Formula-1 2001 R16 United States Grand Prix

AutosportfanTwo

https://video.mrautosportfan.com/formula-1-full-races/

Transcript

00:00:00And the magnificent Motor Speedway is dubbed the racing capital of the world as you can see it's a massive stage

00:00:07Calling is the word they use for commentating stateside. It is the last call for Murray Walker. On you go Murray

00:00:14Does America like Formula One? Well, you should be here. This place is

00:00:21absolutely

00:00:23awesome the Indianapolis Motor Speedway

00:00:27Fantastic in terms of its scale its size its facilities

00:00:33Its history and its charisma. Look there is the super speedway with its four turns

00:00:39average speeds of about

00:00:41220 miles an hour around there for the well-famous

00:00:46Indianapolis 500 a lot less than that for Formula One

00:00:49You can see the circuit built inside the super speedway their lengths are

00:00:55Approximately the same and there is a mammoth crowd here. They're reckoning on

00:01:02200,000 just about twice as much as any other Grand Prix in the world

00:01:06They've been pouring in all morning. The conditions are absolutely superb

00:01:13sunshine blue skies track temperature

00:01:1626 degrees good for the Michelins, but

00:01:19Mika Hakkinen as you've heard briefly from Martin and I'll get him to expand on it in a moment is a very unhappy man

00:01:26He qualified second. He's starting fourth because of that transgression going out early this morning up go

00:01:33Michael's brother Ralph Schumacher to second on the grid and Juan Pablo Montoya to third and Mika Hakkinen

00:01:41We'll have the red mist down when those lights go out. He's very angry. He said to me this morning

00:01:46That's why I'm leaving this sport. I'm fed up with this kind of thing. I mean it was a knee-jerk reaction

00:01:50It's a retrospective

00:01:52Moving of his position on the grid from obviously jumping that red light this morning

00:01:57He couldn't see the red light because they were too abreast in the pit lane

00:02:00No doubt about it

00:02:02He did go through and of course going on to the racetrack when the track is closed is a very serious situation

00:02:07Normally, though we would expect in the paddock that to have resulted in a fine of some sort

00:02:12But Hakkinen then an angry man will he turn that into frustration and a first-corner incident or

00:02:18One of his brilliant races will have to wait and see but remember yesterday Murray when you mistakenly

00:02:24For a few seconds called two Schumachers on the front row. Well, you were right. You're a prophetic man. I was right all the time

00:02:30Yes, so now we've got the prospect of Michael four times world champion in the Ferrari on Bridgestone tires

00:02:38Using the hard compound and that could be very significant brother Ralph promoted up to

00:02:44G2 the second position on the grid on

00:02:47Michelin tires and that could be very significant to now is Michael Schumacher gonna defer to Rubens Barrichello

00:02:55If he is able to in order to improve his Brazilian teammates chances in the world championship

00:03:01He's currently just three points behind David Coulthard who is starting down in seventh place

00:03:07Very very poor for David Coulthard

00:03:10So the McLarens are starting fourth and seventh

00:03:13But when the lights go out I advise you to just keep a general eye on the grid

00:03:19Because I'm expecting the Benetton's and Jenson Button is starting higher than he started before since he joined the Benetton team

00:03:26He's 10th on the grid and Fisichella to blast through because their launch control system is superb

00:03:34Jos Verstappen may be 20th on the grid, but this morning he was extremely fast in the warm-up

00:03:40He's got a very light fuel load

00:03:42I'm expecting him to come up and I would say the same thing about the Jaguars too

00:03:47They may be down 14th and 16th

00:03:49But I'm expecting them to stop twice in this race

00:03:52Most people will stop once in which case with the Jaguars and a light fuel load we could see anything but mercifully

00:04:00I hope Martin will get everybody around this first corner first because it's quite a long drag down to it

00:04:06There's a good escape road. It's fairly wide and they should all get around safely

00:04:10Yes

00:04:11And the interesting thing is Jenson Button, of course in his best grid position of the year in 10 now the previous two Grand Prix's

00:04:17We've seen both Benetton's gain at least one and usually two rows of the grid this fabulous new

00:04:24Traction control system start launch control that they have so be interesting to watch the Benetton's

00:04:29But it's very wide down into turn one plenty of lines

00:04:32You can go in but at the end of the day just one sweet racing line

00:04:37When you finally get into the corner and the engines scream

00:04:4118

00:04:4218,000 rpm from each of those V10 motors down to turn one

00:04:47This is the magnificent Indianapolis circuit

00:04:50You see they go around the opposite way in Formula One and this is turn one and the turn two is the left-hander

00:04:58They take that at about 70 miles an hour

00:05:01Everybody's got away well for the parade lap the formation lap

00:05:06Alex Young the young new Malaysian driver starting for his second Grand Prix

00:05:11Gets away last as he should have done in the Minardi and the skyline of Indianapolis

00:05:18Benevolently looks over the circuit. It's only about five miles away drove in in about 15 minutes this morning

00:05:25and the cars continue to make their way around the circuit and

00:05:30There is the McLaren with the Ferrari behind it

00:05:35And

00:05:37Michael Schumacher leading away and it is his 42nd pole position in his career

00:05:43His 10th pole position this year. I talked to him for a long time last night

00:05:49He is in extremely good form Rubens Barrichello in the second Ferrari

00:05:54There is starting fifth on the grid Juan Pablo Montoya that way with now had an engine blow up in the warm-up this morning

00:06:02But he still got in the spare car no problems and he was fifth fastest smart cookie Montoya

00:06:08He's got the traction control switched off for a moment

00:06:10So he can really light up those rear tires in a hope of having more temperature when he gets to the start line

00:06:17That's the best way pump

00:06:19850 horsepower through those two relatively skinny four-groove rear tires and they just flare up in temperature

00:06:26Look Michael Schumacher, you're not actually supposed to do that. That is the equivalent of a practice start

00:06:31You mustn't really do that, but you can squirt it as you're cruising along if you want

00:06:36So out of turn two of the Indianapolis motor Speedway down the straight and they'll be doing some

00:06:44205 miles an hour as they approach turn one at the end of the first lap

00:06:49John took the Ferrari team manager walking to his position on the gantry and it's just a matter of seconds now

00:06:57before the 73 lap

00:06:59American Grand Prix starts the world championship has been decided

00:07:03But it hasn't been decided for second place in the drivers championship or second place in the constructors championship

00:07:11They come round in one line

00:07:12They peel off to the right those of them who are starting from that side of the grid and that includes of course

00:07:18Ralph Schumacher

00:07:20starting from the right

00:07:22The left as you look at it

00:07:23They peel off to the right late to keep their tires as clean as possible because it's dirty on that

00:07:29Inside line and now then they're ready for the start procedure

00:07:34Michael Schumacher on the right Ralph Schumacher on the left behind Michael Schumacher is Montoya

00:07:41three lights

00:07:42four lights

00:07:44five lights

00:07:46Go go go and they've all gone away. Well

00:07:50Now there's one left there's one left right at the back is it young or is it Thomas Enger but meantime Schumacher leads

00:07:57Michael Schumacher that is and the Williams right up alongside him is that of Montoya

00:08:04Montoya has come through from third on the grid

00:08:07He's got ahead of Ralph Schumacher and Ralph Schumacher is fourth Barrichello has made a superlative start

00:08:13He's up from fifth on the grid into third place Ferrari leads Williams second Ferrari third

00:08:19Ralph Schumacher is in fourth position. Then it's the two McLaren's Alex Hume brings up the rear

00:08:25Yes, it's Thomas Enger failed to get away, but he is now into the race

00:08:29So all 22 cars away will be at one of them somewhat delayed Michael Schumacher

00:08:35then leads Montoya Barrichello Ralph Schumacher Hagen and Coulthard the two McLaren's line a stern for fifth and

00:08:42Into the left-hander at turn 10. Now, this is where they start to attack the bank part of the circuit after turn 11

00:08:52And now the speed builds builds builds

00:08:56155 miles an hour 190 miles an hour

00:08:59205 miles an hour and Michael Schumacher leads Ralph leads Barrichello lead

00:09:06leads

00:09:08Ralph Schumacher fourth and Montoya in second place and

00:09:12Not a great start for the Benetton's their 10th and 11th

00:09:15Fisichella button slipped a little bit and John and Lacey was the man who had the worst start and we've got a touch there

00:09:21Yeah, and a wing broken and that is Kimi Räikkönen

00:09:25Kimi Räikkönen front wing has been broken as he was sandwiched between Nick Heidfeldt his teammates and John Lacey

00:09:32Driving in his 200th Grand Prix. I think it was truly

00:09:35I think they were getting caught up truly had a decent start look a Lacey very slow way of the two yellow cars a clear

00:09:41run for Michael but

00:09:43Montoya then in the BMW

00:09:45Williams managing to get right alongside Michael having none of it takes the line pushes him wide and

00:09:50A bit of squabbling in the midfield, but no major drama at that time

00:09:54But at the end of the first lap, we will see that truly was getting involved in a fight

00:09:59But this is the picture from Montoya just over his left shoulder

00:10:03Of course and look picked up a beautiful slipstream from the Ferrari

00:10:06But nowhere to go when he arrived and you've got to be on the inside there Michael giving him no slack whatsoever

00:10:13Nobody was clean

00:10:14Michael Schumacher has been criticized for cutting across other drivers at the start of the race. That was fair enough

00:10:20I look at the lead he's building now. He's on his second lap

00:10:23It was a tenth of a second Barrichello perfectly placed

00:10:27Can he use this slipstream Montoya goes to cover the inside line Barrichello breaking later?

