F1 was “like qualifying from start to finish”

Hakkinen rocketed away at the start, as Schumacher suffered huge wheelspin and veered across the nose of David Coulthard’s McLaren, which allowed Ferrari teammate Rubens Barrichello up to third at the expense of Coulthard, with Jacques Villeneuve’s BAR at the head of the chasing pack.

The race developed into two distinct McLaren v Ferrari duels. Hakkinen and Schumacher pitted together at the first round of stops, with Schumacher taking on more fuel. Hakkinen pitted earlier for his second pit visit, and Schumacher’s rapid pace in the intervening laps meant he rejoined well ahead of Hakkinen – who complained of his engine cutting out – when Michael stopped again. “These four laps were crucial,” Schumacher said later.

Mika Hakkinen, Mclaren MP4-15 leads at the start

Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images

Michael Schumacher, Ferrari F1 2000

Photo by: Motorsport Images

Hakkinen had previously run over some debris in his first stint – “a metal piece of something” – which damaged the front of the floor of his McLaren and slowed his pace. However, he rallied in the closing stages and closed the gap down on Schumacher. Michael’s own scare came with a misunderstanding when he came up to lap Pedro Diniz’s Sauber, and the two almost collided.

Meantime, Barrichello and Coulthard pitted on the same lap in the second round of stops – and the shorter-fuelled Coulthard beat Barrichello out by a matter of inches. He pulled away with ease thereafter, and said: “I knew I was quicker than him, thankfully my guys did a good job in the pitstop.”

After an absorbing high-paced duel at the front, Schumacher won by just 1.168s – which was less than Hakkinen’s advantage over him had been at the end of lap one! Coulthard was over 50s in arrears, having got the better of Barrichello for third. Barrichello was the only other unlapped runner, with Villeneuve and Mika Salo’s Sauber rounding out the point scorers.

Race winner Michael Schumacher, Ferrari F1 2000

Photo by: Motorsport Images

Podium: Race winner Michael Schumacher, Ferrari, second place Mika Hakkinen, McLaren

Photo by: Motorsport Images

It was Schumacher’s third victory in a row, capping off a perfect start to his campaign to wrest the title away from reigning champion Hakkinen – who scored his first points of the year after a poor start to his season.

After the race, Schumacher said: “That was an exciting race and I…