Sport - Racing : Motor

It's Michael Schumacher again

IMOLA (ITALY), APRIL 25. Michael Schumacher won the San Marino Grand Prix on Sunday for his fourth victory in the season's first four races.

The Ferrari driver overtook pole sitter Jenson Button in the first round of pit stops and led the rest of the way for his 74th career win and sixth in Imola.

Button, the BAR Honda driver from Britain, finished second for his best career result, 9.702 seconds behind Schumacher's winning time of 1 hour, 26 minutes, 19.670 seconds.

``It's just a dream come true to come home after a successful first three races and really work a good result,'' Schumacher said, referring to his victories in Australia, Malaysia and Bahrain before opening the European season with yet another triumph.

Williams-BMW's Juan Pablo Montoya came in third, 21.617 seconds back, after losing a wheel-to-wheel battle with Schumacher on the first lap in which each driver's car was nearly pushed off the track on separate occasions.

That battle left Montoya fuming and enabled Button to establish about a one-second lead ahead of Schumacher, who started second. The 24-year-old driver kept the lead for the first nine laps, then went into the pits.

``It was when we got out the new tires that we started to struggle a little,'' said Button, who finished third in Malaysia and Bahrain for his best previous results.

Button's first pit stop lasted 9.7 seconds, while Schumacher was in and out in 7.8.

Renault drivers Fernando Alonso and Jarno Trulli finished fourth and fifth, respectively, and Schumacher's Ferrari teammate Rubens Barrichello came in sixth.

Schumacher's victory sees him extend his lead at the top of the drivers' standings to 16 points. He has 40 out of a possible 40 points, while teammate Barrichello is second on 24 points.

In the constructor standings, Ferrari (64) has more than twice as many points as its nearest rival, Renault (31). BAR Honda (27) and Williams-BMW come next.

Williams-BMW's Ralf Schumacher — Michael's brother — came in seventh after losing out on a battle 12 laps from the end with Alonso that caused him to spin around and drop several spots.

Kimi Raikkonen of McLaren-Mercedes came in eighth for his first finish this year after coming in second to Schumacher in last season's final standings. The Finnish driver was forced to start last after changing engines following qualifying and did well to make the top 10.

Schumacher made a slight mistake at the end of his qualifying lap, opening the way for Button's first pole and raising hope among the rest of Formula One that Ferrari could be beaten.

The hope ended, however, when Schumacher came out of his first pit stop with a five-second lead and increased the gap for several laps thereafter. By the later stages of the race, he was leading by nearly 30 seconds before slowing down in the final laps to avoid problems.

Montoya's problems began in the first lap with Schumacher and he was still angry after the race was over for the way the six-time world champion nearly pushed him off the track.

``It's very disappointing to see racing like that,'' Montoya said.

Schumacher responded by saying ``it was very slippery'' on his side of the track.

``I was fighting with Juan. It was difficult to keep him behind me and obviously I wanted to avoid him getting by,'' he said.

Schumacher's average speed was 212.405-km per hour in 62 laps around the 4.933 kilometre Enzo and Dino Ferrari circuit.

The race was held under mostly sunny skies in much cooler weather than experienced in Friday's practice and Saturday's qualifying, due to a rainstorm that passed through the area on Saturday night.

The air at the track was filled with smoke in one section when the engine of Button's teammate Takuma Sato failed in the 57th lap while the Japanese driver was in eighth place. Sato finished 16th.

Four drivers failed to finish, including Jordan-Ford teammates Nick Heidfeld and Giorgio Pantano, for hydraulic and transmission problems, respectively. Toyota's Cristiano Da Matta accidentally turned off his traction control and drove off course. Also, Gianmaria Bruni of Minardi-Cosworth lasted just 22 laps due to a brake problem.

The race may have been the final Formula One Grand Prix in Imola, with the sport's organisers prepared to admit a new race in Turkey instead for next season. — AP

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