00:10:32And managing to make it stick easy for Barrichello then right now

00:10:37Let's look right at the beginning of the race

00:10:39Remember that Ferrari have actually got a disadvantage they thought some people at the start here. They're on the harder

00:10:47Compound Bridgestone tire it may not grip the circuit so well

00:10:50But it won't degrade and last better Kimi Räikkönen then we saw he touched

00:10:55With Jarno Trulli and he is stopped for a new nose and he will join in last place

00:11:02And already we're on lap three Ferrari leads Ferrari second Schumacher leads Rubens Barrichello is second

00:11:08Down the third goes Montoya right behind him is Ralf Schumacher

00:11:11Mika Häkkinen who started fourth is down to fifth David Coulthard who started seventh is up to sixth in seventh is

00:11:18Heidfeldt who started sixth and Jarno Trulli is in eighth position in the Jordan and you can see the battle now between the two Williams

00:11:27BMWs

00:11:28Montoya and Schumacher with Mika Häkkinen and Coulthard behind them out of our view

00:11:33But Jensen Button has passed Fizzi Callum with Räikkönen pitting button up to nine Eddie Irvine

00:11:3911 and just look at this for sheer raw speed it is terrific

00:11:47830 horsepower blasting through those rear wheels they have to come down to 75 miles an hour third gear

00:11:54Corner for turn one and it is line abreast now

00:11:594.7 seconds covers the top six Barrichello four tenths faster than Michael Schumacher on the previous lap there

00:12:04It is a new fastest lap of the race

00:12:07But that's not a lap record at this stage a car on the outside traveling slowly

00:12:12We didn't see who it was and it is a Sauber presumably that's Räikkönen and he's back onto the track

00:12:17We saw his car smoking a little bit as he left the pit thought it was tire smoke

00:12:21Maybe then Räikkönen got out some other. Yes. He has left Räikkönen with some technical problems

00:12:26We don't know what of course creeping back to the pit. And here's a flash of intelligence

00:12:31We believe that the Ferraris have got a two-stop strategy

00:12:34We believe we could be wrong, but it makes sense

00:12:37Look at the way the Rubens Barrichello has come up

00:12:40Presumably with a lighter fuel load and if that is the case

00:12:43They've got to build a lead now over the two Williams BMWs of Juan Pablo Montoya

00:12:49Who is third and Ralf Schumacher who's in fourth position?

00:12:52Montoya had a very slow lap of 1.176 nearly two seconds off the pace last time around and that's why he's suddenly under pressure from Ralf

00:13:01Häkkinen in close company yellow flag stationary yellow flag

00:13:04I can see in the background and we think it's an oil flag

00:13:09So some debris or something slippery on the racetrack Montoya is struggling. Yeah, Ralf Schumacher is pushing

00:13:15He's in fourth position and Mikko Häkkinen is just behind them

00:13:18There's the McLaren but behind the McLaren

00:13:21It's David Coulthard, so what is Montoya holding things up?

00:13:25You can see they're piling up behind him

00:13:27But meantime the gap between the two flying Ferraris at the front of the Williams is increasing

00:13:33It is now 3.6 seconds between Michael Schumacher and Montoya

00:13:36And Michael's gonna let Barrichello pass. Barrichello has a car that's four tenths of a second faster

00:13:42So Michael clearly easily lets him through

00:13:45Remember leading this race last year and spinning off in these very slow corners through lack of concentration still went on to win

00:13:53Of course, but Barrichello then with easily the fastest car on the racetrack

00:13:57Suggesting less fuel, of course. Yeah, that could be one of two things

00:14:00It could be either the Rubens Barrichello is on a two-stop strategy and Michael isn't or it could mean that Michael even this early

00:14:07in the race is deferring to the

00:14:09Brazilian to let him through and hopefully from their point of view win this race get ten World Championship points put himself ahead of David

00:14:17Coulthard who is only on one World Championship point at the moment lap 6 73 lap race

00:14:22I think they're gonna have to move Montoya out of the way soon as well. He is definitely holding up Ralph

00:14:27It's enabling the McLarens to stay in touch, but Montoya well down in the 1.17

00:14:33Barrichello

00:14:34Full second faster than anybody else including passing Michael Schumacher in the of the inside into turn eight

00:14:41Obviously he was let through but then Barrichello scampering off into the distance

00:14:46It's about two and a half tenths of a second per lap for every 10 kilos of fuel you carry around here

00:14:52So it would suggest Barrichello to stopping and Kimi Räikkönen in the garage

00:14:57Retired for the sixth time this year

00:15:01They've just cleared turn eight up to the hairpin at turn nine a short dash and then there's another hairpin turn

00:15:09This is it up to about 80 miles an hour for the right-hander at turn 11

00:15:14And then they get back on to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway the super speedway

00:15:20They're on it now

00:15:21Look at the width of the circuit and look at the way they come right out to the side almost

00:15:26Clancing the wall cut across build up the speed here come the two Ferraris and it is Rubens

00:15:32Barrichello in the lead with the fastest lap of the race obviously one minute fifteen point five

00:15:38And that is about eight tenths of a second of last year's lap record put up by David Coulthard

00:15:45And when they've used up some of this current fuel and of course, they will be lapping faster

00:15:50But as I said on the gridwalk, they are all expecting tire problems

00:15:56of some sort with blistering

00:15:58They've come here this year with a much softer much more competitive in terms of lap time tire

00:16:02It was so conservative last year the tire companies concerned about the banking proved to be a non-issue

00:16:08But this year maybe they've not been quite conservative enough and a lot of these teams are really on their back foot

00:16:15Protecting their rear tires James Allen. Remember Martin that Ferrari selected the harder tire for qualifying yesterday

00:16:21They were aware that they wanted to try and use it as best they could it didn't work for the Minimala

00:16:25But it worked them in qualifying yesterday

00:16:27I think Rubens Barrichello definitely is on a two-stop strategy a second a lap faster than the rest of the field

00:16:32Entertainment is the name of the game here today and Ferrari seemed to be going out to provide it

00:16:36So what are the figures here?

00:16:38Well two stops you need to be it's about 12 seconds faster than one stop

00:16:41But you need a 30 second lead in order to make the pit stop and rejoin back in front

00:16:45Quick word on the Michelin tires on the Williams guys

00:16:48My information is that they started started with tires that have done over 18 laps already

00:16:54Clearly very worried about the wear situation. Now. Look there is the third and fourth followed by the rest

00:17:00Montoya is not letting Schumacher pass if the German is trying to do so Hagen is right behind him

00:17:05Then it's David Coulthard, Heidfeld and Button and between those there is only about three seconds

00:17:12So it's mighty mighty close, but traffic needs to break. Heidfeld keeping the two McLarens on us

00:17:18He's got a point to prove hasn't he's been bypassed for the McLaren drive for next year by Kimi Räikkönen

00:17:23Räikkönen in the pits

00:17:25He's had a dismal time since he signed for McLaren as it happens for next year

00:17:29Heidfeld really been on it all weekend didn't get away from the start too well and that put him behind Coulthard

00:17:35But now he's managing to stay with them. I suspect those

00:17:40McLarens are quite fat on fuel. They'll come back into play later on in this Grand Prix

00:17:44Yeah, it's going to be very interesting to see how the race develops last year

00:17:48Of course, the race actually started off in the wet. The track was wet. It wasn't actually raining

00:17:54It was very misleading and we had people coming in as early as lap six

00:17:58Rubens Barrichello came in on lap six to switch tires the crafty and experienced Michael Schumacher

00:18:05Stayed out and reaped a tremendous benefit because he subsequently won the race by being able to do what Ayrton Senna had done

00:18:14So frequently in the past keep out of what seemed to be the wrong tire for the conditions and still not have his lap times

00:18:21Suffer. Well Nick Heidfeld is undoubtedly the man to watch at the moment

00:18:25He's in seventh position and there he is behind David Coulthard's McLaren

00:18:30He is in the points. Both the McLarens are in the points

00:18:33Both the Ferraris are of course on a potential 16 World Championship points for first and second place

00:18:38Both the Williams are in the points at third and fourth

00:18:42So it is dominated as you would expect Ferrari

00:18:45Williams McLaren and Heidfeld there with the red wing mirrors on the Sauber followed now by Jenson Button

00:18:53And there he is in eighth position

00:18:55Jenson started 10th in the Benetton. He has worked his way up two places

00:18:59He's two places ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella his teammate

00:19:03Yes out of picture again Button then has put a move on truly somewhere

00:19:07So Jenson Button coming through the field very nicely. Isn't it great to see him back on form?

00:19:12It's last two or three Grand Prix's. He's really been looking like the Jenson Button

00:19:16We saw last year tripped over of course

00:19:19Truly ironically in the first corner at Monza with a bit of an over ambitious move

00:19:24But Button then heading for a decent Grand Prix at last and here is the 200 Grand Prix by Jean

00:19:31Alessi as he goes through to complete lap nine in the 72 lap race

00:19:54So

00:20:54So

00:21:24So

00:21:54Lap 12 now in the American Grand Prix 11 laps completed

00:21:59Joe Ramirez who is retiring at the end of the year sits there in the McLaren garage

00:22:05Impassively watching the television screen not happily watching the tell us television screen

00:22:10Because the top McLaren driver is only in fifth position and it's double world champion Micah Hackett and there has been no change

00:22:18David Coulthard there

00:22:20He is just going under the banner

00:22:21Followed by Nick Heidfeldt in the Sauber in the second position as we look at the two Williams ahead of him

00:22:27we can't look at the Ferraris because Rubens Barrichello is six seconds ahead of Michael Schumacher and

00:22:34Montoya is another three seconds behind them. So we've heard James Allen saying that the leaders need something like a

00:22:4230-second gap if they're on a two-stop strategy, which we believe Rubens Barrichello is

00:22:47It's not enough at the moment because Montoya in the leading Williams BMW on Michelin tires is nine and a half

00:22:54Seconds behind the leader don't know when he'll be coming in. That's the problem about one-stop strategies these days

00:23:01It's very difficult to predict when the cars are going to come in because we don't know what fuel loads they started off with

00:23:07That's for sure

00:23:08Jensen buttons had a problem. He's now slipped quite a long way back from Yano. Truly. We don't know why that's a Lacey

00:23:16Challenging both the Benetton's 11th place man and Lacey Fisichella on the end of his nose

00:23:21Picks up that extra surge and later on the brakes a really clean move. He's done 200 of these

00:23:28He should be good at that by now Murray. Yeah, he's 37 years old, but there's news from James

00:23:33Yes, looking at the timing of these stops then gentlemen, but one stop as we're looking about lap 40

00:23:38I believe but Rubens Barrichello on his two-stop. He's going to come in on lap 28, which is in just

00:23:4316 laps from now and then he's going to have to come in again about lap 51

00:23:47That's the target and one other note for you Jos Verstappen the king of the Grand Prix starts

00:23:52He has made up seven places off the start line this race

00:23:55And that means that in the 16 Grand Prix so far, it's a total of 80 places 80 places

00:24:01He's made up so far an amazing statistic

00:24:03So there is Jensen Button in the Benetton followed by Fisichella now

00:24:08We're with a Lacey and a Lacey has got Fisichella in front of him

00:24:13So underneath the banner into the right hand a terrific battle now between the two Benetton's with their new Renault

00:24:22111 degree v10 engine and John Lacey in the Honda Power Jordan and a Lacey's flying

00:24:29He's not close enough yet, but in prediction, but why it's got to get a little bit closer than that

