the last test

00:53:29and the preparation of these engines, which has caused these failures to occur.

00:53:34On the positive side, they're all exactly the same.

00:53:37It is a small failure, and as such it will be technically very difficult to resolve.

00:53:43But when you're dominating a race,

00:53:46and already in a situation where you're conserving fuel and dropping the pace,

00:53:52it's very frustrating.

00:53:54I think it was a comfortable result, and makes it a little bit more difficult to accept.

00:54:01Thanks for talking to us.

00:54:03Two fastest laps of the race for Michael Schumacher.

00:54:06Strangely, pole position was slightly slower this year, and that's unusual,

00:54:10but the race pace is faster.

00:54:12Michael's still pulling out over a second a lap on his pursuers,

00:54:16and he's lapping the best part of two and a half seconds a lap faster

00:54:20than, for example, the Williams, the Benetton, and the midfield group

00:54:25that are running from fifth through down to Jenson Button in 11th place.

00:54:30Two and a half seconds a lap faster.

00:54:33James is with Micke Häkkinen.

00:54:35Micke, you were driving so well there, you must be incredibly disappointed.

00:54:40Yes, extremely.

00:54:43I am very disappointed, but luckily we have still as much races to go

00:54:48as was total last year, so I think I have still a pretty good chance

00:54:51to score some points this year.

00:54:53Last year, Ron said he'd like to leave this race, that's more important,

00:54:56even if you're retired. Do you still feel that way?

00:54:58Do you feel you have the edge over Ferrari from what you've seen this afternoon?

00:55:02I think we are very competitive at the moment, very strong,

00:55:05and I'm happy with the speed of the car,

00:55:10but not happy to finish in the Grand Prix,

00:55:12and like you probably heard me yesterday saying,

00:55:14what is important here is to come here and score some points.

00:55:17Top six, score some points, I'm happy.

00:55:19That did not happen, so it doesn't feel very nice at the moment.

00:55:24Thanks a lot, Micke.

00:55:25Out of the race goes Jean Alessi,

00:55:27a very pragmatic Ron Dennis saying how it is,

00:55:31a very pragmatic Micke Hacken reflecting on the situation,

00:55:34and yes, I am very much mistaken.

00:55:37Twice 26 is not 58.

00:55:40We are not quite at the halfway point of the race.

00:55:42Well, we are now, actually, because we're on lap 29 out of 58.

00:55:47As you watch Michael Schumacher, he's lapping driver after driver.

00:55:51He's on his 30th lap.

00:55:53He's leading Heinz-Harald Frentzen by nearly 25 seconds.

00:55:57Frentzen has continued to have Barrichello glued to his gearbox,

00:56:02and Trulli is 5.5 seconds down the road in fourth place.

00:56:06Jack Diehlner in the B.A.R. is still in a comfortable fifth position,

00:56:11with Micke Salo pressing him pretty hard.

00:56:14Seventh is Fisichella, eighth is Schumacher,

00:56:17ninth is Zonta, tenth is Woertz, eleventh is Jenson Button,

00:56:21and the Ferrari mechanics are out, presumably,

00:56:25to bring in Michael Schumacher, the race leader.

00:56:29I wouldn't think, Martin, that they're bringing Barrichello in

00:56:32and hoping there's going to be a change between him and Frentzen

00:56:35as a result of a quicker Ferrari pit stop.

00:56:37Well, they may have left Michael slightly lighter at the beginning of the race

00:56:40to give him a chance to pass the McLarens and still stay on a one-stopper,

00:56:43or they could be thinking of Schumacher coming in the pits now.

00:56:47They could have been thinking of trying to get Barrichello past Frentzen

00:56:50by stopping him very early.

00:56:52In fact, they might be better off stopping him very late.

00:56:54As James said at the beginning of the show,

00:56:56Jordan traditionally have a big fuel tank.

00:56:58James is down at the Ferrari pit.

00:57:00Michael, with a new speed limit here for this year of just 50 miles an hour,

00:57:04it seems an eternity.

00:57:06And, of course, as the world champions,

00:57:08they're right at the far end of the pit lane.

00:57:10Eighty kilometres an hour, it seems so slow in comparison with last year.

00:57:13Really is going to have a huge effect on pit stops this year.

00:57:16A set of used tyres, scrub tyres, we call them, going on.

00:57:19The teams have found that they go really, really well.

00:57:2212.2, completely normal.

00:57:24One-stop fuel load, slightly slow, but, hey, they don't need to rush these guys.

00:57:28Now, of course, Ross Prawn has got to think very hard

00:57:30about how he gets Rubens Barrichello in front of Frentzen,

00:57:33given that Frentzen is obviously going to run long on this first stint.

00:57:36Well, Michael Schumacher is joined just in front of Jarno Trulli,

00:57:41which means to say that Frentzen leads.

00:57:43Barrichello is in second place.

00:57:45Now, you saw the Ferrari mechanics

00:57:48frantically scrabbling about in the side pods of Schumacher's Ferrari.

00:57:53That is because the grass here at Melbourne has been cut.

00:57:57Some of it has not been collected.

00:57:59It has dried out, and you get an awful lot of grass

00:58:02in those side pods on the radiators.

00:58:05And the teams have fitted very, very tight mesh gauze strainers,

00:58:10and the grass piles up on that.

00:58:12They have to get it out, otherwise the engines are going to dramatically overheat.

00:58:16Yes, and it's crucial for Schumacher to get out in front of Trulli,

00:58:19because even though he's got a heavier fuel load now,

00:58:22Trulli getting towards the end of his fuel.

00:58:24Michael tanked up, as we saw, on a 12.2-second stop.

00:58:28Roughly 12 litres per second goes in from the rig,

00:58:32and he now maintains track position.

00:58:35Whilst being in third place, his pit stop's out of the way,

00:58:38and that worked out just fine for him.

00:58:40Well, now the interesting thing is how much longer

00:58:44is Heinz-Harald Frentzen going to stay out in the lead,

00:58:48with Rubens Barrichello pressing him very hard indeed.

00:58:51There is the Jordan crossing the line.

00:58:54Now, let's see where the Ferrari is behind it.

00:58:57There is Rubens Barrichello,

00:58:59and you just saw the flash of Frentzen's wing,

00:59:02so it's a very close fight in the front for the lead.

00:59:05Now, if Frentzen can stay out quite a long time

00:59:08by having a heavier fuel load when this race started,

00:59:11it will mean to say that he'll have to take on less fuel when he stops,

00:59:15therefore take less time,

00:59:17and therefore be in a stronger position.

00:59:20But that, again, is speculation.

00:59:22Lap 32 out of 58, Frentzen leads.

00:59:25There's Barrichello behind him in second place.

00:59:28Frentzen was in second place last year.

00:59:31Barrichello drove an absolutely sensational race last year,

00:59:35because, as I said, after starting from the pit lane

00:59:38in the Stuart after that power he had,

00:59:40he clawed his way up,

00:59:42and then he had a ten-second penalty

00:59:44because he passed Michael Schumacher on the line

00:59:47after the safety car went out,

00:59:49and Barrichello still finished in fifth position last year.

00:59:52Mika Salo has pitted from sixth position.

00:59:55Presumably, that was a regular pit stop,

00:59:58and that puts Button up in 10th.

01:00:01Salo currently running 11th,

01:00:03and I think it was a scheduled stop.

01:00:05Now, I thought I saw Trulli emerging...

01:00:09No, sorry, it was one of the Minardis.

01:00:12The liveries of the Jordans and the Minardis

01:00:15are very similar this year.

01:00:17It's a much brighter yellow, as you can see for yourself,

01:00:20for Jordan, partly to defer to Deutsche Post,

01:00:24which is one of their new sponsors,

01:00:26and a large amount of money is being put into the Jordan team.

01:00:30You'll see the trumpets on there.

01:00:32Oh, there they are on the airbox.

01:00:34New sponsors all round,

01:00:36because, as I said earlier on,

01:00:38there's a lot of high-tech money going into the teams,

01:00:41not the least of which is coming into the Arrows team from Orange.

01:00:45Yes, Rubens will be rearing that poor start, won't he,

01:00:48on the 33rd lap of the race,

01:00:50and, well, look how much it's cost him.

01:00:52He's still tucked up behind Frentzen,

01:00:54but I have to say,

01:00:55not exactly harrying him around every corner, either.

