The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • Page 64

R4 MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2003 2nd Sports THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR WWW.INDYSTAR.COM U.S. GRAND PRIX REAKDOWK TOP THREE JTi M-Mil I3 (ft? i i ami mm iMtini Kimi Raikkonen Michael Schumacher Jarno Trulli in "i 49514 mile mark Recapping laps 1 through 18 Most laps in lead: Kimi Raikkonen, 18 Cars out of race: Rubens Barrichello, lap 3 On lap 16, Raikkonen leads Montoya by 6.6 seconds with Michael Schumacher in fifth. Two laps later, Raikkonen is 10.2 seconds ahead of Michael Schumacher, who is running second. attempting an inside pass on lap three, sending Barrichello into the gravel trap. Michael Schumacher passes Olivier Panis for third on the fifth lap and pulls within five seconds of leader Raikkonen.

Michael Schumacher falls back to sixth by the 12th lap as Raikkonen leads Ralf Schumacher by 1.8 seconds. Pole sitter Kimi Raikkonen gets off clean from the standing start and keeps the lead. On the first lap, Michael Schumacher moves from seventh to fourth while Juan Pablo Montoya falls from a starting position of fourth to seventh. It begins to sprinkle on the second lap. Montoya slides into Rubens Barrichello TOP THREE JJ Heinz-Harald Frentzen Jenson Button Michael Schumacher 96.422 mile mark Recapping laps 19 through 36 Most laps in lead: Jenson Button, 14 Cars out of race: Ralf Schumacher, lap 22; Mark Webber, lap 22; Olivier Panis, lap 30 laps Montoya one lap later, pulling within 10.8 seconds of the lead.

Panis hits the turn-seven tire barrier on the 30th lap and is out of the race. Coulthard spins into the grass on lap 32 but maneuvers back onto the track. On lap 35, Coulthard is issued a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pits. Raikkonen makes his first pit stop on the 19th lap and M. Schumacher moves into the lead.

M. Schumacher makes his first pit stop on the 20th lap. When a steady rain begins to fall a lap later, he returns to the pits for rain tires. R. Schumacher slides into the turn-eight tire barrier on the 22nd lap and is out of the race.

Raikkonen pits for rain tires on lap 22. On the same lap, Montoya is sent to the pits for a drive- through penalty after stewards determine he caused the wreck with Barrichello. One lap later, Montoya pits again for rain tires. From laps 23 to 32, Jenson Button and Heinz-Harald Frentzen are running 1-2 as each has made only one pit stop. The rain stops on lap 27.

Schumacher makes a move on turn eight to pass Raikkonen for third on lap 28 and TOP THREE aJN. will 143.333 mile mark (St-" Michael Schumacher Heinz-Harald Frentzen Kimi Raikkonen Button leads Schumacher by 0.2 seconds on the 37th lap. On lap 38, Schumacher slips inside Button on first turn to take the lead essentially for good. 1 Button's car smokes on the front straightaway with a loss of hydraulic Recapping laps 37 through 54 Most laps In lead: Michael Schumacher, 16 Cars out of race: Jenson Button, lap 41; Fernando Alonso, lap 44; David Coulthard, lap 45; Ralph Firman, lap 48 pressure and pulls over for good after 41 laps. Schumacher's lead over second-place Frentzen grows to seconds by lap 44.

Fernando Alonso, who started sixth, pulls out of the race on lap 46 after smoke pours from his car on the back turns. Schumacher makes his third pit stop on lap 48, changing to dry-weather tires. He returns with Frentzen leading but regains the lead a lap later when Frentzen pits. Ralph Firman, several laps down, stops on lap 53 and is out of the race. Schumacher's lead over Frentzen grows to 17.5 seconds by lap 54.

TOP THREE 190.238 mile mark Kimi Raikkonen Heinz-Harald Frentzen Michael Schumacher Raikkonen goes inside on the first turn of lap 55 to pass Frentzen for second. Schumacher leads Raikkonen by 20.2 seconds after 55 laps. They continue to run 1-2 for the rest of the race, with Raikkonen coming no closer than the final margin of 18.2 seconds. Recapping laps 55 through 73 Most laps In lead: Michael Schumacher, 19 Cars out of race: Jacques Villeneuve, lap 66 Nick Heidfeld for the position he needs to remain in the championship points race. Schumacher wins by 18.3 seconds over Raikkonen and 37.9 seconds over Frentzen, leaving Schumacher and Raikkonen the only two mathematically in the season championship race.

Schumacher's lead over Raikkonen reaches a high of 23.4 seconds on the 66th lap. On the same lap, Jacques Villeneuve's car billows smoke and fire on the back turns. He jumps from the car and is out of the race. Montoya passes Giancarlo Fisichella for sixth on lap 68 but is a lap down to Compiled by Jeff Rabjohns, The Star Indy I' i i i mistake, or many others Sunday. He got a clean start to gain three positions and ease the disappointment of Saturday's uncharacteristically poor seventh-place qualifying effort.

Schumacher grabbed his first lead on lap 19 but pitted on the next lap. That was just ahead of the rain, and he asked the team via radio if they should go with wet tires instead. They did not. "It was too late," he said. "It would have caused a fuss and a mess (in the pits)." Schumacher said he was fortunate his rivals also opted for dry tires on that stop.

As a result, they all had to return to the pits when the rain intensified. Frentzen was the only one to initially take wet tires. That decision, and skill at driving in the rain, propelled him to a third-place finish in his Sauber-Petro-nas. It was Frentzen's first podium since the inaugural F-l race here in 2000. Raikkonen's McLaren team considered protesting Schumacher's fifth-lap pass of Toyota's Olivier Panis in a yellow-flag section of the course, but opted against it.

Schumacher said he made a legal move. "I knew where the yellow started," he said. "I was (past Panis) by that time. The nose was in front, so it was no problem." Call Star reporter Curt Cavln at 1-317-444-6409. Montoya's hopes disappear with his 6th-place finish.

From R1 made contact with Schumacher's Ferrari teammate, Rubens Barrichello, in the second turn of the third lap. While Montoya was able to continue in his Williams-BMW despite Barrichello's slide into the sand trap, race stewards penalized Montoya for causing the collision. That sent him to the pits for a slow drive-through on lap 17, dropping him a lap behind the leaders. Montoya was miffed after finishing sixth. "It is sad to lose my drivers' championship chances in this way, especially knowing that I just needed to finish fifth today to keep my hopes open," he said.

A championship for Schumacher would scratch the legendary Juan Manuel Fangio from the top of the charts. A fourth consecutive title would also match Fangio's streak, which started in 1954 and continued through '57. Schumacher won the USGP for the second time in four years. He should have won last year, too, but slowed on the final straightaway and inadvertently allowed Barrichello to win. Schumacher didn't make that 1 i 1 1.

Pi UVrr. i 1 i .0 Stm Nealey The Star Team celebration: Members of Michael Schumacher's Ferrari crew congratulate each other after their driver's win, virtually locking up his sixth F-l championship. Brag artfft The Star Not their day: Crew members from Williams-BMW watch Michael Schumacher take his victory lap..