00:24:34But buttons really struggling with the handling. He's dropped off the pace and Lacey. Look at that

00:24:38You could just feel it's like moving up another game. He will now easily outbreak button

00:24:43I think they're losing a lot of grip from the Michelin's on the Benetton at the moment

00:24:47Obviously working them too hard and that was easy

00:24:50I think a Lacey then just pulling a ripoff off the visor

00:24:54Probably got a lot of oil on his visor which may also give us an indication of why button has started to slow down

00:25:00Maybe he's got the beginnings of an engine gremlin. Yeah, and that's happened in the past

00:25:05This is still very much a development engine and we're now back at the front of the American Grand Prix on lap

00:25:1214 out of 73 as the Ferrari exits turn 13 builds into that long

00:25:19Long straight and the leader Rubens Barrichello has now gone faster again

00:25:26one minute fifteen point one seven nine

00:25:29And that is four tenths of a second off last year's lap record

00:25:33And I remind you that he is still got plenty of fuel to burn off before he comes in

00:25:40That's the Williams BMW of Montoya. He is in third place

00:25:44Ralph Schumacher is

00:25:45Has dropped back a bit actually compared with Montoya that we're looking at because the German in the Williams

00:25:51BMW is now about one and a half seconds behind his teammate. There's been no change at the top seven

00:25:58It's still Barrichello Schumacher, Montoya, Ralph Schumacher, Nick O'Hagan and David Coulthard and the gallant Nick Heidfeld

00:26:06He doesn't have anything to prove. He's been a test driver for McLaren. He's driven for Prost now

00:26:12He's with Sauber you heard there

00:26:14He is in the background with the red mirrors on his car in the wheel tracks of David Coulthard

00:26:19Now are the McLaren still fuel heavy Martin?

00:26:22Do you think they're going to be able to make up ground later on?

00:26:25Well judging by the warm-up this morning when there was just about quarter of a second between a lot of them and Coulthard second fastest

00:26:30It seems absolutely clear that they're running more fuel in the McLaren certainly than Barrichello

00:26:37Interestingly Michael Schumacher second Montoya third Ralph Schumacher fourth. They're pretty much

00:26:42Stable at the moment with regard to the gap. So this is the best squabble on the circuit right now

00:26:47Heidfeld just hanging on to the shirt tails of Coulthard and

00:26:52Hacking and easing away now by some

00:26:552.8 seconds, but look at the heat haze behind the cars. That's 800 horsepower that's been dispensed with and

00:27:02Surging them down at well over 200 miles an hour before they hit the brakes into turn one

00:27:07Just literally tens of meters before the corner. It's a brilliant experience

00:27:12Let me tell you when you experience that kind of power that kind of energy, but what about the others?

00:27:18I hear you cry

00:27:18Well, Eddie Irvine in the Jaguar has moved up a couple of places from 14th at the start into 12th position

00:27:27Yosfa Stepan has done what we've seen him do so often in the past. You've heard from James

00:27:31He's marched up from 20th on the grid in the fuel light arrows

00:27:35He will certainly be on a two-stop strategy to 13th on the grid the BAR's which did so badly in

00:27:42Qualifying aren't doing a lot better in the race because Olivier Pannis is 14th and Jack Villeneuve the world champion of

00:27:491997 is down at 17th place

00:27:52They're sandwiching Frentzen and Bernalde in 15th and 16th places and there is only one

00:27:59Retirement so far and we're on lap 17 out of 73 now and that's Kimi Raikkonen

00:28:04who you saw with the wing problem with somebody trod on it and he is out on the

00:28:1015th lap and we're on lap

00:28:12Sorry on lap 16 and now and coming towards us again the McLaren and the Sauber

00:28:18Coulthard and Heidfeld

00:28:20This is the battle on the circuit because there's nine seconds between Barrichello and Schumacher

00:28:26There's nearly four seconds between Michael Schumacher and Montoya

00:28:30There's one and a half seconds between Montoya and Ralf Schumacher the two Williams BMWs

00:28:35Mika Hakkinen, I don't know if he's dispirited or if he just can't bring any more performance out of the McLaren

00:28:40But he's 17 nearly 18 seconds behind Rubens Barrichello

00:28:45Now he's still in the points and David Coulthard is 20 seconds behind Barrichello

00:28:50Yeah, but not looking good for Coulthard second place in the championship

00:28:53Is it it is Barrichello leading in a 10-point position at the moment Coulthard with just one point if the race would have finished now

00:29:00And also Ralf Schumacher in fourth place ahead of him, too

00:29:03So Coulthard second place in the championship and McLaren second place in the champion constructors championship looking pretty much

00:29:12Under pressure. I'm just trying to work it out while you were talking

00:29:15Seven points the Williams team is on at the moment as they started this race eight points behind

00:29:24Championship but on the other hand

00:29:26Hakkinen and Coulthard have got three world championship points between them

00:29:30So McLaren are still in the lead in the constructors championship for second place

00:29:35Ferrari have won it of course as they did last year and as they did in

00:29:401999 and all alone on the circuit

00:29:44Jarno Trulli there goes round and keeps marching. He is in eighth position

00:29:51He's seven and a half seconds behind

00:29:54Heidfeldt and he is some eight seconds now ahead of his teammate John a Lacey

00:29:59So John a Lacey as I said again, I've said before and I'll say again in his 200th Grand Prix

00:30:06Has come up from ninth position on the grid

00:30:10He dropped back and he's back in the ninth position where he started now, but if both the Jordans can keep going

00:30:17I

00:30:18Still think it's unlikely that all the cars in front of them are going to finish

00:30:22They're in with a shout for some some points. We're on lap 19. It's a 73 lap race

00:30:28There's a long way to go in terms of temperature. It's continuing to creep up

00:30:32It's 27 degrees and I say again the hotter it is the better the Michelin tires like it

00:30:38200 then written clearly on the side of a Lacey's Jordan

00:30:42I started over 150 of these but when I walked down the grid

00:30:45I can't remember any of them and it seems like it was somebody else's life

00:30:49It really is a strange feeling when it's all over and I wonder if John will be experiencing that but he's got so much

00:30:56Enthusiasm for Formula One. Will he keep that Jordan seat? What do you think marrying? I suspect?

00:31:02Sadly, he won't keep the Jordan seat. There are there are all sorts of rumors about other people taking his place

00:31:10one of the rumors is that Fernando Alonso is going to move from

00:31:15Minardi to Jordan and I emphasize these are rumors

00:31:19It would be very sad if a Lacey who is the oldest driver in the race as well as the one with the most Grand Prix

00:31:26Under his belt retired. He's much loved

00:31:30wonderful to one wonderful personality he'll

00:31:34fire off a

00:31:36Burst of invective of people loses temper briefly and then smile throws arms around you and you'll all be friends again

00:31:44Now we're with Montoya as he comes into this into the start and finish straight at some 200 miles an hour

00:31:51And he's speeding up his Montoya. He is gaining on Michael Schumacher

00:31:56It's only two point two seconds now between the third car that you're riding with and the second car

00:32:03Which is that scarlet Ferrari now just going round turn four into turn five

00:32:08And that is Rubens Barrichello leading the race. So now look back

00:32:13It's a 10 second gap

00:32:15You're not going to be if they stay with him and they are staying with it with the heat

00:32:18He's pouring out of the back of the car because the exhaust pipes five cylinders on each side

00:32:25Exit through the top of the body work

00:32:28They're just in front of the rear wing and that is to enable as much clean air to get at the rear wing as possible

00:32:35To help the aerodynamics to force the tires down onto the ground

00:32:39More rubber on the track means more grip more grip means more power transmitted more power transmitted means more speed

00:32:47Barrichello has won one Grand Prix in his career the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim last year

00:32:53He desperately wants to win another he's going the right way about it now

00:32:57But he's still only 12 seconds ahead of Montoya. He needs a lot more lead to retain it when he comes in

00:33:04Yes, he deserved to win in Monza in my view obviously a fuel rig problem there cost him the Italian Grand Prix just two weekends ago

00:33:12But I think he's just been given the hurry up to make his strategy work

00:33:16Barrichello is not far enough ahead as you rightly say you're getting good at this commentary game Murray and

00:33:22Barrichello really has got to get on it some more because suddenly the two Williams are coming into the zone

00:33:29They've driven a very sensible very mature early stages of the Grand Prix

00:33:33They've used they've had

00:33:36Lower tires on their more used tires to stop the blistering. They don't care about the total wear rate

00:33:42They want to stop the blistering so Barrichello leads by 10.9 seconds now from Michael Schumacher

00:33:48Juan Pablo Montoya is third Ralph Schumacher fourth Hakan in fifth and Coulthard sixth

00:34:33I

00:35:03You

00:35:33You

00:36:04You

00:36:06Do not leave the room

00:36:08It's all coming alive at Indianapolis lap 23 50 laps to go

00:36:13Rubens Barrichello has had the hurry-up sign because he's on a two-stop strategy

00:36:18And he has not got enough lead to be able to retain it when he comes in he needs a 30-second gap

00:36:23He's only got a 13 second gap Michael Schumacher is still second

00:36:28And you're watching the battle now as Michael Schumacher in his new style helmet

00:36:34Incidentally, he's being pursued and caught by Juan Pablo Montoya and by Ralph Schumacher his brother

00:36:41So second to back up Michael third

00:36:45Montoya Williams for Ralph Schumacher in the yellow top helmet in the Williams BMW and the Williams team are getting ready

00:36:53They're getting up now. They're going to come out. This is at lap 24

00:36:57It looks as though they're getting ready to bring one of the Williams in for a tire stop and refuel as you look at Alex

00:37:04You're in the background pursued by Thomas anger and being caught to be left on lap 24 by Rubens Barrichello

00:37:12Well, I tell you if Williams are coming in for a stop

00:37:15There'll be an enormous sigh of relief from the Ferrari team because Williams were definitely putting an attack into place

00:37:23But it seems if they are also light on fuel

00:37:26so the Williams have not had the ultimate pace that we thought they were having and

00:37:31They're one of them and therefore I'm sure both of them will be making a two-stopper now and the Ferrari

00:37:38Pit wall will be mighty happy about that

00:37:41We think it's Ralph Schumacher the second of the two Williams coming in this time makes a late lunge for the pit line

00:37:48There's the speed limit line already

00:37:50So it's a long long way and that's why a pit stop here takes so much time

00:37:56And it really does compromise you on a two-stopper James Allen will take it