01:00:59So, Rubens appears to be pacing himself slightly,

01:01:03but he needs to pick that pace up,

01:01:04because Michael, in the sister car,

01:01:07has been going significantly faster.

01:01:09And as a result of the disappearance of Jean Alessi,

01:01:13Jenson Button, in his first Grand Prix for BMW Williams,

01:01:17is in 10th position.

01:01:19He is in the top ten.

01:01:21The Ferrari pit crew are getting ready again,

01:01:24and this time, of course,

01:01:25it will definitely be for Rubens Barrichello,

01:01:28as Heinz-Harald Frentzen is coming up to the traffic,

01:01:31Sarlo in front of him.

01:01:33Yes, unless Frentzen,

01:01:35that's the Sauber I'm thinking from,

01:01:37but unless Frentzen gets badly held up in the traffic,

01:01:40then, in fact, it's a Prost,

01:01:42then this is not going to work for Barrichello.

01:01:44Michael's gone out,

01:01:45and he's lapping some two and a half seconds slower now,

01:01:48with that extra fuel load.

01:01:49So, clearly, pitting early

01:01:51is not going to help Barrichello at all.

01:01:53He just needs to hope

01:01:54that Frentzen gets caught up in some traffic,

01:01:56but so few cars on the road this afternoon,

01:01:59that's unlikely to happen.

01:02:01So, we're riding with Rubens Barrichello

01:02:04from third position.

01:02:05He made a brave try to get past Heinz-Harald Frentzen

01:02:09as they were lapping Nick Heidfeld in the Prost,

01:02:13but comes up into the pit lane.

01:02:14Up on the jacks goes the Ferrari.

01:02:17Off come the old tyres and wheels.

01:02:19On go the new ones.

01:02:20Out comes the fuel filler.

01:02:228.09 seconds.

01:02:24Rather a slow start.

01:02:26Yes, a bit of a jerky getaway there for Rubens.

01:02:28He just seems so serene this weekend,

01:02:31almost too serene.

01:02:32He's been cruising around,

01:02:33happy to talk to anybody,

01:02:35and driving really beautifully,

01:02:37but a bit tardy away there,

01:02:39and that certainly won't give him a chance

01:02:41to slingshot Frentzen,

01:02:43although I'm looking to see

01:02:45what kind of traffic Frentzen does have in his view.

01:02:49So, there is Rubens.

01:02:52You can tell the difference between the two Ferraris,

01:02:54incidentally, by the yellow flashes

01:02:56on the extremities of the front wing

01:02:59and on the roll bar over the air box,

01:03:02and you certainly need them.

01:03:03He's coming up to Jenson Button now.

01:03:05This is going to be interesting

01:03:06to see how the young Englishman

01:03:08in his first Grand Prix in the BMW Williams,

01:03:11it's their first Grand Prix together,

01:03:13copes with new boy at Ferrari,

01:03:16Rubens Barrichello.

01:03:18And Barrichello is in his 113th Grand Prix,

01:03:22despite his comparatively tender age of 27.

01:03:25I think when it all shakes out,

01:03:27Button is ahead of Barrichello this time with the pit stop.

01:03:29Remember, with that safety car earlier in the race,

01:03:32it reformed the pack,

01:03:35so it's not a traditional situation

01:03:38where they make a regular stop

01:03:40and come back out in a predictable position

01:03:43on the racetrack,

01:03:44so I think you'll find Barrichello shakes out

01:03:47actually behind Jenson at this point in the race.

01:03:49Well, Jenson is going jolly well,

01:03:51but the important thing for him in this race

01:03:54is not so much position,

01:03:56but above everything else,

01:03:58to get some race mileage in.

01:04:00He's had comparatively little testing in the Williams

01:04:03because they've had a lot of development problems

01:04:06with the engine in particular.

01:04:08They had rain in South Africa

01:04:10when they went out to Kyle Army for a full week,

01:04:13and Jenson is definitely light on mileage,

01:04:15so the deeper into this race he can get,

01:04:18the preferable to finish it,

01:04:19the better off he will be for the future events,

01:04:22and he's in 9th place now,

01:04:24as Martin has correctly pointed out,

01:04:26the Rubens-Barrichello as a result of that pit stop

01:04:29is in 10th position,

01:04:31so Button moved up a place,

01:04:33and Rubens-Barrichello has dropped from 3rd to 10th.

01:04:36Yes, that's cost Rubens badly,

01:04:38that poor getaway,

01:04:41put him behind yet another car.

01:04:44James, what can you tell us about Barrichello?

01:04:45Well, Martin, you know, I'm just looking at this,

01:04:47and it's very strange

01:04:48because for one normal one-stop fuel load,

01:04:50you wouldn't get it away in 8 seconds,

01:04:52and that's really all that Rubens was stationary for.

01:04:55What I'm thinking has happened here,

01:04:56because we had the safety car 3 or 4 laps out there,

01:04:59they told Rubens to run the car really lean.

01:05:01He's stuck behind Frentzen,

01:05:02he doesn't seem to be able to get past him.

01:05:04He's been conserving fuel for the last 10 or 15 laps,

01:05:07so of course he comes in,

01:05:08they put in a very short fill,

01:05:10hoping to get him out early

01:05:11so he can put the hammer down,

01:05:13but of course he messed up the getaway,

01:05:15so it may well be

01:05:16that of course it messes up his chances

01:05:18of getting ahead of Frentzen.

01:05:19Just a theory, but it might be the case.

01:05:21Yeah, I guess you'd never choose a Ferrari as a getaway car,

01:05:24necessarily attracts too much attention,

01:05:26but all jokes aside,

01:05:28Barrichello there certainly cost himself dearly,

01:05:31and let's see what time Jenson's doing.

01:05:33Low, 1 minute 34s,

01:05:34Ralf Schumacher, 33.4,

01:05:36so he's still lapping,

01:05:3836 laps into the race,

01:05:40within 6 tenths of Ralf,

01:05:42so his fitness...

01:05:43Well, off goes the Jordan,

01:05:45and it's Jarno Trulli from third position.

01:05:48Now Button is actually running seventh at the moment,

01:05:50or he was,

01:05:51now he's in sixth position.

01:05:53Jenson Button is in a position at the moment,

01:05:56and it's a long way still to go

01:05:58to score a world championship point in his first race.

01:06:01Jarno Trulli blows it in his first race for Jordan,

01:06:06disconsolately walks away from the car

01:06:08out of the gravel track.

01:06:10Here it is.

01:06:11I think it's going to be a mechanical failure,

01:06:12not a driving error though, Mariano.

01:06:14Look, the engine's letting go

01:06:15and locking the rear wheels.

01:06:17You have to get the clutch buried very quickly,

01:06:19and then the hydraulic pressure fades away,

01:06:22and that's an oil fire at the back of the car there.

01:06:25As you know, it then quickly burns itself out,

01:06:28and in comes Frentzen for his stop.

01:06:31Frentzen from the lead of this Grand Prix.

01:06:34We're assuming now

01:06:35he's just 14 seconds ahead of Michael Schumacher,

01:06:38and it's about a 28-second total cost

01:06:41to come in the pit lane,

01:06:43so Michael Schumacher will regain the lead.

01:06:45The big story is, where will Barrichello end up?

01:06:49Will he end up in front of or behind Frentzen?

01:06:51My guess is behind.

01:06:52Let's see what sort of job Jordan can do there.

01:06:55Look, they've got a refueling problem.

01:06:57The refueler's not gone on yet.

01:06:59It's not even on at all,

01:07:00so this plays beautifully into Barrichello's hands,

01:07:03and they're still shaking their heads.

01:07:04They can't get the refueler started.

01:07:07It looks like it may be putting fuel in now.

01:07:10The car must be getting so hot sitting there.

01:07:1223 seconds, so a disastrous stop for the Jordan team.

01:07:16Hear this!

01:07:17Lap 37, Michael Schumacher leads.

01:07:21Jacques Villeneuve is in second position.

01:07:23Ralf Schumacher in the BMW Williams is third,

01:07:26and Jenson Button is in fourth position.

01:07:30Incredible!

01:07:31Rubens Barrichello is in fifth place.

01:07:34Frentzen, there he is,

01:07:36fighting hard to recover what was the lead,

01:07:40and is now very, very much down the field for him.

01:07:43This race is getting red hot.

01:07:49Race leader.

01:07:50Well, we've seen the other Jordan go out with a smoky engine

01:07:54and certainly sitting there for that amount of time for Frentzen

01:07:58will not have done his engine any favours whatsoever.

