Ferrari
driver, Schumacher wins Japanese GP
Photo: Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher steers his car during the Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka on Sunday. Photo credits: Koji Sasohara.
SUZUKA, Japan- Michael Schumacher won his 13th race of the season and first since August when he returned to his dominating form and captured the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday. The seven-time world champion won 12 of the first 13 races before losing three straight. His latest victory for Ferrari was the 83rd of his career. Although Schumacher clinched the Formula One drivers' title by finishing second at the Belgian GP behind Kimi Raikkonen, he had gone winless since taking the Hungarian GP. He was 14 seconds ahead of his brother, Ralf, who finished the 53 laps on the 3.609-mile Suzuka circuit in second place in a Williams-BMW. BAR-Honda had Jenson Button and Takuma Sato in third and fourth, to nearly clinch second in the team standings. Fernando Alonso of Renault was fifth. Jacques Villeneuve of Iberville, Que., finished 10th. Schumacher spun in the last two races, each won by Rubens Barrichello. Ferrari has now won 15 of 17 - losing races to only Kimi Raikkonen and Jarno Trulli. Barrichello, after a mishap in qualifying that saw him start 15th on the grid, made his way up to sixth before an altercation with David Coulthard on the 39th lap sent them both out of the race. Schumacher started Sunday's race from pole position after leading Friday's practice in very wet conditions, coming second in pre-qualifying and first in nearly dry qualifying. It was Schumacher's 63rd career pole position, leaving him two short of Ayrton Senna's record of 65. After days of rain and a typhoon threat, it was warm and sunny at race time with track temperatures at 33 degrees Celsius. On the opening laps, both Schumachers pulled away from the pack. Button in third was holding up the rest as he appeared to have had a heavy fuel load for a two-stop race.
Photo:
Michael Schumacher drives his car at the start of the Japanese Grand Prix at
the Suzuka circuit on Sunday. Photo credits: Shizuo Kombayashi.
At the end of the first six laps, Michael Schumacher had a three second lead over Ralf Schumacher, who led Button by more than seven seconds. On the next lap Button's teammate, Sato, took over third. After the first round of pits stops the order was the same - two Schumachers followed by Sato and Button. But Michael had increased his lead to 16.6 seconds at the end of lap 16. Sato was 22.4 back of first. By 25 laps Michael was 23.6 seconds up on his brother and more than a half minute ahead of Sato. Barrichello, last year's Japanese GP winner, had threaded his way up to seventh. He was challenging Coulthard for fifth when the pair collided and sustained wheel damage. After the second round of pit stops were completed by the end of 40 laps it was Michael Schumacher in front of his brother by more than 20 seconds. Button regained third over Sato on a two-stop strategy compared to Sato's three. It stayed that way until the finish. Raikkonen was sixth for McLaren with Juan Pablo Montoya of Williams seventh. Giancarlo Fisichella of Sauber was eight. In the driver standings, with one race to go, Schumacher now has 146 points, Barrichello stays at 108 and Button has 85 with the top three positions for the season already determined. BAR-Honda and Renault still are battling for second place in the team standings, well behind Ferrari. BAR now has 116. Renault has 100 with one race to go, the Brazilian GP in Sao Paolo in two weeks. In the morning qualifying Michael Schumacher moved within two of the career pole record. For the first time in Formula One, qualifying was held a few hours before the scheduled race after a typhoon warning wiped out Saturday's schedule. The typhoon never hit Suzuka directly, rain soaked the track Saturday and early Sunday. Jarno Trulli, returning to Formula One with new team Toyota, came in 11th after leading pre-qualifying. Trulli missed the previous race after being dropped by Renault for several poor finishes, despite winning the Monaco Grand Prix in May. He signed with Toyota for 2005.