00:38:00I'll tell you Martin if this is a scheduled stop there nowhere

00:38:03Absolutely nowhere. You should have been much much faster in the first stint really worn Michelin tires coming off

00:38:09They're really very worried about the heat building up in the casing of the rear tires

00:38:13That's the problem here today. And that's the problem with the left rear tire now

00:38:17It's on the car Ralph rejoins, but I don't think Williams are in it today Martin now

00:38:21And they as you said left rear they had to change the gun the man on the left rear had to change guns for some reason

00:38:27And a very slow pit stop for Ralph then he came in fourth and he's going to go through it come out 10th

00:38:34Because Montoya's gone through so is Hekinon and Coulthard

00:38:38Heidfeldt is now up at the 620 is up at the 7th Ralph Schumacher got out just about at the same time as your Lacey

00:38:46I didn't see whether he was in front of or behind the Jordan

00:38:49But anyway, we're now with Juan Pablo Montoya

00:38:52Is he gonna have to stop and come in as has Ralph Schumacher Montoya is third

00:38:58That's Michael Schumacher ahead of him

00:39:00The gap is only eight tenths of a second now and he's carved it down from 2.2 seconds lap 26 out of 53

00:39:07So roundabout

00:39:08One third distance and you can see the Ferraris actually visibly getting bigger in

00:39:15Montoya's sights and he closes right up on them on Michael Schumacher

00:39:18And that's an important point Barrichello up front by 12 and a half seconds has Michael as rear gunner for him today

00:39:25And I think Michael will be very happy to help Rubens win that Grand Prix Rubens appears to have enough speed by himself

00:39:32And look how much Montoya had to correct the car through a relatively simple

00:39:36Stage of the lap and then it's quite clear then they're really struggling to get the back end to stick on that Williams

00:39:44And it's been pretty much the case all through free practice and qualifying

00:39:47We've seen Montoya pointing the wrong way down the racetrack on at least three occasions as they've struggled to hook the rear up

00:39:54Oh closing right up. This is this is race 16 out of 17

00:39:59Just the Japanese Grand Prix in two weeks time

00:40:02But ten races ago in Austria race six

00:40:06Rubens Barrichello moved over and let Michael Schumacher through from third to second in order to get World

00:40:12Championship points as the team leader and Michael said thank you Rubens

00:40:16I will remember that now maybe this is the time for him to remember not in the pit lane this time

00:40:22So at least two more laps three more laps of fuel then that Montoya was carrying over Ralph

00:40:28So how far can he go be amazed if he could one stop because that means Ralph was having a terrible afternoon

00:40:34So we're surely Montoya will be in any time to any time soon and you never know with Michael Schumacher

00:40:40He's got such a wise old head on his comparatively young 32 year old shoulders

00:40:46But there is an answer the Ferrari mechanics in their overalls helmets are out in the pit lane

00:40:53They are allowed to come they come out they have to come out on the lap that the car is coming in

00:40:58So there's going to be a Ferrari stop in at the end of this lap

00:41:03Which is lap 27 out of 73 Rubens Barrichello leading by 12 and a half seconds Montoya right behind Michael

00:41:11well, of course, we've had Barrichello pegged as a two-stopper from the very early stages of this Grand Prix and

00:41:17there then into the pits is

00:41:21Such a high angle it's difficult to see which one it was

00:41:24I know with this it is Barrichello, but with these with this Michaels new helmet, it's terribly difficult James James

00:41:30Yes

00:41:31Well bear in mind guys that Rubens has now to make one more stop than the others in other words

00:41:36He needs extra 30 seconds out of his race, which the others don't need to lose

00:41:40So in both of the first two stints, he needed a 16 second lead at least he's clearly going to lose the lead this time

00:41:45It's the second stop. It's his exit from the second stop

00:41:48That's the critical part and I don't really know if he's done enough work in that first

00:41:52It's only 12 and a half seconds lead. It's very very marginal two stops here

00:41:56Not that much faster very bold by Rubens. Can he make it pay go go go Rubens?

00:42:00You're not going fast enough. Michael Schumacher now leads there he and there is Rubens Barrichello

00:42:06Michael Schumacher leads Montoya is up into second for Hakan and is up into third

00:42:11Rubens Barrichello

00:42:14Rubens Barrichello scrambled out of the pit lane just in front of David Coulthard

00:42:19He was in fourth place. So he's lost three places. He's the Ferrari strategy falling flat on its face

00:42:25We'll have to wait and see this is lap 28

00:42:29The key to this race is how far can these two cars go before they make a pit stop?

00:42:34Michael and Montoya the Michael Schumacher from Montoya by eight tenths of a second

00:42:39This then is the scrap for the lead now after Barrichello's

00:42:44expected relatively early stop Ralph Schumacher is down in eighth place after that stop of is that slow stop and

00:42:51As I said earlier on I think the McLarens are gonna

00:42:54The race is gonna come back to the McLarens as they go through the afternoon. They're now third and fifth. They're sandwiching the

00:43:02Ferrari of Barrichello who's regained the race and the leaders here

00:43:06Michael Schumacher with Montoya tucked up behind him are closing up on Thomas Inge from Czechoslovakia

00:43:13From the Czech Republic in the Prost to lap him now if Inge gets in the way

00:43:18This is where things could change. So Michael will be watching his mirrors to see what Montoya does

00:43:24He will be watching the front to see where he can get past Thomas Inge. There is the Czech

00:43:29He looks in his mirrors. He moves over good bit of driving Thomas. Well done

00:43:33It's only his second Grand Prix bang goes Schumacher past him bang goes Montoya past him here coming towards us

00:43:40Is Mika Häkkinen in third place?

00:43:4211 seconds behind the race leader

00:43:44David Coulthard is four seconds behind him. There he is at the red Ferrari in the background is Rubens Barrichello fifth place

00:43:51Go for it Rubens. That's interesting. Now Rubens last lap at 118.8

00:43:56So he must have made a mistake somewhere because Coulthard has leapfrogged him up into fourth place

00:44:01What was the problem or what is the problem with Rubens Barrichello a very slow lap?

00:44:06Yeah, I wasn't too sure Martin to be absolutely honest that that Rubens had got out in front of David

00:44:14So maybe it was the reverse and David just scrambled past him at the pit stop

00:44:19But whatever you're absolutely right Rubens Barrichello is now in fifth position and there is Montoya

00:44:25You're looking at the battle for the lead now on lap 30

00:44:29And we're getting closer and closer to half distance how time flies when you're enjoying yourself

00:44:34And this is terrific the temperature just for the record is now 30 degrees

00:44:39It's going up up up better and better and better for the Michelins. But remember already we've had stops and

00:44:47Rubens Barrichello is now down in fifth place as a result of that stop now

00:44:52You know what the situation is for the first six with Jarno Trulli up there

00:44:56I'll give you the rest quickly because I know you're interested in more cars than the ones in the top six point scoring places

00:45:03It's Jorna Lacey who's seventh in the Jordan Ralph Schumacher down to eighth position after his stop

00:45:09Nick Hyde felt his ninth and Button is in tenth position, which is where he started. Giancarlo Fisichella is 11th

00:45:16He started 12th. Eddie Irvine is 12th and he started 14th. Jos Verstappen is 13th and he started 20th

00:45:22Heinz-Harald Frentzen in the Prost is 14th ahead of Olivier Panis. 16th is Binoldi. Jack Villeneuve is still

00:45:30down in the dumps at 17th place ahead of De La Rosa

00:45:34Alonso is 19th. Enge is 20th and has been lapped. Alex Jung is 21st. Kimi Räikkönen has retired

00:45:4121 still running on lap 31 out of 73 and you look down on the two lead cars of Michael Schumacher in the

00:45:49Scarlet Ferrari four times a world champion and would-be world champion

00:45:55Mark Juan Pablo Montoya who of course has won at Indianapolis in the past but not in a Grand Prix

00:46:01He won the fabled Indy 500 and was champ car champion of the year

00:46:07Of course this brilliant Colombian and look he's gaining visibly on Michael Schumacher on the twisties there as he

00:46:16Exits the double 90 at turn 10 accelerates up to turn 11

00:46:21And this is where the BMW grunt should help because although that Paolo Martini designed and Martinelli designed

00:46:29Engine in the Ferrari has got a lot of power

00:46:31The BMW has got even more. The gap on the previous lap was 7 tenths of a second

00:46:37They crossed the line to complete 31 laps and it's 6 tenths of a second and Häkkinen is 11 seconds behind them

00:46:45We ride with Montoya and that's what it feels like to be

00:46:48Second place in a Grand Prix on the edge of your seat then and let's chase down

00:46:52Michael Schumacher to see if we can snatch the lead and look Montoya

00:46:57Having a bundle of opposite lock to keep the car on the racetrack

00:47:01Collected it up nicely and look how much time he lost just with that simple necessary

00:47:06Correction Montoya what a brilliant race

00:47:08He's driving this afternoon had much more fuel on board than his teammate Ralph Schumacher and they're still making it work out there

00:47:15So Michael Schumacher and Montoya really now putting on the show up the front

00:47:21But the McLaren's then third and fourth now about 10 to 14 seconds behind the pair of them

00:47:27So they're staying just about look at this then

00:47:30This is Montoya in turn three and really had to turn into that slide as you would on the road in your road car

00:47:37Just turn in and keep the car pointing in the right direction, but you edge out under the dirty stuff

00:47:4732 laps

00:47:49that means that there are 40 laps still to go and with

00:47:53Montoya trying to make up for that slight loss of time on the previous lap and they're

00:47:59Carving their way through the field now

00:48:01It is Fernando Alonso from Spain who is the next to be passed in the Minardi. He qualified as superb

00:48:0917th here the Minardi team has got great promise for next year because it's got the Asia Tech engine and

00:48:16Paul stood out the boss was telling me but he's got hopefully a fairly healthy budget from all sorts of sources next year

00:48:23Things are looking good for this Italian team for the struggle so hard in the past

00:48:29So there is Rubens Barrichello now the gap between Barrichello and Michael Schumacher fifth and first is

00:48:3719.3 seconds and Montoya is pushing again the first sector

00:48:4323.1 seconds. Nobody has been through it and look look there it is

00:48:49We look down on the Montoya is visibly closing now on Michael Schumacher

00:48:54And he gives you a it gives you a chance to look at the crowd in the

00:48:58Grandstand in the background and particularly the ones they're coming to

00:49:03He's just about in the zone for a tow and you'll see Montoya just

00:49:08Gradually moving towards the back of that Ferrari as they move towards the first corner

00:49:12He had a lot of work to do but look how much he's made up and he takes the lead

00:49:18fantastic

00:49:21They love that and that's his dad in the background with the beard boy

00:49:26Is this Grand Prix racing with a capital G and a capital P?