01:08:01I wouldn't want to put any money

01:08:03on who's going to be on the podium this afternoon, Murray.

01:08:06Still such a long way to go and so many dramas.

01:08:09Yeah, we've still got 22 laps to go,

01:08:14including the one that Michael Schumacher is concluding right now.

01:08:19Well, all you can say is, as I've said before,

01:08:22that Ferrari have up to now had reliability on their side.

01:08:27Michael Schumacher's now on his 38th lap,

01:08:30and it could be that Jacques Villeneuve is not only going to score

01:08:34his first points for B.A.R. and B.A.R.'s first points

01:08:38after a terrible 1999, but he's going to be...

01:08:41No, he's not, because Ralf Schumacher is now up into second position

01:08:45as into the pits comes Villeneuve.

01:08:47There is the proof in front of you,

01:08:49and I saw one of the BMWs coming in there.

01:08:53It's Jenson Buck coming in for his race stop.

01:08:58That's the first-ever pit stop of his career,

01:09:00so a Grand Prix career, of course,

01:09:02but I think it's probably the first racing pit stop of his career, full stop.

01:09:07And a good one it was, too, for the Williams team on 11 seconds dead.

01:09:12Jenson over the white line now.

01:09:14He can press the button, get rid of the speed limiter

01:09:16and accelerate towards the first corner.

01:09:19New boots, take it easy, Jenson.

01:09:21Remember, the grip characteristics will be different in the car now

01:09:26from the older tyres that you just got rid of.

01:09:29And on lap 38, Michael Schumacher seems only to have to keep going

01:09:34to win the Australian Grand Prix for the first time.

01:09:38But I dare not make any prophecies.

01:09:42I hardly dare speculate, because, as I said,

01:09:46BMW are entirely new to Grand Prix racing

01:09:50since they left it so long ago

01:09:53when Nelson Piquet won with the Brabham BMW Turbo

01:09:57the World Championship in 19...

01:10:01When was it?

01:10:031903.

01:10:05But they're looking mighty good at the present moment

01:10:08as Ralph Schumacher follows his teammate Jenson Button in for a pit stop.

01:10:13He follows him in from second position.

01:10:16Now, that means that Barrichello will definitely move up

01:10:19into second place in the Ferrari.

01:10:22And we'd better just let this round of pit stops develop

01:10:26and the race calm down a bit

01:10:28so that we can see exactly how everything has settled.

01:10:32Oh, there's a lot of problems.

01:10:34I was wondering if it was a heat problem.

01:10:41But it's not all that hot.

01:10:4324 degrees air temperature.

01:10:46Ralph Schumacher, who finished third last year,

01:10:50going well, and we've got news from Louise Goodman.

01:10:53Disastrous couple of laps for the Jordan team there.

01:10:56As you rightly surmised, Martin, that was an engine problem for Trulli.

01:10:59And then, of course, Fredson, the refueling problem,

01:11:01that was a stuck nozzle.

01:11:02That's obviously a serious blow to his hopes of repeating last year's result

01:11:06when it was all going so well for the team.

01:11:08Bad news for Jordan.

01:11:09That is. Thank you, Louise.

01:11:10That 11-second stop for Jenson worked out just fine.

01:11:14It's actually put him ahead of Zonta and particularly Salo.

01:11:17Salo must have had some kind of drama.

01:11:19So Jenson in seventh place.

01:11:21Ralph Schumacher, we haven't really seen.

01:11:24He's got to complete his outlap yet.

01:11:26I suspect that's going to put him down around fifth place.

01:11:31Well, things have got to settle down, but quickly,

01:11:33here are the first six on lap 39.

01:11:36Schumacher leading Barrichello now.

01:11:38Ferrari first and second.

01:11:40Ralph Schumacher's been into the pits.

01:11:42Fredson third, Villeneuve fourth,

01:11:44Fisichella in fifth position,

01:11:46and Jenson Button is in sixth place.

01:11:48Time for a break.

01:11:51CAR ALARM BLARES

01:12:21CAR ALARM CONTINUES

01:12:51CAR ALARM CONTINUES

01:13:21CAR ALARM CONTINUES

01:13:52CAR ALARM BLARES

01:13:58Lap 41, 17 to go.

01:14:01Michael Schumacher has slowed down a lot.

01:14:03There is Fredson.

01:14:04We think he is coming in to retire from the race.

01:14:07He's slowed down so much.

01:14:09He's got a gearbox problem.

01:14:11That has been the Achilles heel of the Jordan car,

01:14:14this year's car, in testing,

01:14:16and it looks as though it's struck again,

01:14:19if an Achilles heel can strike.

01:14:21Michael Schumacher, then Ferrari, leads.

01:14:23Roberts, Barrichello, Ferrari,

01:14:2511 seconds behind him,

01:14:27and speeding up to close the gap.

01:14:30Ralph Schumacher in the BMW Williams is third.

01:14:33Villeneuve is fourth.

01:14:34Fisichella is fifth.

01:14:36And the second BMW Williams of Jenson Button

01:14:40is in the points in sixth place.

01:14:43Riccardo Zonta is in seventh place,

01:14:46ahead of Mick Asalo.

01:14:47Fuenz is ninth.

01:14:48Fredson was tenth,

01:14:50but now Denis will be.

01:14:52There are only 13 cars left

01:14:54with 17 laps to go

01:14:58out of the 22 who started.

01:15:01It is now a question of reliability.

01:15:05Rubens Barrichello setting the fastest lap of the race

01:15:08on a 1.31.4,

01:15:10some four seconds faster than Michael Schumacher.

01:15:14I don't really understand why Michael's backing off

01:15:17quite so much.

01:15:18They do have a 40-second cushion

01:15:21back to the next runner,

01:15:23which is now Ralph Schumacher in the Williams,

01:15:25so I assume when Rubens gets up to the back of Michael,

01:15:29he won't be able to do anything about it.

01:15:31He'll have to follow him,

01:15:32but Michael's looking in his mirror there

01:15:34to see where he is,

01:15:35but why is he going quite so slowly?

01:15:37Well, has he got a problem?

01:15:38You remember the last year

01:15:40when Irvine was number two in the Ferrari team?

01:15:42He was number two,

01:15:44and if he was in front of Schumacher,

01:15:46he had to move over and let him through.

01:15:48Now, Rubens Barrichello has made great play

01:15:50out of the fact that he's not number two,

01:15:52he's 1B,

01:15:53and he has not got to give way to Schumacher,

01:15:57but has Schumacher got to give way for him

01:15:59if Barrichello is in a faster car?

01:16:02I very much doubt it.

01:16:04Schumacher now on his 43rd lap,

01:16:07and Barrichello looks as though

01:16:09he's going to be making one of the quickest laps

01:16:11of the race.

01:16:12In fact, the gap is down to 4.8 seconds.

01:16:15If it continues at this rate,

01:16:17in about three or four laps time,

01:16:19we're going to see the two Ferraris

01:16:20absolutely together,

01:16:22and that is going to raise

01:16:23a very, very interesting political situation.

01:16:26Yes, Michael's pace is matching

01:16:29everybody else,

01:16:30plus a little bit on the racetrack,

01:16:32with the exception of Barrichello

01:16:33cruising up behind him in second place.

01:16:36Jenson just six tenths of a second

01:16:38behind Fisichella,

01:16:39and lapping faster,

01:16:40so there'll be a squabble there

01:16:41for fifth place quite soon.

01:16:43Behind Jenson, Zonta,

01:16:45and a recovering Sala,

01:16:46we didn't see,

01:16:47but he must have had

01:16:48a very poor pit stop.

01:16:49Sala, who was running so well,

01:16:51lost out quite badly in the stops.

01:16:54That's a Minardi

01:16:55cruising in the background.

01:16:56That's Mazzacane,

01:16:58the Argentine driver in his first race.

01:17:00He's in 11th position.

01:17:02Incidentally,

01:17:03he's been a heck of a lot better

01:17:04than anybody expected him to be.

01:17:06No one had ever heard of him.

01:17:08He'd had a very undistinguished career

01:17:10up to Formula One,

01:17:12but he was really

01:17:13outstandingly good

01:17:15in the practicing

01:17:17and qualifying sessions,

01:17:19and looked worthy of a position

01:17:20in the Formula One team

01:17:21in a very much improved Minardi.

