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July 11, 2004
SILVERSTONE, England -- Michael Schumacher was tested Sunday at the British Grand Prix -- if only for 15 laps.
Schumacher won for the 10th time in 11 races this season, but not before holding off last-ditch challenges from McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen and Ferrari teammate Rubens Barrichello.
A crash on the 40th lap resulted in a safety car, reducing Schumacher's seemingly comfortable lead and setting up an intense 15-lap race to the finish.
Schumacher prevailed again, however, for the 80th victory of his career. Raikkonen finished 2.1 seconds behind with Barrichello another second back.
"It's just unbelievable what's happening to me and the team this year," said Schumacher, whose winning time was 1 hour, 24 minutes, 42.700 seconds. His average speed was 135.738 mph.
Things got interesting when Jarno Trulli of Renault crashed his car with 20 laps to go. He walked away after the car had spun several times and flipped over, eventually landing in a gravel run-off area.
The crash and safety car allowed Raikkonen a third pit stop. Schumacher, who was safely in the lead, had already made two and didn't need another, and was anticipating pulling away when Raikkonen stopped again.
When the safety car pulled off after the 45th lap, Schumacher held a narrow 0.2-second lead over Raikkonen. The last 15 laps featured some of the best racing of the season, with Schumacher slowly pulling away from Raikkonen and Barrichello to win his third British Grand Prix.
"I got close to him," Raikkonen said. "But I couldn't get by him."
Schumacher's 10 victories is one short of his own season record of 11 set in 2002.
"We have never let off. We learned our lesson last year when maybe we eased off," he said. "We suffered last year when it got close and we almost lost the championship."
His only loss this year came at the Grand Prix of Monaco on May 23, when he and Juan Pablo Montoya of Williams touched while keeping their tires warm behind a safety car.
With seven races remaining in the 18-race season, the six-time series champion leads the points standings with 100. Barrichello is second with 74 while Jenson Button of BAR-Honda, who finished fourth Sunday, is third with 53 points. Ferrari also leads the team standings with 174 points, 95 ahead of Renault.
Schumacher caught a small break following the crash. Leading behind the safety car, he was followed by Cristiano da Matta of Toyota and Christian Klien of Jaguar, who were each a lap down. Raikkonen was next.
"I was probably lucky," Schumacher said. "I had two cars between me and Kimi. I had very cold tires. But when my tires came back, I was able to open the lead."
Schumacher's teammate Barrichello summed up the significance of the safety car.
"When I saw the safety car, everything was alive again," he said.
Raikkonen, who finished two points behind Schumacher in last season's points standing, scored only one point in the first seven races. He has gotten progressively quicker since McLaren introduced its new model MP4-19B a week ago in the French Grand Prix. He qualified first for this race and had the top practice times.
It was Raikkonen's first top-three finish since he was second in the 2003 season-ending race in Japan.
"Second is a great result after a really difficult start to the season," Raikkonen said. "We got back on the right track and got some results." |
80th victory... amazing. Schumacher is one of all time greats. There is no doubt.
M.
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