00:49:30Juan Pablo Montoya who first led a Grand Prix in Brazil by putting a

00:49:37Sensational move on Michael Schumacher has done exactly the same thing here at Indianapolis hot dog

00:49:44It's terrific. Look at him go and he's so calm when he's out of the car

00:49:48He's so relaxed, but when he gets in it, he is a tiger

00:49:54And he's pulling away now

00:49:56Now they have passed young to lap him and there are the Colombian flags in the crowd giving it plenty

00:50:03Not that he can see that he's rather concentrating on what he's got to do now is

00:50:0926 year old Juan Pablo Montoya who comes from Bogota and Michael

00:50:15Really losing a lot on this lap didn't expect him to be falling so far behind

00:50:19Montoya then the last of the late breakers. He really did get in that slip

00:50:24So I'd love to see a replay of that. Please. Mr

00:50:26American producer was a great move and didn't he make it stick when he got to the end very very brave and that's the beauty

00:50:33Of the run down to the first corner. It's so wide. You can't cover your line

00:50:37You can't defend the line somebody wants to have a go at you

00:50:39They can get past you and Montoya then pull that a

00:50:441.2 second lead on that lap alone fingers crossed for Montoya and for Williams and for BMW

00:50:50Because he blew an engine in a very big way in the warm-up this morning

00:50:55Bang it went and the session had to be stopped because there was so much lubricant on the circuit

00:51:02It had to be cleared up and a few bits of shrapnel as well bits of broken metal from the engine

00:51:07But this one seems to be going well 35 laps now

00:51:10Just being completed and that is just one lap of half distance in the American Grand Prix at Indianapolis a great race

00:51:18The crowd is genuinely enthralled. I can see thousands of them out of my coffee box

00:51:25And where was Michael Schumacher in that picture? That's Heidfeld. He's on a two-stopper

00:51:29He's dropped down to eight falling away from the McLaren's of course with that and that's why I think he was staying so close

00:51:35Earlier on although he has been fast through the weekend and Montoya then a new lap record a one

00:51:42fourteen point four four eight and

00:51:46Montoya really stepping on it now. He's got a new lease of life

00:51:49He's leading the US Grand Prix with a brilliant move. He's 2.3 seconds ahead now and Juan Pablo

00:51:56Really getting on it. Lap 36 race order Montoya leads Schumacher Michael second Hackett and third

00:52:0312 seconds between them

00:52:05the first and third

00:52:06David Coulthard is fourth Barrichello is fifth

00:52:09Yano Trulli, Jordan is sixth, John Alessi is seventh, Nick Heidfeld is eighth, Ralf Schumacher is ninth

00:52:15And out come the Williams team and to complete the ten it is Jenson Button in the Benetton ahead of Bissi Keller

00:52:22so

00:52:24Now let's wait and see Juan Pablo Montoya come in from the lead in the Williams

00:52:32To change tires take on fuel and this is going to be a crucial stop

00:52:36So turn 11, then he'll go up high into 12 and then he'll sweep down at the last possible moment into the pit lane

00:52:44There it is and look for the white speed line. There it is. Now. He's on the limit 120 kilometers per hour

00:52:49Look how slow that feels compared to those cars going around on the banking and now the pit lane proper coming up

00:52:57And we're hopefully going to go all the way in. No, we're not to

00:53:01Follow him right into the box. Will they have any problems with fitting the tires?

00:53:06It all appears to be going well at the moment

00:53:08The hands are up in the air my wheel is fitted that says and he's just waiting for the fuel now

00:53:13What's the lollipop? It says put it in first gear. He's already in gear and away he goes so a

00:53:19Reasonable stop. I wonder why it didn't look like 13 seconds today

00:53:23No

00:53:23But Schumacher is back in the lead again Schumacher Michael

00:53:27Hacken is now up to second for the first time in this race a 10 second gap between them the second McLaren David Coulthard is

00:53:34Up in the third place as you look at Eddie Irvine's Jaguar being pursued by race leader Michael Schumacher

00:53:40To lap the Irishman Rubens Barrichello is fourth

00:53:44So it's Ferrari McLaren McLaren Ferrari Montoya came out in fifth place ahead of Jarno Trulli

00:53:50And in that's the point scorers a journal AC in the second Jordan is seven

00:53:56So the two Jordans are six and seven

00:53:59And those clouds of black smoke are from the brakes

00:54:02They're 28 millimeters thick when they start the race and they will be significantly thinner

00:54:07And you can't believe the amount of material that comes off from every time they hit the brakes

00:54:12Remember, that's just one corner of the lap will be at the hardest braking corner

00:54:15You can't believe they survived the distance, but indeed they do of course

00:54:19So now Michael Schumacher, and that's Ralph off the racetrack Ralph Schumacher out of the race then

00:54:27Rear wheel spinning. It looks as though he's beached it the undertrays resting on the ground

00:54:32He can't get any purchase, but with the way he's getting out of the car Ralph Schumacher retires from the American Grand Prix

00:54:39It's his seventh retirement of the year no points for him

00:54:43No points for BMW either or for Williams

00:54:47And he's very sensibly getting out of the danger zone as quickly as we can as he looks at this replay now where that

00:54:54Happened was the approach to turn six. That's the double 90

00:54:58I suppose it doesn't matter the Ralph where it happened it happened that Ferrari

00:55:02Mechanics are out and that is for Michael Schumacher who now leads Mika Hakkinen by

00:55:088.3 seconds because Mika is speeding up

00:55:11he's closed the gap between himself and his traditional rival Michael Schumacher, so

00:55:17Definitely only one Williams if that is going to finish the race. It's going to be Montoya if he keeps going and

00:55:25We're watching now the Ferrari as he goes through to start another lap. Yeah, Michael didn't pit

00:55:31So who is this for then can it be for Barrichello again already?

00:55:35So Michael then on to his 39 flap now

00:55:38He has not stopped second Hakkinen 8.2 seconds of drift

00:55:42He has not stopped and Norris Coulthard your current third place man

00:55:47So it was hide-and-seek at the beginning Barrichello's gone through as well

00:55:51So quite why the Ferrari mechanics are all in the pit lane

00:55:55We'll have to wait and see Michael obviously deciding he didn't want to go in that lap

00:55:59Sometimes you can run out of fuel if you do that

00:56:01You can go one too many laps

00:56:03But for whatever reason then neither Ferrari calling in when the team looks ready for them

00:56:08Well, it looks as though something very odd is happening between the McLaren and Ferrari. Maybe James Allen knows the answer

00:56:14Yeah, come on tire. Stop it. James. Sorry Montoya slowing Montoya stopping

00:56:19It looks as though both both Williams BMWs are out of the race. Yes, this is lap 39

00:56:25Schumacher out Montoya out finito

00:56:29And

00:56:30Remember, that's exactly where he stopped this morning when he blew up Murray and they had to put the red flags out

00:56:36They had to stop the session as Michael Schumacher pits from the lead

00:56:41So Schumacher in this time around and Montoya stopped there this morning and it's very difficult to recover a car from that

00:56:49Position on the racetrack. It's the pit wall. There's no way through there

00:56:53So I wonder how they'll handle the stricken car double-waved yellows at the moment, of course

00:56:59Then Hakanen goes through he is temporarily the leader, of course

00:57:04Michael rejoining seemed a reasonably long stop again, didn't it?

00:57:08So not not seeing good stocks this afternoon Hakanen then leads the Grand Prix

00:57:13remember the man who started this race very very angry because they moved him back on the grid for a

00:57:20Discretion indiscretion this morning in the warm-up. They applied it to yesterday's qualifying position and

00:57:26Montoya is right near the pit exit and they clear his car out of the way or will they decide to just leave it there?

00:57:33That's a tough call for Charlie Whiting and Herbie Blasch

00:57:36The two race directors who are have got to make those crucial calls and Kulthar then

00:57:42Second place at the moment 4.2 down on team mate Hakanen

00:57:4740.33 to go, Hakanen leads, Kulthar second, McLaren McLaren, Rubens Barrichello up to third

00:57:54Michael Schumacher has been in and made his pit stop

00:57:57This is Rubens and the gap between himself and David Kulthar is some five

00:58:04Seconds as Alex Young moves over and lets him through nearly stopped it look to me

00:58:11Oh, he's coming into the pit lane. So who's been in while Rubens Barrichello has been in Michael Schumacher has been in

00:58:18Nick Heidfeld who is now in sixth position has been in and it's looking very promising and you can see people around the car

00:58:25They're gonna move it. They've managed to get it across the pit lane. They've done well

00:58:29They've wheeled it got it across the pit lane

00:58:31Obviously no oil leaking out of it as it had this morning in the warm-up when it blew up

00:58:35So they have managed to clear the car of Montoya good news, so we don't need a safety car

00:58:41And that solved the problem about second in the Constructors Championship at the moment because both the Clarence are still running in the points

00:58:49First and second that'll do. Thank you very much

00:58:51And both Williams are out of the race first of all Ralph Schumacher and then Montoya

00:58:56This is crucial for Kulthar for Hakanen then of course, he takes the lead of the race

00:59:00Now they're obviously running more fuel than anybody else. They've played the waiting game, but look at the traffic

00:59:06He's having to put up with I think McLaren probably will bring him in sooner rather than later

00:59:11Otherwise, he's gonna lose that advantage, but he's not pitting this time around

00:59:15They will he'll easily clear the Jaguars by the end of the straight, but he's still got two more

00:59:21Medium fast cars to get past on the next lap. It's Stella Rosa. He's passed

00:59:26Now the next one is Jack Villeneuve in the VAR who is running in 12th position

00:59:31And then it's John Lacey and here is the Ferrari bearing down on us and Rubens Barrichello

00:59:37And there's no doubt at all about the fact that the Clarence will have lost time

00:59:41Threading their way through the traffic but only for a short while because then it's going to be Rubens Barrichello's problem

00:59:47He's got to get past the traffic that they will already have cleared lap 42 now

00:59:5331 to go. Well, remember Barrichello is to stopping

00:59:56He is currently 11 seconds ahead of Michael Schumacher who will not stop again. That is a Menardi

01:00:03That's Alex Jung still coasting around. We saw him coast into the pit lane

01:00:07He's obviously gone back out for another attempt still got the problem. So I think Barrichello is not looking that great

01:00:13He's only 11 ahead of Michael and he's got to make another pit stop

01:00:17So the McLarens are looking strong when they pit will they manage to get out in front of this Ferrari of Michael Schumacher?