01:17:24Now, here is Rubens Barrichello,

01:17:27who is lapping two seconds a lap

01:17:29faster than Michael Schumacher,

01:17:32with the gap now 4.8 seconds.

01:17:34In two laps,

01:17:35he's going to be with the boss.

01:17:38Schumacher is third,

01:17:40Ralf Schumacher.

01:17:41Villeneuve is fourth,

01:17:42but VAR are going to get their first points.

01:17:44Fisichella in the new Benetton

01:17:47designed by Tim Demcham,

01:17:49a much simpler car than last year's,

01:17:52running well in fifth position.

01:17:54Two BMW Williams in the top six.

01:17:56Gus Jensen-Buttner is still sixth.

01:17:59Now, here in the retirements again,

01:18:01both Jaguars,

01:18:02Herbert Nervine out.

01:18:04Both Arrows out.

01:18:05De La Rosa and Verstappen.

01:18:07Both McLarens out.

01:18:09Coulthard and Hakkinen.

01:18:11Alessi is out.

01:18:12Trulli is out.

01:18:14And, of course, Frentzen is out,

01:18:16so that's both Jordans.

01:18:18I'd be amazed if anything other happens

01:18:20than Barrichello just cruises to

01:18:22not much closer than that.

01:18:23Here they are.

01:18:24And then just holds station.

01:18:26I don't believe Michael's got a problem particularly.

01:18:28They've got such a cushion.

01:18:30And this is a McLaren game, really,

01:18:33pacing themselves at the front of a Grand Prix

01:18:35with an easy one-two,

01:18:36apparently, in their pocket.

01:18:37James, what can you tell us?

01:18:39Yeah, Martin, still 15 laps to go in this race,

01:18:41of course, don't forget,

01:18:42so anything can happen in that situation.

01:18:44Down here in the Ferrari garage,

01:18:45they are absolutely calm, very sanguine.

01:18:47Michael, they say, has absolutely no problem at all.

01:18:50My gut feeling is I think Rubens is trying to do

01:18:52a bit of showboating.

01:18:53He wants to get as close as he can to Michael

01:18:55to show that he's on the pace,

01:18:57he's right there,

01:18:58he's with Michael Schumacher

01:18:59going into this championship,

01:19:00whereas perhaps Eddie Irvine in the past

01:19:02would have been 40 seconds back at the end of a race.

01:19:04Rubens is going to be right with him.

01:19:05Help with a safety car, of course,

01:19:07but nevertheless, it's McLaren...

01:19:09Sorry, it's Ferrari looking pretty comfortable

01:19:10at the front at the moment,

01:19:11but as I say, 15 laps to go yet.

01:19:13Well, that 1 minute 31.4 of Rubens

01:19:16certainly proved your point there, James,

01:19:18but I think Michael has got it pretty much

01:19:21under control in the front.

01:19:22Remember, this is a tough track on brakes,

01:19:25particularly.

01:19:26We've seen Frentzen was going to win this race in 97.

01:19:29Brakes exploded.

01:19:30So they've got no reason...

01:19:31I'm a bit surprised they let Rubens push quite so hard.

01:19:34They've got no reason, really,

01:19:35to go any faster than they are,

01:19:37and it does appear now that Barrichello

01:19:39has just positioned himself

01:19:42at a reasonable distance behind Michael.

01:19:44The worst-case scenario is Michael having a technical failure

01:19:47or a driving error

01:19:48and taking the pair of them out if they get too close.

01:19:51And wouldn't they be popular with each other

01:19:53if that happened?

01:19:54Now, let's ride with Barrichello

01:19:56and look at the master in the front,

01:19:58Michael Schumacher at work for Ferrari,

01:20:01seemingly on his way

01:20:03to his 36th Grand Prix victory

01:20:07out of the 127th Grand Prix

01:20:10he will have driven in

01:20:12by the conclusion of this one.

01:20:14Now, Barrichello, new to Ferrari,

01:20:18he finishes second to Michael Schumacher.

01:20:20He's never been very proud of himself.

01:20:22As I said earlier on,

01:20:24I understand that there's been a sell-out

01:20:27at Sao Paulo

01:20:29for the Brazilian Grand Prix in two weeks' time.

01:20:32If Rubens Barrichello goes there,

01:20:35not only as Brazil's first Ferrari driver,

01:20:38but second in his first race only to Michael Schumacher,

01:20:41and he goes into the lead!

01:20:43That is...

01:20:44Wow!

01:20:45I was going to say, I think they'll deify him.

01:20:47I think they certainly will now.

01:20:49Michael Schumacher must have a problem

01:20:52because there was no hesitation then whatsoever.

01:20:55No, hold on, hold on, hold on.

01:20:57He's got to stop again for gas.

01:20:59James is right.

01:21:00Didn't put enough fuel in it.

01:21:02They've got to let Rubens get down the road.

01:21:04He's probably got a bit of a...

01:21:08a quick stop at the end, a quick flash of fuel,

01:21:11and that's the only reason I can put on it.

01:21:14Well, well spotted, James.

01:21:15Thank you, Martin.

01:21:17But...

01:21:18We'll see if he's right again.

01:21:20It's certainly a dramatic development,

01:21:21whichever way you slice it.

01:21:23On lap 46 out of 58,

01:21:27Ferrari leads Ferrari second,

01:21:29but not in the order we expected.

01:21:32Yeah, Ferrari...

01:21:34Ferrari, I've just heard,

01:21:35in fact, I can see them out of the window,

01:21:38the massed cohorts of Ferrari,

01:21:41and it's Barrichello.

01:21:42I can see one of them carrying a board

01:21:44which has got Barrichello on it.

01:21:46So Rubino, as he is known,

01:21:50not only in Brazil, but everywhere else,

01:21:52and a very, very popular chap he is too,

01:21:55coming in for fuel.

01:21:56Now, Ralf Schumacher is 37.5 seconds behind him,

01:22:00so Barrichello will have plenty of time

01:22:03to take on a sort of splash and dash,

01:22:06come out into the track again in second position,

01:22:09and there he is, coming into the pit lane.

01:22:11Are you there, James?

01:22:14No, he's not.

01:22:15He's got a way to go yet.

01:22:16The white line going over now for the speed limiter,

01:22:18but well spotted there, James, on that short fill.

01:22:21They obviously changed strategy

01:22:23halfway through the race

01:22:24to try and leapfrog him over.

01:22:25Frentzen, he had a bad pit stop,

01:22:27but Frentzen had an even worse one.

01:22:29James is there now.

01:22:30Yeah, I spoke to Rubens yesterday.

01:22:31I said, I bet you're looking forward to benefiting

01:22:33from one of those Ross Brawn race strategies,

01:22:35and he looked at me in the eye and he said,

01:22:37you betcha.

01:22:38Very, very short fill.

01:22:397.9, completely normal.

01:22:41Everybody here is absolutely as calm as you like.

01:22:43It was exactly part of the strategy

01:22:45to get Barrichello past Frentzen,

01:22:47and marvelous.

01:22:48Well, Michael Schumacher has been saying

01:22:51all along prior to this race,

01:22:53it is absolutely essential for us at Ferrari

01:22:56if we are to do well in the World Championship this year

01:22:59against a team as strong and as experienced

01:23:02and as successful as McLaren

01:23:04with their driver partnership of Hakanen and Coulthard

01:23:07to get points early.

01:23:09We haven't done that in the past.

01:23:11We've suffered.

01:23:12We've caught McLaren in the latter parts of the season,

01:23:16but we need to be with them,

01:23:18if not ahead of them,

01:23:19at the beginning of the season.

01:23:20Well, at the present moment,

01:23:22on lap 47 with 11 to go,

01:23:24Ferrari are on a maximum

01:23:2716 constructors' championship points.

01:23:3110 for Schumacher,

01:23:326 for Barrichello,

01:23:34and, of course, as out of the race goes Jenson Button.

01:23:37Well, that is...

01:23:39But it looks to me as though it's not his fault.

01:23:42It's some sort of a problem.

01:23:43Look at the smoke from the back of the car.

01:23:45And he can say with enormous pride,

01:23:48enormous pride,

01:23:50that he was in the points for a lot of the race.

01:23:52There it is.

01:23:53There's the confirmation.

01:23:55You see, there is Villeneuve going through

01:23:57and Villeneuve behind him, Fisichella.

