MICHAEL SCHUMACHER won the seventh United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and absolutely gloried in his triumph, his 87th
F1 victory.
Schumacher turned the fastest race lap of 1min 12.719secs. His margin of victory was 7.984secs ahead of his team-mate FELIPE MASSA. The fast and furious race lasted one hour 34 minutes 35.199 seconds. Schumacher tightened the points race, with only 19 points separating him from leader FERNANDO ALONSO. This was also the best finish for Massa and the first one-two finish for
Ferrari since Monza 2004.
After the race, Schumacher said: "There's many reasons to feel very, very excited right now. There were a lot of emotions coming into effect that made it a special weekend. It's a very historic race and winning for the fifth time was very special to me."
GIANCARLO FISICHELLA finished third, claiming: "I did my best but it wasn't easy. I'm quite happy for myself and the team. Today was an unusual race."
MASSA got the jump on Schumacher at the start and led until the pit-stops began. When Massa pitted, Alonso, who also got an excellent start, took over the lead. Alonso started and finished fifth, admitting: "We knew that Ferrari was competitive. Hopefully, we will come back at Magny-Cours and catch up."
There were two separate accidents on the first lap - turn one and turn two, which immediately cut the field almost in half.
The first accident involved CHRISTIAN KLEIN, who may have been nudged by
Red Bull team-mate DAVID COULTHARD. Klien spun, smashing into MARK WEBBER and FRANCK MONTAGNY. Coulthard continued.