01:00:24He's lapping on a 115 and a half at the moment cool start on a 114 9

01:00:30It's cool start on the move now

01:00:31Well, Ross Brawn the technical director of Ferrari is the record to be the guru of race strategies

01:00:39It may well be that the Clarence are out thinking him in this race because on lap 43

01:00:45There is Micah Hackett and he's gone ahead of John Lacey to lap the French Sicilian who is in 10th place

01:00:52Pedro de la Rosa has been lapped of course

01:00:54Yes, de la Rosa from out fumbling himself and now he's got to get out of cool starts way because he's being lapped

01:00:59He will see blue flags waving aplenty and doesn't appear to be ready to do that at the moment

01:01:05Maybe he doesn't realize that with that slip up in turn one

01:01:08The other McLaren is now homed in on him. So Hackett and then has cleared the three cars that 43 race order Hackett and Coulthard

01:01:17Montoya walks in third is Barrichello fourth is Ralph Schumacher and of course both the Ferraris have stopped neither of the McLarens have stopped

01:01:25Heidfeld is up to fifth Irvine is up into sixth position in the Jaguar

01:01:30Seventh is Frentzen eighth is Trulli ninth is Pannis tenth is John Lacey

01:01:35Out come the McLaren mechanics carrying the tires

01:01:38Wonder if it'll be for Coulthard who's tucked up in traffic or will it be first for Hackett and Hackett and as he was ahead on the grid under the McLaren

01:01:47Arrangement has the choice of when he wants to pit

01:01:50So I would imagine he would go longer and indeed he has Hackett and goes through

01:01:54Coulthard then pits it saves him taking that traffic now. It's going to be crucial

01:01:59Will there be anywhere near Michael Schumacher when they come out?

01:02:02Will can Coulthard get out anywhere in front of Schumacher because that'll put Hackett in good shape, too

01:02:08It's going to be close

01:02:16Nine well, we kept the clock running a lot longer than it should have done

01:02:20I think that it was about nine and a half seconds and there is the Ferrari

01:02:26And here coming down the pit lane towards us now is the second I think that's an arrows Murray

01:02:32I think you'll find that's an arrows that's a passing down. It's orange rather than this

01:02:36So which of the Ferraris was it from that high shot because we know that Barrichello was

01:02:4311 seconds ahead of Michael Schumacher and that's Della Rosa and Pannis and sorry and Villeneuve

01:02:48Who'd been threatening to get together as the leaders came through obviously having a tangle down there at turns

01:02:55Nine and ten, you know dreadful race for Jacques Villeneuve. He's in 10th position

01:03:01He hasn't been in yet and lots of others have and here is here is the Jaguar cutting trying to get through on the inside

01:03:07Pedro Della Rosa clipping and Jacques Villeneuve who to be fair has not been

01:03:13backwards about doing that sort of thing to others in the past and

01:03:17There's a reversal position here. Jacques Villeneuve coming in from now 12th position in the BAR

01:03:24The weather continues to be superb the track temperature still remains at about 30 degrees

01:03:29all calm in the Ferrari garage on lap 44

01:03:34with

01:03:35In this 73 lap race and that is Mika Hakkinen leading the American Grand Prix

01:03:42Now this multiple winner and this double world champion who's already got 19 victories behind him this

01:03:50In his career, there's only one once this year

01:03:54And that of course was the British Grand Prix a superb drive for him

01:03:59He's had so many problems as Mika Hakkinen including eight failures to finish

01:04:04Yes, so the Ferrari we saw in the long shot was Michael Schumacher

01:04:07He is seven seconds ahead of David Coulthard their third and fourth

01:04:12The significance of that is that Barrichello Schumacher and Coulthard have all now pitted. Barrichello has to pit again

01:04:18Hakkinen then has not pitted. There's himself and Eddie Irvine your current sixth place man

01:04:24The only two actually in Della Road both Jaguars then have yet to pit along with your leader Mika Hakkinen

01:04:31And this is lap 46. So the Jaguars are really staying out the last stop

01:04:37We had last year was lap 53 Rubens Barrichello

01:04:41He'd been in earlier on lap 6 of course to change from the wrong kind of tires that he was on to the right ones

01:04:47But he didn't take on any fuel at that juncture so they can still stay out quite a long time

01:04:53The these Grand Prix cars these days cannot do a full race distance of about 190 miles

01:04:59It's 190 miles here at Indianapolis on just one tank of fuel

01:05:04They've got to stop somewhere

01:05:06but the trick often is if you get the strategy right to leave it very late indeed as

01:05:12We are and here we are. Here are the black overall

01:05:16McLaren mechanics getting ready to bring one of their men in I

01:05:21Remind you that Mika Hakkinen is leading the race that David Coulthard is in fourth place

01:05:26They are sandwiching the two Ferraris of Barrichello and

01:05:29Michael Schumacher as in comes race leader Mika Hakkinen and James Allen

01:05:35It's been a fabulous performance by Hakkinen in his last two or three laps. He's taken three seconds out of Michael Schumacher

01:05:41He needed 31 to rejoin in front of the German. He's got just about that

01:05:45It's down to the McLaren mechanics now

01:05:47Can they get these tires and the fuel in there really in double quick time and get him out in front for another race victory?

01:05:54Schumacher

01:05:55Well, it's pretty different suck. It's gonna be very close

01:05:58Well Rubens Barrichello is leading. I can tell you that on lap 47. There he is

01:06:04He has gone through Rubens Barrichello from Sao Paulo Brazil leads Mika Hakkinen exits the pit lane

01:06:11I think Hakkinen is ahead. I saw Schumacher go past the window Hakkinen should have got up to speed

01:06:16Yes, he has so Mika Hakkinen then we believe he is ahead of Michael showing second at the moment

01:06:22Because it's Barrichello on his two-stopper that now retakes the lead of this Grand Prix

01:06:27But I think the real fight for the ultimate winner is between

01:06:32Mika Hakkinen and Michael Schumacher

01:06:34Third second and third David Coulthard just a four seconds away from them, too

01:06:40So if the clubs weren't off before and they were they are now and we're leaving but we're coming back

01:06:46Quickly it's Barrichello, Hakkinen, Schumacher, Coulthard, Nick Heidfeld, Eddie Irvine

01:08:46This is a heightening America's interest in Formula One Grand Prix racing nothing well because it's great action at Indianapolis

01:09:16Lap 49 out of 73

01:09:18Rubens Barrichello leads Mika Hakkinen by 21 seconds

01:09:21But of course we think we're pretty sure the Brazilian has still got to make another stop

01:09:26Well, he has got to make another stop

01:09:27But what's playing into Barrichello's hands is a he's lapping very quickly and hauling himself back into contention because B

01:09:35Schumacher Michael that is of course and Hakkinen and Coulthard having gazed a lot of traffic

01:09:41They're really having some very slow laps and Barrichello's lead now up to 22 seconds

01:09:47We know he needs the best part of half a minute

01:09:50So if he can just keep this kind of pace up he may just bring himself back into contention

01:09:56But I still think it'll end up being between Hakkinen and Michael Schumacher for the win

01:10:00And Mika Hakkinen has got the loud pedal well and truly welded to the bulkhead

01:10:05He has now increased his lead over Michael Schumacher in third place to six seconds Louise Goodwin

01:10:11With one Pablo Montoya from public that was a fabulous race while it lasted savvy. They didn't last long enough

01:10:16No, it's a bit disappointing. You know, we could have gotten I win here

01:10:19It would be my second from a win and back to back here would be brilliant and and I didn't happen

01:10:25But you know, you know, I'm glad we made a good show for more in his last race fabulous movie made on Michael

01:10:30Was it fun? Yeah, it was really good fun. You know, I did enjoy it in and

01:10:33I was just going for it completely

01:10:35Thanks for Pablo in comes Rubens Barrichello race leader

01:10:39He led by 22 seconds at the end of the previous lap

01:10:42Is it enough will Hakkinen get through before Rubens Barrichello comes out?

01:10:47I'm trying to do two things at the same time watch the monitor and watch the track

01:10:52There is Hakkinen there is Hakkinen and Rubens Barrichello is not I think gonna get out in time

01:10:58It looks to me. Yes. Yes

01:11:00Mika Hakkinen takes the lead and Michael Schumacher comes through and he's going to be ahead of Rubens Barrichello, too

01:11:07So the Brazilian with that second fuel stop has gone down from first to third

01:11:12Ah, there they are absolutely together and he's kept second place. Yeah, that's important for Barrichello

01:11:18So now he's got to try and hunt down the McLaren and I don't see Michael giving him any problems

01:11:23he Michael wants him to finish second in the World Championship and

01:11:27Get a clean absolute clean sweep for Ferrari one and two in the drivers and of course

01:11:33Constructors championship as well, which they've already won

01:11:35So now it's down to Barrichello to chase down Hakkinen

01:11:39Coulthard is just out of the picture three and a half seconds behind them behind the second Ferrari there

01:11:45So it hasn't worked out so well for him is looking great for Hakkinen the man who said I'm fed up with this sport

01:11:52They've taken me off the front row of the grid

01:11:54I'm going to take a sabbatical and look at the speed he's put on this afternoon

01:11:58It's been a smart strategy from a current very very good and that's enabled them to lead this race

01:12:04Well as an Englishman, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Eddie Irvine in the Jaguar

01:12:11Because although he has yet to come in he's now 24 seconds ahead of Jarno Trulli

01:12:17Who is in sixth position in the Jordan and there is the Jaguar now?