01:23:59That's how close it was,

01:24:01because there is Zonta going past Jenson Button

01:24:04as he parks the Williams

01:24:06and the rear wheels lock up.

01:24:08So, definitely not Jenson's problem.

01:24:12I think there's a little hard work

01:24:14probably to do in Munich

01:24:16and less in the very unlikely event

01:24:18of the gearbox locking up.

01:24:20Well done, Jenson Button.

01:24:22Brilliant performance from Button, it has to be said.

01:24:24His pace was good.

01:24:25It didn't fade away as the race went on.

01:24:27He was mixing it with some more experienced drivers

01:24:30and, I have to say,

01:24:32a very, very impressive debut for Jenson Button.

01:24:36Now, that means that both...

01:24:38I mean, this is an embarrassment of riches

01:24:41for the B.A.R. team.

01:24:42Not that I think they will be the least bit embarrassed by it

01:24:45after the appalling season they had last year.

01:24:48But both their drivers are now in the points

01:24:50with Jacques Villeneuve in fourth position

01:24:53and Ricardo Zonta from Brazil

01:24:56in the second B.A.R. in sixth position.

01:24:59And it means to say that there are only 11...

01:25:02No, only 10 cars left now

01:25:05with Button out of the running.

01:25:07And they are on lap 48.

01:25:09There is the leader, Michael Schumacher.

01:25:12He's 26 seconds ahead of Rubens Barrichello

01:25:15after Rubens' second stop.

01:25:18Ralf Schumacher is nine seconds behind Barrichello

01:25:22and lapping faster,

01:25:23but I think not fast enough to catch him

01:25:25in the remaining distance.

01:25:27Jacques Villeneuve is in fourth place,

01:25:2916 seconds behind Ralf Schumacher.

01:25:31Disic Keller looks as though he's going to score two points for Benetton

01:25:35and he might even score three

01:25:37because he's right behind Jacques Villeneuve's B.A.R.

01:25:40and Ricardo Zonta is sixth.

01:25:43So there is Ralf Schumacher.

01:25:45He turns in.

01:25:47We disappear, but we will be back.

01:26:08Now. Yes.

01:26:10Yes.

01:26:37Yes.

01:27:07Yes.

01:27:38Yes.

01:27:59Eight to go, including the one they are on,

01:28:02Michael Schumacher,

01:28:03a commanding lead of just over 24 seconds

01:28:06from his teammate, Rubens Barrichello.

01:28:09Sadly, Jenson Button out of the race,

01:28:12which looked like an engine problem

01:28:14when he was about to score a point

01:28:17in his first World Championship race.

01:28:19He can feel very, very proud of himself.

01:28:22BMW can feel very, very proud of themselves

01:28:26because I don't think even in their wildest moments

01:28:28they would have expected to score points.

01:28:30Didn't catch a load of that, Murray.

01:28:32Schumacher, well out of shape in the first corner.

01:28:34Unbelievable.

01:28:35He's just having fun, I think,

01:28:37but I bet he won't do that again next time around.

01:28:40Look, gets on the throttle

01:28:41and has to give it a full half a turn on the steering wheel,

01:28:45which is a lot in a Formula One car to put in.

01:28:48So I think he's just bored, probably.

01:28:50Well, I was saying that BMW can feel very proud of themselves

01:28:53to be in the points, and they are,

01:28:55because although Button is out,

01:28:57Schumacher and Ralf is very much in.

01:28:59Not only is he in, but he's lapping marginally faster

01:29:02than Rubens Barrichello in front of him.

01:29:04Although I'm pretty sure that's because Barrichello,

01:29:07knowing that there is a nine-second cushion between them,

01:29:10will not be pushing as hard as he could.

01:29:13Here's that scrap, Murray, look.

01:29:15This is Villeneuve, Fisichella,

01:29:18Salo has now passed Zonta.

01:29:20Salo is up into sixth place,

01:29:22and this is the scrap Villeneuve, Fisichella,

01:29:25Salo, Zonta and Wurz,

01:29:27and they're covered by just two and a little bit seconds.

01:29:31And Villeneuve, there is fourth.

01:29:33There's Fisichella, fifth. Salo, sixth.

01:29:36Zonta is in seventh position,

01:29:38and Wurz behind him in eighth place.

01:29:40So one, two, three, four, five cars,

01:29:43as quickly as you can see.

01:29:45It's battling for fourth position.

01:29:47Wonderful scrap, and this is the 51st lap of a 58-lap race.

01:29:52I'd like to see a replay of how Salo made it past Zonta, actually.

01:29:56We haven't seen too much overtaking this afternoon.

01:29:58It'll be interesting to see where and how he was able to do it.

01:30:01Good performance from Salo today.

01:30:03As I said, I think he lost out in the pit stop somewhere,

01:30:06but he's getting it back up into the points.

01:30:08And at the moment, BIR look like they could be in

01:30:12for their first ever World Championship point.

01:30:14Here we go, look, we have got a replay.

01:30:16Salo taking a dive up, I think that's into turn nine.

01:30:19Good move there, made it stick, kept his line.

01:30:22And off he goes.

01:30:24Yeah, pretty experienced chap now, of course, Nico Salo.

01:30:28This is his 77th Grand Prix.

01:30:31He's driven for Tyrrell, he's driven for Lotus,

01:30:34he's driven for Ferrari, he's driven for BIR.

01:30:37Now he's with Salo, and he's not only pushing past Zonta,

01:30:40as he has done, but he's closing up on Fisichella,

01:30:44looking for two points and not just one,

01:30:46because Salo now in the Sauber with a very strong Ferrari engine

01:30:51has undoubtedly got more power than Fisichella,

01:30:53and he's looking for that place, there he is.

01:30:55Number 17, there's Zonta, there is Wurz.

01:30:58So both the Benettons are there,

01:31:00and Wurz is just two places off a point.

01:31:03There's two other runners left in this race.

01:31:05Marc Genet is in ninth place in the Minardi,

01:31:09and Nick Heidfeld is still running in the Prost in his first Grand Prix.

01:31:13Tenth and last.

01:31:15So there have been 12 retirements, lap 52.

01:31:20Nick Salo getting a little bit ragged,

01:31:23three, three, four and five there,

01:31:25but he's clearly the man on the move in that pack.

01:31:28He'd like to get up behind his great friend Jack Villner,

01:31:31who's currently running in fourth place.

01:31:33Sparkling performance here from Nick Salo,

01:31:35and the dust pouring off of his front brakes

01:31:37as he nails the middle pedal and tries to dump some speed,

01:31:43turns in nicely, that car's handling well.

01:31:45The thing that's interesting me is the situation

01:31:47that BMW have not got one of the very latest,

01:31:50very small, very light engines for their return to Formula 1,

01:31:54and Honda have.

01:31:56And Ralf Schumacher in the BMW Williams

01:31:58is ahead of Villner in fourth position.

01:32:00He's ahead of Zonta in sixth position.

01:32:03And it's not as though Jack Villner is a dusty driver.

01:32:06This is the world champion of 1997

01:32:09that we're looking at leading this batch.

01:32:11There's Fisichella.

01:32:13Tim Jensen, who designed this car,

01:32:15can be very proud of himself.

01:32:17Yes, and Villner making a mistake there into turn 14-2.

01:32:20We saw him lock up a wheel,

01:32:22but still heading the pack up as they come over the line.

01:32:25There's six tenths back to Fisichella,

01:32:27another half second back to Salo, Zonta, and then Overtz.

01:32:30You can see in your picture now.

01:32:32Now, this is why these Grand Prix drivers

01:32:34have to be so superlatively fit.

01:32:36This race has been running an hour and a half.

01:32:39The temperature is some 30 degrees.

01:32:42The cockpits are very hot indeed.

01:32:44They're wearing heavy fireproof suits.

01:32:47They're cocooned in those cockpits.

01:32:49They've got an 800-horsepower,

01:32:51very, very, very hot engine behind them.

01:32:54And they've been working madly ever since the race began.

01:32:59Yeah, first time we've seen Zonta

01:33:00looking like a Grand Prix driver, really.

01:33:02Had a poor year last year.

01:33:03Didn't help by breaking his leg, of course, in Brazil.

01:33:07But he really looks, for the first time,

01:33:09even this weekend also,

01:33:10that he's actually with the car

01:33:12and not just one step behind it.

01:33:15Ricardo Zonta went out of the Australian Grand Prix last year,

01:33:19as did his teammate, Jacques Villeneuve,

01:33:22who broke a wing not so very far away

01:33:24from where he is at the moment.

