The following spoiler space is here to prevent spoiling the race if you
are watching it on a time-delayed basis. A full race report follows.
The race fans in the US were prepared for something they aren’t used to
– cars racing under wet conditions. Johnny Herbert, meanwhile, decided
to further show how talented the F1 boys are by putting dry tyres on his
car, rather than the wets that the rest of the field were using. The
cars lined up on the grid, and the lights came on, and Coulthard got
away well, and then the lights went out. It was hardly a surprise that
it soon came out that Car 2 was "under investigation" for a suspected
jump start… Giancarlo Fisichella joined in the fun.
Into the lead was Coulthard, and pushing hard to keep Schumacher behind,
with Häkkinen in 3rd, and Button in 4th, with Trulli in 5th and
Villeneuve managing to get up to 6th place. Button pitted very quickly
and did Trulli – Trulli having a left-rear puncture.
Coulthard Schumacher Häkkinen Barrichello Villeneuve Frentzen
Lap 4 0.717 3.043 4.350 9.490 10.207
Alesi was also soon into the pits, and suspected to be going onto dry
tyres. Schumacher continued to harry Coulthard, whilst Coulthard
performed a masterpiece of Schumacheresque driving, keeping moving just
enough to keep the German behind. Barrichello soon pitted. Finally
Schumacher got by, but from the desperation of the attempts to get by,
you could just tell that comments would be coming later about unsporting
behaviour. Coulthard soon let Häkkinen through, whilst Herbert was now
the fastest driver on the track…
Häkkinen soon responds to this news, and is onto slicks, whilst
Coulthard and Fisichella get their 10 second stop-go penalty. Michael
Schumacher meanwhile kept out on the track… Ralf Schumacher was
starting to make progress, and was up to 7th by taking Barrichello, and
now charging after Villeneuve. Trulli had a dreadful stop, with it
taking around 26 seconds, whilst Jenson Button was the fastest on the
track, and a Minardi – that of Mazzacane – was now in 3rd place…
The dream of a lurid-yellow podium was soon over, as the other drivers
were put onto dry tyres, and the Minardi had to succumb to the
inevitable. Button’s dream was also soon over, as he managed to get the
car in the wall. Via a very bad radio link he said that he managed to
"hit something, then the engine died" – what or who was not immediately
obvious. Herbert was still charging on the track, and made easy meat of
Barrichello.
Michael Schumacher now pitted with 43 seconds over Häkkinen. Herbert was
now charging after a high-placed Diniz. The Brazilian went off under the
terrific pressure, and Herbert’s stock went up massively during the
race. Häkkinen was now also on a charge, and making a second a lap on
Schumacher. It was all for nought, as a fire appeared in the left-rear
side of the car – he pulled into the pit lane (not the smartest move)
and then finally pulled over to retire.
Herbert’s day was having a bit of a downer, as he pitted, had new tyres
and refuelled, and then the team had a damaged front wing to work on.
Ralf Schumacher was a good solid second, with Frentzen in third now,
making a German 1, 2, 3. Fisichella was not having a good weekend, and
spun off the track, but managed to rejoin. Verstappen, sadly, had an off
and managed to collect a wall in the process.
Coulthard managed to catch de la Rosa, and finally managed to get by him
in turn three, after failing at the end of the pit straight. A lap
later, Coulthard managed to catch Diniz and got by him at the end of the
pit straight.
Ralf was then into the pits for a routine stop, and from therein would
fall back from his 2nd place. Coulthard also pitted in 9.6s and rejoined
the race in 11th place. During his stop his car was rolling, which
pointed to a clutch problem at the start of the race.
The next series of laps had minor incidents, with Fisichella retiring,
and Schumacher stopping, whilst Ferrari played mind-games with Jordan by
dodging out of the pits and then back in, forcing Jordan into an earlier
stop than planned for Frentzen. Barrichello then pitted a few laps
later, whilst Ralf Schumacher stopped again with a pneumatics problem,
and needed the system recharging. It was his 5th stop of the race…
By lap 64, with only a few laps to go, the battle for third was very
strong, with Frentzen leading Villeneuve, and the latter not being
especially happy about it. Villeneuve tried everywhere to get by, and
was having none of it. He finally made an overoptimistic lunge at the
end of the pit straight, and had to brake rather severely and shoot off
the track. Frentzen continued on majestically in 3rd… Alesi’s rather
impressive race was over with a slightly overcooked Peugeot deciding to
seize as he attempted to park it sensibly. It wasn’t only those down the
pecking order who had problems with their cars or themselves, with
Schumacher giving himself a fright and going off track. He rejoined and
continued on to the flag. For third, Villeneuve was soon on the back on
Frentzen again and tried like mad to get by – but failed, probably
through trying a tad too hard.
1. Schumacher
2. Barrichello
3. Frentzen
4. Villeneuve
–
Stephen M Baines http://www.motorsport.org.uk
A service of Vollansport – http://www.vollansport.com