01:12:22it could well be that Irvine can get out in time to

01:12:27Clear the circuit and retain that. Oh, you won't it's Dallarosa for a start

01:12:33And that was that was not good. It looked to me as though he had some sort of a problem

01:12:38He's down in 13th position incidentally and just to keep you clear as you see Alex Jung walking in from retirement

01:12:46Eddie Irvine is yet to come in retirements incidentally in order of retirement Kimi Räikkönen is out

01:12:53Alonso is out in the Minardi Ralph Schumacher, of course in the Williams BMW Alex Jung

01:12:58You've just seen retire Montoya is out Verstappen is out Villeneuve has now retired

01:13:04There are 15 of the 22 starters left of whom the last is Thomas Enger

01:13:10Everybody up to sixth position has been lapped and that includes seventh place Nick Heidfeldt

01:13:17We're on lap 52 with Mika Häkkinen who has stopped once leading Rubens Barrichello

01:13:23Who has stopped twice and will not be stopping again six seconds behind him

01:13:27Michael Schumacher is closing on his teammate Michael in third position as we look at Eddie Irvine still out in the Jaguar

01:13:36And this is lap 53 surely can't stay out much longer

01:13:40Barrichello took three quarters of a second out of Häkkinen's lead on the last lap

01:13:45So it's down to five point four seconds. I can see the Jaguar mechanics in the pit lane

01:13:50So Eddie Irvine will be the final man this afternoon to make a pit stop and there it is

01:13:56So Irvine out of sixth place

01:13:58We think he's going to drop down at least two positions with that and it'll be nip and tuck between himself and John Alasi

01:14:04I think the seventh place when he emerges assuming he has no problems

01:14:09Well, I'm trying to watch the track as I watch Eddie Irvine come in to see for the flash of yellow

01:14:15Which will be Jarno Trulli. John, there it is

01:14:19Trulli goes through

01:14:21Eddie Irvine has lost a point at the present moment

01:14:24How's the stop going? It's nice and clean out. He goes seven point eight seconds. Not a lot of fuel gone in of course

01:14:31and there is

01:14:34David Cooper and Heidfeld went through as well

01:14:36So I think Eddie Irvine will be seventh when he rejoins the racetrack

01:14:42There's not going to be a lot in it between the two of them and we have we're on lap 53 now

01:14:48So there's 20 laps to go

01:14:5220 laps each of 2.6 miles and the Benetton

01:14:57Leading across

01:14:59Into the top straight. So another four tenths then lap time around Barrichello the lead down to just five seconds now

01:15:05He's making a charge on Hakanen. He's got plenty of laps to do it

01:15:09He moves along at that kind of pace

01:15:12Barrichello can hold himself up to give himself a chance of winning his second Grand Prix

01:15:18So Rubens and really getting on it now can Mika Hakanen respond Michael Schumacher's cruising in third really and

01:15:26Kulthar keeping a watching brief to in fourth

01:15:28It now seems like it's down to Hakanen and Barrichello with Jenson Button in the light blue

01:15:34Benetton in 10th position slaving off Heinz-Harald Frensson in the Prost and behind Frensson is Olivier Panis in the VAR

01:15:4210th 11th and 12th

01:15:45De La Rosa is 13th. Bernoldi we haven't mentioned in the arrows is still running

01:15:49He's in 14th place. His teammate Josper Stappen is retired Thomas Enger in the second Prost

01:15:55that is that is Frensson is 15th and last and we're now on lap 54 and

01:16:01Rubens Barrichello now Hakanen has gone through he's on his

01:16:0555th lap the gap between himself and Barrichello has come down again

01:16:104.6 seconds

01:16:12So Barrichello is lapping about just under half a second faster than Hakanen at the present moment

01:16:18Now that means he would need about 10 laps to close with Hakanen which will take us up to roundabout lap

01:16:2465 with eight laps to go it's getting very exciting here at Indianapolis

01:18:18Remember what I told you it's all getting very exciting at Indianapolis. Here is how exciting it's going to be

01:18:48Exciting Mika Hakanen leads a rapidly closing Rubens Barrichello. The gap is down to

01:18:563.4 seconds with just 5.4 seconds between Barrichello and Schumacher now Eddie Irvine

01:19:03He's about to look at him Eddie Irvine diving through on the inside of Nick Heidfeld

01:19:09And that means to say that Irvine and Jaguar are now in the points

01:19:13Sixth position Eddie Irvine's already had four world championship points at Monaco for a

01:19:21Magnificent third position Jaguar have been working so hard under Niki Lauda and everybody else

01:19:28To get the car right particularly for next year

01:19:31They're not developing the car anymore this year because they're concentrating on the 2002 car

01:19:37But if they get points in this race

01:19:39It's going to be a tremendous fillet for them as the Ferrari closes up and dives through on the inside Louise

01:19:46Well as we suspected the tires particularly the rear tires are taking a pounding in this race

01:19:50The manufacturers are actually putting black masking tape around the tires to cover up the blisters now

01:19:55I just caught a peek at the rear tires as they came off Eddie Irvine's car to say that they are worn is a serious

01:20:01Understatement more interestingly though the FIA came to have a look at the rear tires coming off Eddie Irvine's car now

01:20:07We await to see whether there are any further developments on that, but I certainly hope not for Eddie's sake

01:20:11And Hakkinen has responded last time around he managed to cut the deficit to just a tenth of a second

01:20:18But look Barrichello still marching along and we know this track Murray Barrichello

01:20:24He's about two kilometers an hour faster down the pit straight. He's doing about 340 to

01:20:29338 clicks for Hakkinen

01:20:31But with the slipstream and with the ability to break late and wide into turn one if Rubens

01:20:37Can get up to the rear wing of that McLaren?

01:20:40He will surely pass it the gap then 3.3 seconds

01:20:44Although Mika is about a tenth up with the first two sectors combined on this lap Hakkinen

01:20:51Responding he would love to win this race wouldn't he? Indeed he would. Let's quickly add to what Louise was saying

01:20:57What the FIA may be checking on Eddie Irvine's tires is whether they have worn down so much that the grooves have

01:21:04Disappeared and they could be judged to be slip tires, which are illegal

01:21:08It would be a first if that had happened and let it let us hope that that is most certainly not the case

01:21:13Because with Mika Hakkinen being caught by Rubens Barrichello and the gap as Martin has just said is down to 3.2 seconds

01:21:20Michael Schumacher still in third position. It's McLaren leading the two Ferraris

01:21:25David Coulthard who has been in the points every time he has finished this year

01:21:30He's had four failures to finish but in every other race

01:21:33He's got points including two superb victories in Brazil and Austria

01:21:39He's in fourth position and Jarno Trulli is fifth Jordan. That's look good news for Jordan

01:21:45Eddie Irvine

01:21:46Magnificent news for Jaguar if he can stay where he is

01:21:48And he's actually pulling away from Nick Heidfeld in the Sauber the gap is now two and a half seconds

01:21:55Jorna Lacey in the the veteran is in eighth place in the Jordan ahead of Fisichella and Button who are 9th and 10th

01:22:03with 16 seconds between them

01:22:05Then it's Frenson 11th, Panis 12th, De La Rosa, Bernoldi and Enger. 15 runners out of the 22 starters and here

01:22:13Comes Mika Hakkinen and look how Rubens Barrichello is closing. Three seconds

01:22:20About a tenth the lap now so 14 laps to go there's still time and there's Coulthard then

01:22:26He's beginning to edge up on Michael Schumacher

01:22:29So one Ferrari catching the leader and fourth place man Coulthard catching third place man Michael

01:22:35We could see a storming in to this US Grand Prix

01:22:39Well, suddenly it's too close to call at the moment good race for a lot of people not a good race for Michelin

01:22:45Of course both the Williams BMWs out the top Michelin runner at the moment is the man that you are looking at

01:22:52Which is Eddie Irvine in the Jaguar in sixth position chasing Jarno Trulli

01:22:57He's catching him at the rate of about four tenths of a second a lap

01:23:01but even as I speak Jarno Trulli speeds up a bit and

01:23:06Maintains the gap between himself and Eddie Irvine at some 13 seconds

01:23:12Colossal pressure on everybody the temperature now on the track is about 29 degrees

01:23:17It's gone up again. These engines are tremendously stressed. They're doing some

01:23:2318,000 rpm on the straight

01:23:26So we will be back

01:23:28But it's Hakkinen, Barrichello, Schumacher, Coulthard, Trulli and Irvine with 13 laps to go

01:24:11Oh

01:24:26They told him a blue flag

01:24:41I

01:25:11I

01:25:41I

01:25:51Do all the way to the conclusion of the American Grand Prix bit of debris on the track there as

01:25:58Bernalde hits it well and truly it looked like a bit of carbon fiber

01:26:02Let's hope that a shard has not penetrated one of his tires as you watch the continuing battle between

01:26:09Jensen Button and Heinz-Harald Frentzen for 10th place, which which Button has got at the moment

01:26:15But it's Barrichello that's making the news at the present moment

01:26:19Hakkinen lap 63 is now 2.8 seconds ahead of Barrichello. He's increased his advantage

01:26:25Yes, Barrichello had to lap John Elasi last time around lost half a second

01:26:29That's carbon fiber look British Racing Green to me a piece of a Jaguar

01:26:33I don't know but could come into play

01:26:36There's a lot of shards of carbon fiber on the pit straight when the cars are doing 200 miles an hour the tires are

01:26:42Massively loaded so let's hope they do not pick up a puncture

01:26:46But at the moment then Hakkinen is just able to keep his nose ahead

01:26:51From the closing Barrichello and lots of debris all over the place, isn't there?

01:26:56Coulthard still just edging towards Michael Schumacher as well

01:27:00There then is the gap to the leaders and again Hakkinen a tenth faster last time around

01:27:07Well, it's Pedro de la Rosa's Jaguar. You are absolutely right Martin. Jolly well spotted

01:27:12That's lost a bit of bodywork, which was hit by Bernalde's arrows

01:27:16You can't change direction very rapidly when you're doing about 205 miles an hour in that very slippery

01:27:23Arrows which incidentally is going to have a Cosworth engine next year and is rumored to be having heights Harold

01:27:29Fenton as one of its drivers

01:27:31We'll have to wait and see that is the lap to John a Lacey in eighth position

01:27:36John a Lacey's finished every Grand Prix this year beard in the Prost and of course now the Jordan so a Lacey with

01:27:44Supreme finishing at record and that then is the scrap for the final podium position of Schumacher and Coulthard

01:27:512.2 seconds between them Coulthard occasionally nibbling a half a second out of that and occasionally it's nip and tuck but

01:27:59David then just beginning to get a sniff of that podium

01:28:02He needs every point he can to try to defend his second in the World Championship

01:28:07But this is looking very solid this afternoon for McLaren to confirm

01:28:12Second in the constructors and that may not seem much to you

01:28:16But with BMW homing in on the Mercedes engine McLaren

01:28:20I think it'd be a big thing in the car industry and certainly for the Germans

01:28:23yeah, and

01:28:25They need a bit of encouragement because it's been a very bad season as far as McLaren are concerned any other team

01:28:31Of course, we give their IT to have done what McLaren have done this year

01:28:35But for Ron Dennis Martin Whitmarsh Adrian Newey and everybody else at the working team only wins will do

01:28:43Well, they might be having another win here today, they've got a wonderful record McLaren in America

01:28:49This is the ninth circuit that the American Grand Prix has been held on so many of them Riverside Las Vegas

01:28:56Long Beach Dallas Detroit

01:28:59Indian and this is by far the most important. We're on lap 65 now in the 73 lap race

01:29:06Make a hack and then seems to have consolidated his

01:29:11Because the gap to Rubens Barrichello has now increased

01:29:15By another one tenth of a second to three seconds there. That was the McLaren here is the Ferrari

01:29:22So there's three seconds between the two of them. It may be a bit more as they complete this lap

01:29:28I'll tell you in just a bit where you can save yourself. No Barrichello has taken two tenths out of his lead

01:29:34Now there's about the same gap between Michael Schumacher and

01:29:38David Coulthard for third position just two seconds because David Coulthard is closing on

01:29:45Michael Schumacher as Barrichello is closing on Mika Hackett and great stuff. Who do you want to win Mary?