01:33:26There's the BAR of Villeneuve,

01:33:28the white car in fourth position.

01:33:30Then Fisichella's blue Benetton,

01:33:33Sarlo's dark blue Sauber Ferrari,

01:33:36a light blue Benetton of Woertz

01:33:40following the white car of Ricardo Zonta in seventh place.

01:33:46If Zonta can get past Sarlo, who's past him,

01:33:50it would mean that both the BARs

01:33:52were in the points at the end of the race

01:33:54if they finish it.

01:33:55Michael Schumacher is on lap 54 out of 58,

01:33:5823 seconds ahead of Barry Keller,

01:34:00with Ralph Schumacher still third.

01:34:02I don't think that's going to happen

01:34:03because Sarlo's the one that just overtook Zonta.

01:34:05But Sarlo still very much on the move.

01:34:09There's a great helicam shot there

01:34:11as these guys move into the final stages

01:34:15of the Melbourne Grand Prix.

01:34:17And the gaps are still pretty consistent.

01:34:19Sarlo registered just three-tenths of a second

01:34:21behind Fisichella last time around.

01:34:24Well, Jordan won't be ringing any joy bells.

01:34:27McLaren won't be ringing any joy bells.

01:34:30Nor will Arrows.

01:34:32It's been a bad race for all those teams.

01:34:35An even worse one for Jaguar.

01:34:37But great things can have small beginnings.

01:34:40And I know that Jaguar and all the rest of them

01:34:42will be applying themselves in the next two weeks.

01:34:45There's only two weeks before Brazil.

01:34:47It was five weeks between Australia and Brazil last year.

01:34:50The pressure is on this season,

01:34:52right from the beginning with 17 races,

01:34:54the extra one at Indianapolis in America.

01:34:57All of these cars are on the lead lap.

01:34:59Of course, as I mentioned before,

01:35:01the safety car shuffled them back up around lap 15.

01:35:05But with Michael just cruising at the front,

01:35:08two McLarens out of the picture completely.

01:35:10Unusually, almost nobody's been lapped in this race.

01:35:14Just Genet and Heidfeld, who've both had problems

01:35:16in ninth and tenth place, that have been lapped.

01:35:19Well, this is great stuff.

01:35:21But interestingly, Ralf Schumacher in the BMW Williams

01:35:24is by far the fastest man on the track at the moment.

01:35:27He's lapping a second faster than Schumacher,

01:35:30a second faster than Barrichello.

01:35:32He's closed the gap to Barrichello to eight seconds,

01:35:36but there are not enough laps left for him to catch him,

01:35:39never mind get past him.

01:35:40Neil Nov continues to hold that fourth position.

01:35:43Fisichella, there he is behind him in fifth position.

01:35:47Salo trying to get past.

01:35:49Zonta trying to get to grips with the salvo in front of him.

01:35:52And Alexander Wurz keeping a watching brief on all of them.

01:35:56These places could change in the twinkling of an eye.

01:35:59And there are four laps left, including the one they are on.

01:36:07I remind you that Michael Schumacher is still out there,

01:36:11still leading, looking good for ten World Championship points.

01:36:15Rubens Barrichello looking good for six World Championship points

01:36:19in his first race for Ferrari.

01:36:21Ralf Schumacher, the first race for BMW Williams,

01:36:24looking good for four World Championship points

01:36:28and getting on the podium.

01:36:30That would be terrific.

01:36:34But this is terrific too.

01:36:36Somebody running wide there and kicking up the dust,

01:36:38but no position change at the moment.

01:36:40This is where Salo is quick on the brakes.

01:36:42He's not close enough,

01:36:43but still filling the mirrors of Fisichella's Benetton.

01:36:47I think Villeneuve and Fisichella will be very relieved

01:36:49to see the chequered flag at the end of this race.

01:36:51I suspect they're both just struggling a little bit.

01:36:54Salo, Mika Salo, the Finn,

01:36:57a very, very cheerful Finn,

01:36:59is pushing mighty, mighty hard.

01:37:02He's certainly going to score a World Championship point

01:37:04in his first race for Salvo

01:37:06if he stays where he is in sixth position.

01:37:08But look how close it is. Anything could happen.

01:37:13Now, Michael Schumacher out there in front for Ferrari.

01:37:17I said earlier on that he's had a great deal of bad luck,

01:37:20ill fortune in Australia.

01:37:22If he wins this one, it's not only going to be...

01:37:25Oh, and Zonta having a look.

01:37:28It's going to be Michael Schumacher's first race win in Australia

01:37:32if he wins.

01:37:33He's got two laps to go,

01:37:35each of 3.3 miles at the end of this one.

01:37:39He's on his 56th lap.

01:37:42But here, the attention, I mean...

01:37:44Genet is a lap down in the Minardi in ninth place.

01:37:48Heidfeld looks as though he's going to finish his first race for Prost.

01:37:52In tenth position, two laps down.

01:37:56Salo thinking, shall I risk a point?

01:37:58Shall I gamble one point?

01:37:59If I get a sniff at the back of his gearbox,

01:38:01shall I gamble one point for two?

01:38:03And knowing Mika, he'll be saying,

01:38:04yeah, of course I will, I'll have a go.

01:38:06So I don't think Fisichella's at all safe,

01:38:09while Mika Salo appears to have the faster car.

01:38:14Yeah, he's got that very powerful Ferrari engine from last year.

01:38:19Salo have an arrangement with Ferrari

01:38:21that they will use last year's Ferrari Works engine,

01:38:24and we all know how good that was.

01:38:27Salo having a look.

01:38:30Wirtz trying to get through,

01:38:31but Jacques Villeneuve is going to be a mighty difficult man to pass.

01:38:35He's got all the experience.

01:38:37Meantime, Michael Schumacher,

01:38:39and now the rest of them are on their 57th lap.

01:38:43That's the top eight on their 57th and the same lap.

01:38:47Marc Genet, a lap down in eighth place.

01:38:50Nick Hyde fell two laps down in tenth position.

01:38:53But between the first and eighth places,

01:38:56there are just 58 seconds.

01:38:59Interestingly, we're looking at a gaggle of cars there,

01:39:02just as we switch to the Ferrari,

01:39:04that ran very early in the year 2000, Murray.

01:39:07And not surprising, there's a couple of each of them in that pack there,

01:39:12and two Ferraris running strongly at the front end,

01:39:15that seem to have good reliability.

01:39:17So those teams that got their car out early

01:39:19are certainly getting some dividends today.

01:39:21I was talking to Mike Gascoigne, the Jordan designer,

01:39:24just before this race began,

01:39:26and he said to me,

01:39:27Michael Schumacher will win this race,

01:39:29and I think Ferrari will win the Constructors' Championship,

01:39:34and Schumacher will win the Drivers' Championship.

01:39:38Well, we'll see.

01:39:39But it's a wonderful start.

01:39:41I liked Micah Hakkinen's positive mental attitude.

01:39:44He said, hey, listen, there's 16 races left yet,

01:39:47and that's what we normally have in a season before we start,

01:39:50and I think that's a very good approach to have.

01:39:53Yeah, yeah.

01:39:54One race, one swallow does not make a summer.

01:39:59One race does not make a world championship.

01:40:02All that Ferrari can say is they've started extremely well.

01:40:06All that McLaren, Jaguar, Arrows and Jordan can say

01:40:10is they've started extremely badly.

01:40:12But there's still 16 races to make up the gap

01:40:15or to lose to your rivals.

01:40:18But Michael Schumacher will be very, very happy with this.

01:40:21He's been enormously confident

01:40:23all the way up to the start of this race,

01:40:26all through testing and all through qualifying,

01:40:29even though he started third behind the two McLarens.

01:40:33He said, I'm not the least bit bothered.

01:40:35This is a long race.

01:40:36Third is a good place to start,

01:40:38and it looks as is usually the case when Michael says something.

01:40:42He was absolutely right.

01:40:44The flags are flying,

01:40:46and Michael Schumacher is coming through

01:40:49to win for the first time

01:40:52the Australian Grand Prix in wonderful style.

01:40:56A great sight. Schumacher wins.

01:40:58Fist out. Victory salute.

01:41:03And a euphoric Ferrari team greet him home

01:41:06and look down to see Rubens Barrichello.

01:41:09There he is, finishing in second place

01:41:13in his first race for Ferrari.

01:41:15Now, only seven seconds further back,

01:41:18it should be Ralf Schumacher in the BMW Williams,

01:41:21and it is.

01:41:22Ralf Schumacher finishes third.

01:41:25A great, great finish for him and for the Williams team.

01:41:29Chasing Pakis, I'm 27 seconds behind,

01:41:32but at the moment, Villeneuve is heading it from Fisichella.

01:41:35Still there he is now, coming through 14th into 15th.

01:41:38No position change, it appears, in there.

01:41:41So BIR are going to take their first World Championship point,

01:41:45providing there's no scrutineering hiccups after the race.

01:41:48And over the line they go.

01:41:50Fisichella, two points.

01:41:51Sarlo, the extra point.

01:41:53We've got two Schumachers on the podium, Murray and Ferrari,

01:41:57winning this race for the second consecutive year.

01:42:00Yeah, I don't think they will be any happier than the BIR team,

01:42:04who've not only got both their cars home in the top seven,

01:42:08but one of them scoring points,

01:42:10and it's right that it should be Jacques Villeneuve,

01:42:12and the other nearly doing so in seventh position,

01:42:15Ricciardo Zonta.

01:42:17But now the two Ferrari drivers go round in formation,

01:42:21saluting each other.

01:42:23But the man of the day, as we have seen so very often in the past,

01:42:27is the great double World Champion, Michael Schumacher,

01:42:31making a wonderful start for his attempt

01:42:34at a third World Championship in the year 2000,

01:42:38to achieve the goal that he has been fighting for

01:42:42ever since he left Benetton in 1958,

01:42:45to bring Ferrari back to the front.

01:42:48Not just in the Constructors' Championship,

01:42:50which in a way was a consolation prize for them last year,

01:42:54but the Vital Drivers' Championship,

01:42:56which was last won for them by Jody Schecter as long ago as 1979.

01:43:02And the BMW sandwiched, the BMW Williams sandwiched

01:43:06between the two Ferraris.

01:43:08Ralf Schumacher has driven as meritorious a race, in my opinion, as his brother.

01:43:14I think it was a solid drive from Ralf, actually, in the middle of the pack there.

01:43:18The pit stops worked out well for him,

01:43:19the reliability states worked out well for him,

01:43:22but a good solid drive, as we saw so many times last year.

01:43:25Michael's going to be very, very happy, isn't he?

01:43:27He's got his teammate beside him, his kid brother behind him,

01:43:30he leads the World Championship,

01:43:32he's got a good car underneath him with a lot of reliability,

01:43:35he's... well, what else could he ask for?

01:43:37Well, the Drivers' Championship, of course, is as the finish in the race.

01:43:42Michael Schumacher leads with 10 points,

01:43:44Barry Keller second on six, Ralf Schumacher third on four,

01:43:48Neil Nairth fourth on three, Bissi Keller fifth on two,

01:43:51Mick Asano a fine sixth with one point.

01:43:54Ferrari lead the Constructors' Championship

01:43:57with a total of 16 points,

01:44:01the maximum they can score from first and second,

01:44:0412 points ahead of Williams,

01:44:05and who would have forecast that two hours ago?

01:44:08And James Allen is with Ferrari designer Ross Brawn.

01:44:11Ross, a terrific win for Ferrari today, a one-two.

01:44:14How do you stand, though, relative to McLaren, do you think, with the car?

01:44:16Do you think you're on a level?

01:44:18It looks to me, performance-wise, we're pretty comparable.

01:44:21I mean, obviously, Rubens got stuck.

01:44:23Michael could respond when Hacken responded,

01:44:25but it's going to be very tough.

01:44:26I mean, it looks to me as though they're very, very similar.

01:44:29And it's got the makings of a great year.

01:44:32But at least we're starting competitive.

01:44:35Last year, we were a bit desperate.

01:44:37So I'm really, really happy with today.

01:44:39I spoke to Rubens yesterday.

01:44:40I said, are you looking forward to benefiting

01:44:42from one of those famous Ross Brawn strategies?

01:44:45And he said to me, you betcha.

01:44:46And you switched it for him today, didn't you?

01:44:48Yeah, it was, again, a no-loss strategy, really,

01:44:52because when it became clear Frentzen was going to go longer,

01:44:56we took a chance, and it worked out.

01:44:59Heinz-Harald had a problem,

01:45:00so I'm not sure what would have come from that.

01:45:02But, no, we were pleased with that.

01:45:04Well done, Ross.

01:45:05Thanks.

01:45:06Pleased? I don't think he's pleased.

01:45:08He goes back to Maranello, a top, top man.

01:45:11And I haven't mentioned, I see he was the Ferrari designer.

01:45:14Ross Brawn, of course, is the Ferrari technical director.

01:45:17Let's give the credit where it's due

01:45:19for the design of that car to South African Rory Byrne.

01:45:23Well done, Rory. You are a star.

01:45:26And so is Michael Schumacher, and so is Rubens Barrichello.

01:45:30It's Ralf Schumacher looking cool, calm, and collected as ever.

01:45:36Embraces his brother.

01:45:39Oh, there's never been two brothers like this in Formula 1.

01:45:42We've had them in the past, of course,

01:45:44the Rodriguez brothers and various others.

01:45:47Not all that many of them,

01:45:49but this is the most successful brother partnership of all time in Formula 1.

01:45:54Ralf on the right, Michael on the right, on the left,

01:45:58showing again that when he's happy, he is very, very happy.

01:46:03A walk in Albert Park for Michael Schumacher this afternoon,

01:46:07and Jean Todt there, sporting director of Ferrari.

01:46:10Pretty pleased with himself and the entire team.

01:46:13It was faultless, really, wasn't it?

01:46:15McLaren getting away at the start of the race,

01:46:17and leading with a 1.2 there,

01:46:20but Ferrari coming through at the end,

01:46:23and it was just so, so easy for Michael.

01:46:26I've never made any secret of my admiration for Michael Schumacher,

01:46:30and one of the many things I like about him

01:46:32is his unhibited joy when he does well.

01:46:36He's not a grey man who doesn't show any emotions at all.

01:46:41If he wins, he's happy, and he shows it.

01:46:44And I bet you, I bet you, when he gets on that podium,

01:46:47he's going to do the famous Michael Schumacher leap high up in the air

01:46:52to say, I am there, I am number one, I am a very happy man.

01:46:57And Melbourne has ever seen a superb race.

01:47:00The Australians are a wonderfully enthusiastic lot.

01:47:04The first thing they have to do is go and be weighed.

01:47:06They stand on some scales holding their crash helmet

01:47:09to make sure that they match the weight

01:47:11that has been allocated to them pre the race,

01:47:15and there's no shenanigans going on there.

01:47:17There's Michael when he got out of shape towards the end of the race

01:47:20while he was just playing around,

01:47:22but as soon as they get off the scales,

01:47:26they zoom up a tunnel, a passageway behind and up onto the podium,

01:47:31and when they look out, you can see the crowd

01:47:34that Michael's going to look out onto,

01:47:37and they've got lots of red hats and red T-shirts and Ferrari flags to wave at him.

01:47:42And they're a lovely crowd.

01:47:43They won't come over the barriers and attempt to spoil things.

01:47:46They're just here to show their enthusiasm.

01:47:48Incidentally, the new premier of Victoria,

01:47:51the state of Victoria in which we are situated here at Melbourne,

01:47:55the Honourable Steve Brax,

01:47:57will be presenting the trophy to Michael Schumacher as a winner,

01:48:02and then James Strong, who's the chief executive of Qantas,

01:48:05who's done so much for this race,

01:48:07is going to be giving the Constructors' Championship trophy

01:48:11to, I expect, Jean Toute.

01:48:14It's normally him, or he might ask Ross Broad to go up.

01:48:17Ron Walker, who's chairman of the Australian Grand Prix Corporation,

01:48:22and probably more than anyone else,

01:48:24who's responsible for the success of this race here at Melbourne,

01:48:27will be giving the second prize to Rubens Barrichello.

01:48:32And then John Osborne of Cams,

01:48:34which is the governing body of motorsport in Australia,

01:48:37is going to give Ralph Schumacher his trophy.

01:48:40Enormously happy Ferrari team, of course.

01:48:44They all work hard.

01:48:46Arrows work hard, Jordan work hard,

01:48:48Minardi work hard, Williams work hard.