01:29:51I'd like to see either of them win really hacking him because he's departing Formula One at least for a sabbatical

01:29:56Maybe even full retirement

01:29:58But Barrichello deserves to win this race too because I think he's driven the best race of the afternoon

01:30:04No doubt about it driver of the day is Rubens Barrichello

01:30:07I'd love to see him win this but maybe a dead heat would be nice between the pair of them

01:30:11But he's gonna have to get his skates on because hacking and seems able to respond to the pressure

01:30:16They all deserve to win but Rubino's my man since you ask he's such a nice bloke

01:30:22He's just one got one Grand Prix victory behind him

01:30:26Michael Schumacher has got

01:30:2852 of them Mika Hackett and has got 19 of them. David Coulthard has got 11 of them

01:30:34So they've had their share

01:30:35You can say Rubino who as I said earlier on has come up through the Jordan team and then Jackie Stewart's team

01:30:42which is now Jaguar into Ferrari and

01:30:46He's such a nice bloke and he richly deserves the reward

01:30:50And and if and if he wins this race it would be in meritorious

01:30:55Circumstances as was his first victory at Hockenheim in Germany last year when he started 18th on the grid in wet conditions

01:31:02And just fought his way through from 18th to first a brilliant brilliant drive. This is a lap of

01:31:1067

01:31:11Everybody is on tenterhooks the gap between hacking and that you're watching now in the Mercedes-Benz powered

01:31:19Bridgestone tired

01:31:21McLaren and

01:31:22Rubens Barrichello in the Ferrari with its Bridgestone tires is

01:31:272.8 seconds. There's the Indianapolis golf course

01:31:30Would you believe it the super speedway at Indianapolis not only contains a Grand Prix circuit

01:31:36Which is actually slightly longer than the super speedway. You may find that strange, but it's true

01:31:42But it also includes a very nifty golf course and some wonderful accommodation down there in the middle that you're looking at

01:31:50including the fabled gasoline alley and the Hall of Fame which contains cars and

01:31:56Memorabilia from the great Indianapolis drives of the past and all of the great Rudolph

01:32:02Karachiola pre-war Mercedes-Benz driver superstars trophies. It's a wonderful place to visit and we're now on lap

01:32:1068

01:32:11All of the first four then are in the pit straight at the same time

01:32:15Just wish they were a little bit closer so we can see a bit of ducking and diving into that first corner

01:32:21But Hakan and then once again, just a half a tenth faster than Barrichello that time around so he's managing to

01:32:28control the gap and

01:32:30Supreme effort from him this afternoon. Don't worry folks in England. Don't worry folks at Browns Lane

01:32:38Coventry, don't worry folks in Ireland. Your man

01:32:42Eddie Irvine in the Jaguar is still in the points position

01:32:48Sixth place one point not a lot

01:32:50But only six people are going to score points in this race and it's fingers crossed for Eddie Irvine

01:32:56Being one of them his boss of bosses Jack Nassar the boss of the entire Ford

01:33:03Corporation is here. I had a quick word with him this morning

01:33:07he's rooting for Jaguar and it looks as though his presence has brought a bit of luck to the team and

01:33:12Pedro de la Rosa the other Jaguar driver the Spanish the Spaniard from Barcelona is down in 13th place reading

01:33:20Six sounding red car just went past our window. I think Barrichello's car sounds sick

01:33:26It doesn't sound like a full complement of 10 Ferrari cylinders

01:33:31And indeed he was slow Barrichello, I think is about to drop out of this Grand Prix

01:33:37Drama of dramas is going to be a lot of disappointed people here because there are a lot of Ferrari fans

01:33:42And yes Martin, you're right to

01:33:45Suspicious puffs of smoke from the back. He's he's he's driving a terminally sick car, I think

01:33:53And the Ferrari mechanics looking worriedly at the monitor as well

01:33:58As Michael Schumacher closes up now gaining on his teammates

01:34:02It looks as though it's going to be a famous victory for Micah Hagen and how richly he deserves it

01:34:08But what is the world is getting worse and worse that smoke is getting thicker and thicker

01:34:14Let's hope he's not dropping any oil on the circuit on the fast line, but Rubens has clearly had it

01:34:21Oh, that's it. That's it bang bang out goes

01:34:24Rubens Barrichello or does he well he should have he should have gone in the pit lane with that one

01:34:30This is pointless with four laps to go

01:34:32It's pointless because it's going to let go and and drop its contents all over the racetrack if he's not careful

01:34:38So Rubens electing through total frustration, I would imagine not to go in the pit lane, but it's game over Rubens

01:34:46You're not going to win this one and you're not going to be on the podium

01:34:49No, and he spun off in the warm-up this morning and had to take a golf buggy back to the start

01:34:55He's had a pretty fraught day rock rotten luck because what's a

01:35:00well

01:35:02He obviously feels he can keep it going the Ferrari people can see what's happening on television screens

01:35:08just as you can and

01:35:10Maybe they know from the telemetry that it's not as sick as it looks and sounds to Martin

01:35:17He's still in second place Mika Hakkinen is now on lap 70 and he's got a commanding lead now of nine seconds

01:35:25It's looking more and more like another win for the Flying Fin. It would be his 20th

01:35:31Normally, I think Michael would defend him and would not pass him to keep the maximum points for Rubens

01:35:37But with cool thought there has been sort of menacing all afternoon for Michael Schumacher

01:35:42All Schumacher can do is try and slow cool thought down at this point because Rubens has no defenses and

01:35:49Michael can't really help him look he's gonna have to just pass him

01:35:53It's so slow and look podium position is about to disappear in the next few hundred meters

01:36:00Nothing no point in defending your line. That's not smart Rubens frustration. Come on. You've driven brilliantly this afternoon

01:36:06You've deserved to win the last two Grands Prix's that we've had but that's not smart to be diving around when you've got a sick

01:36:13Motor car. Well, he's certainly holding David Kilpat up and allowing Michael Schumacher to sprint away in now second place

01:36:21For six World Championship points

01:36:23He's had four of those places already this year and it looks as though Michael Schumacher's World

01:36:28Championship score is going to be even higher at the end of this race than we thought it was

01:36:33Make a hack and it is now on lap 71 for McLaren and Mercedes

01:36:39We've got to be well unimpressed with that because it's just his homing in on Michael Schumacher for what would have been

01:36:45What will be now second place has already evaporated because he's been held up badly behind the sick Ferrari

01:36:53No, no blue flag waving that I can see however

01:36:58Officialdom is not taking exception to what Rubens Barrichello is doing and David Coulthard

01:37:04I just saw a flash of the McLaren getting getting past there and unless I'm very much mistaken and

01:37:11No, I am NOT very much mistaken because there is Coulthard in front of Barrichello as the Jordan

01:37:18Unlaps itself lap 72 race order very quickly in the closing stages Hakin and Schumacher

01:37:24Coulthard Barrichello

01:37:26Trolley is fifth and he may finish in fourth position

01:37:30Irvine is still in that sixth place Tony George the boss of Indianapolis is down there on the start and finish line

01:37:38To see the end of what has been a great great race in America

01:37:43Okay, it looks like it must be some kind of fueling problem or just one cylinder out. So Barrichello

01:37:49I mean actually I'm wrong and he's right because he may as well

01:37:53Carry on he's

01:37:5438 seconds ahead of Yano truly and managing to lap within about five seconds of the pace

01:38:00So he may just actually stay in fourth. It's clearly not a mechanical failure down there. It's a no

01:38:07There is out goes Barrichello his engines seized up for the look of it

01:38:12look at those black rubber marks on the track where everything locked up and the rear wheels ceased to revolve and

01:38:19Rubino has at least got it off the racing line and is out of the track

01:38:24So now up into fourth position goes Yano Trulli. Can he get the Jordan home?

01:38:30This is a replay of Barrichello staying out up into fifth position with another World Championship point goes Eddie Irvine

01:38:37And up into sixth position for yet another Sauber World Championship point in the year

01:38:432001 goes Nick Heidemann and

01:38:46Mika Hakkinen the flying Finn from Helsinki is on his last lap

01:38:53Looking magnificently good for his 20th World Championship win 10 World

01:38:59Championship points to lift the Finn ahead of Montoya who has retired

01:39:05To a fifth position in the World Championship that won't please make a particularly but another win

01:39:12When he's had so many problems this year is going to be great for this quiet

01:39:18Popular Finn who is now entering turn 13

01:39:22This is the last corner of the last lap and Mika Hakkinen takes the checkered flag

01:39:29to win the American Grand Prix a

01:39:33Superlatively good victory and is he pleased? Yes, indeed

01:39:38Clap clap clap. Well done Mika. And there's Rubens

01:39:42Sitting disconsolately with his back to the pit wall and Mika even stops the car. He's so pleased with himself

01:39:49Yes, his 20th Grand Prix victory well earned

01:39:52We said at the beginning would he use that anger and frustration at losing a line on the grid in a positive way?

01:39:59Or would he trip over somebody through anger into the first corner?

01:40:03Well, we now know the answer so a stirring victory for Mika Hakkinen, Schumacher then

01:40:09Second, Coulthard just nine tenths down in the end for third place over the line and a great win

01:40:33Oh

01:40:51What a great teamwork

01:43:03Oh

01:43:33Oh

01:44:03Oh

01:44:33Oh

01:45:03Oh

01:45:33Oh

01:45:49And we'll head to the victory podium for the celebration fun, yeah

01:45:55Oh

01:46:04Well

01:46:25Oh

01:46:55Oh

01:47:25Oh

01:47:55You

01:48:25You

01:48:55You

01:49:25You

01:49:55Oh

01:50:25Oh

01:50:55Oh

01:51:25Oh

01:51:55Oh

01:52:25Oh

01:52:55Oh

Category

Transcript

Recommended