01:48:51Some get the success and the reward, some don't.

01:48:54And they certainly go to Ferrari,

01:48:57and just listen to the crowd!

01:48:59And there's Michael. Is he happy?

01:49:02Yes, of course he is.

01:49:05So is Ralph on the right.

01:49:07Rubens Barrichello on the podium in the scarlet Ferrari overalls

01:49:12for the first time, and it won't be the last.

01:49:16And there is Steve Brax on the left,

01:49:20the Honourable Steve Brax, the Premier of Victoria,

01:49:23in the dark suit.

01:49:25And he'll be making a mighty fast getaway

01:49:28with those champagne bottle spray

01:49:31and the German national anthem sounds on for Michael Schumacher.

01:49:50CHAMPIONS LEAGUE ANTHEM PLAYS

01:50:21CHAMPIONS LEAGUE ANTHEM CONTINUES

01:50:32Not a bad old race for Germany with the two Schumachers and BMW,

01:50:37but for Ferrari, the Constructors' Italian national anthem!

01:50:50CHAMPIONS LEAGUE ANTHEM PLAYS

01:51:20CHAMPIONS LEAGUE ANTHEM CONTINUES

01:51:39Well, as ever, Australia and Melbourne have done Formula One proud.

01:51:45A wonderful way to start the new season.

01:51:48It's been a spectacular weekend.

01:51:51A few of the top drivers have been in the wall, damaged their cars,

01:51:55but at the end of the day, Michael Schumacher is the man

01:51:58holding the silverware with such an advantage going into Brazil.

01:52:02No points for Jordan, no points for McLaren.

01:52:06No points for Arrows either.

01:52:08But a wonderful trophy, incidentally.

01:52:10That is undoubtedly the nicest trophy of the year for Australians.

01:52:14It's Ron Walker, big Ron, who's the top man here in Melbourne.

01:52:20Look at that trophy, Australian diamonds and gold

01:52:23and the Pontus Leaping Kangaroo in the centre.

01:52:28And Ralf Schumacher gets to take one home for the second year in succession

01:52:32for third place.

01:52:34Well, this is going to be a Grand Prix that Michael Schumacher

01:52:38will remember for a long time with every good reason,

01:52:41as he gives Rubens Barrichello and the Premier of Victoria

01:52:45a gassing in champagne.

01:52:47Ron Walker just avoids it.

01:52:49I don't think that they were designed for that purpose, those trophies,

01:52:53but Rubens used it to very good...

01:52:54Somebody used it to very good effect here.

01:52:58Well, well done, well done.

01:53:00Well done, Michael.

01:53:01Well done, Ferrari.

01:53:03Well done, Ralf Schumacher and BMW Williams.

01:53:06And let us remember too, well done, Jenson Button.

01:53:12Absolutely right, Murray.

01:53:14Thank you very much indeed.

01:53:161-2 for Ferrari in Australia.

01:53:18Schumacher's first win here at the tenth time of asking.

01:53:22Brilliant drive for Rubens Barrichello on his Ferrari debut.

01:53:26There's a big Italian quarter in Melbourne

01:53:29and they will be raising their glasses tonight

01:53:31round that Ligon Street area here in Melbourne

01:53:34celebrating a brilliant Ferrari 1-2.

01:53:37But what a drive from Jenson Button

01:53:40and we hope to hear from him when you rejoin us.

01:55:11...championship with and

01:55:14obviously there was a little bit of disappointment yesterday

01:55:17because we didn't get the full potential out

01:55:19and myself, I wasn't too worried

01:55:22and I believe I proved this today that I was right

01:55:25and thanks really to the guys.

01:55:27They have done a fantastic job.

01:55:28I mean, not just the car is reliable

01:55:30but it's so bloody fast, this car.

01:55:32I'm really, really delighted to drive this car.

01:55:35Now, even at the start when you were in third place

01:55:37behind the two McLarens, you just seemed totally in control.

01:55:39Was that the case?

01:55:40Yeah, I was already from the beginning

01:55:43basically driving pretty easy, saving my tyres, saving my fuel

01:55:47just for the final moment when pit stops would have come to attack.

01:55:51That was my strategy and it worked fine.

01:55:53Unfortunately, the two guys in front of me broke down.

01:55:56I would have wished to have a race until the end

01:55:59to prove really how good we are

01:56:01but I think we will have plenty of opportunities to do this this year.

01:56:05Now, talking about that, when you saw David retire

01:56:07did you then consciously pick up the pace

01:56:09to perhaps force Mika into also having a similar problem?

01:56:12I mean, I saw David slowing down and I was wondering what's going on

01:56:16whether he had a problem or whether his team told him to do certain things.

01:56:21I wasn't sure.

01:56:22So, I was worried for a moment what is really going on.

01:56:26Luckily, I saw him going into the pits and I knew what is going on.

01:56:30So, it was just a matter of being calm, cool, putting pressure on Mika

01:56:36that we wait until the pit stop and see what happens.

01:56:40That was my strategy.

01:56:41I wasn't thinking he would break down as well.

01:56:44Thank you, Michael.

01:56:45Rubens, your first race of Ferrari equalled your best ever finish

01:56:48but at the start, when you were behind Heinz-Harald

01:56:51and the others were getting away, what were your thoughts at that moment?

01:56:54It was really hard because, like Michael said, this car is unbelievable.

01:56:58This car is really, really good.

01:57:00So, unfortunately, in Melbourne there is not a lot of places to overtake

01:57:05unless the car in front is really slow.

01:57:08Heinz-Harald was trying to keep his pace

01:57:11and at a certain point he was going really fast

01:57:15but that took a long time.

01:57:17So, the guys in front were going away.

01:57:21So, I was trying to work the tactics with Ross

01:57:27and everybody says he is the maestro and he really is.

01:57:32He changed my strategy.

01:57:34I don't know what happened to Frentin but I think we would have done him anyway.

01:57:38But he did a fantastic job and the whole team did.

01:57:41How close to that first stop did you actually make the decision

01:57:44that you were going to go for a second one?

01:57:46He was on that lap, I would say.

01:57:48He was pretty much on that lap when we saw

01:57:51that Heinz-Harald was going for a long first instant.

01:57:55We chose to go for two.

01:57:57So, he was on that lap.

01:57:59Thanks, Rubens.

01:58:00Ralph, the day didn't start very well and you had to take the spare car.

01:58:03How surprised were you to finish, let alone finish on the podium?

01:58:06It's really amazing.

01:58:08We came here again like last year.

01:58:10We had no race distance.

01:58:12It wasn't a test but the team did a fantastic job.

01:58:14The car was really great to drive.

01:58:16It was the best car I've ever had.

01:58:18Speaking about the engine, BMW did a great job.

01:58:21It did its job as drivable as an ICE engine

01:58:24and it was reliable.

01:58:26We finished third.

01:58:27I thought that if we finished that we would finish in the points

01:58:30but I never thought about finishing third.

01:58:32It was a great day for us.

01:58:33In the race you were battling quite closely with a number of other drivers.

01:58:36Did you have a good fair fight?

01:58:38It's actually a little bit boring here

01:58:40because the only thing you can do is following cars

01:58:42and wait until they pit and then be quicker.

01:58:44That's what we did.

01:58:45We went into pits very late, I think nearly the latest.

01:58:49That made us overtake the other cars.

01:58:52Thanks, Ralph.

01:58:53Michael, we go on now to Brazil

01:58:55where I think it's fair to say the last few years

01:58:57Ferrari have struggled in the anti-clockwise and over the bumps.

01:58:59Do you feel you can carry on this good form with this new car?

01:59:01Certainly, yes.

01:59:03This car is a faster car than it has ever been.

01:59:06It has been competitive.

01:59:08It is reliable as we have seen.

01:59:10I'm really looking forward now for all the season.

01:59:14I believe we will be able to be competitive everywhere.

01:59:17Not only the car is fast,

01:59:18we have already very good ideas how to develop it.

01:59:21Everything looks to be a very good year for Ferrari.

01:59:26Thank you.

01:59:27Now a word from all three of you in your own language.

01:59:30Yes, I think the day could not have ended better.

01:59:34It took a long time until we could achieve our goal.

01:59:39Five years to be exact.

01:59:41Therefore, I am very happy.

01:59:43Not only that we have achieved our goal,

01:59:45but how we have achieved it.

01:59:47We have a great car.

01:59:48It is reliable, it is fast.

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