Preview - Brazilian Grand Prix.

The Formula One circus flies into Sao Paulo this week with more than one issue to be settled.

Was the Ferrari really quicker than the McLaren, as Michael Schumacher seemed to imply in the post-Melbourne press conference? Would Mika Hakkinen have strolled into the distance had his Mercedes held together? Would it have been a McLaren 1-2, or did Schumi have the beating of David Coulthard? Would Rubens Barrichello have passed Heinz-Harald Frentzen if it wasn't for the Jordan's retirement? Did Mika Salo benefit that much from an extra 20mm of front wing? And was the form shown by both BAR and Jenson Button a fluke?

So many questions have to be answered this weekend but, given that it is only the second round of the world championship, it is unlikely if many, let alone all, will be resolved by the time the teams return to Europe.

The heat and humidity of sub-tropical Interlagos may not be the teams' chosen destination for round two, as few have yet to fully sort their cars, and further problems are sure to raise their heads. McLaren, many peoples' choice as pre-season favourites, is just one of many with work to do between Australia and Brazil, but is probably the most likely to get the job done if it means preventing its rivals from pulling further ahead.

''The team has worked hard to ensure that we have solved the problems which caused Mika and David's non-finishes in the first race,'' revealed Ron Dennis, ''and I believe that we can realise the potential which we showed in Australia, when both drivers controlled the race from the front.''

Mika Hakkinen led comfortably at the start of last year's race in Brazil, too, only for his car to start acting up. It allowed hometown boy Rubens Barrichello a shot at glory before, remarkably, the McLaren decided to behave and returned the Finn to the victory circle. He hopes this year's task will be a little easier.

''The whole team is optimistic that we will leave Brazil with a good result,'' Hakkinen said, ''and I'm focusing on scoring my first points of the season and my third consecutive Brazilian Grand Prix victory.''

David Coulthard was not so lucky in 1999, his car dying on the grid and only getting into the race after several laps' frantic fiddling in the pits. Then it died altogether. He, too, is hoping to reach the top step this time around after the disappointment of Melbourne.

''We are all looking forward to the Brazilian GP,'' Coulthard revealed, ''but it will be tough, as Interlagos is one of the most physically demanding circuits on the calendar. I have finished second here twice in the past, but plan to go one better in 2000.''

Michael Schumacher goes to Interlagos on a high, having finally broken his long-standing Australian GP jinx. The German might have told the world that he was merely biding his time before attacking the McLarens in Melbourne, but few believe that the F1-2000 was capable of raising its game that much in race trim, and Schumacher could find himself in much the same position in Brazil if the Woking team has got its act together.

Interlagos is acknowledged as a drivers' track, which will give the Ferrari pilot an advantage over most of his rivals, but he will want to make sure that his qualifying position is better than in round one, just to keep him ahead of Hakkinen should he make another poor getaway.

''Sure, it was great to win the opening race in Australia, but I missed the opportunity of showing the world that I could have beaten the McLarens even if they had not dropped out of the race,'' Schumacher maintained, ''This year's Ferrari feels a lot better than last year's, and it should be competitive on all types of track - even over the bumps and long, high-speed, corners that we have at Interlagos.''

Team-mate Rubens Barrichello, too, will hope for an improved start, having fallen behind the Jordan of Frentzen down under. The Brazilian knows not only that his car has the beating of the yellow machines if he gets past it, but is also aware of the massive pressure on him to do well this weekend.

''The Brazilian Grand Prix is what I am really waiting for,'' he said, ''It is something that I am dreaming of. To win in Brazil would be one of the best things in the world. I have a competitive car, and can cope with it, so who knows. There is only one change I would like to see from the first race, and that is a change of finishing order. It is such a motivation to race in front of my home crowd, and it has been my dream since I was a boy to drive for Ferrari here. Interlagos is a track where you can overtake more easily than Melbourne and, if I was to win my first race in Brazil, it would be too much for words.''

Jordan, like McLaren, know that better things lie just around the corner, after again impressing in Australia. Both cars would surely have made it into the points had it not been for niggling, early season, failures, and new boy Jarno Trulli, for one, is determined to make his mark in Brazil.

''The most important thing for us in Melbourne was to see how competitive we were,'' the Italian said, ''We wanted to confirm that we are the third fastest on the grid, and we certainly had the feeling that we are the only team, at the moment, able to catch Ferrari and McLaren.''

Engine failure forced Trulli out of the Melbourne encounter, but he has since enjoyed two trouble-free days of testing at Silverstone and is raring to go this weekend.

''I feel more confident in the car after the test,'' he continued, ''and I feel that we can be more competitive than we were in Australia. I want to see if we really did improve the car - it certainly felt as though we did.''

Jordan's technical director Mike Gascoyne was a frustrated man in Melbourne after both his charges dropped out of point-scoring positions with what proved to be minor ailments.

''The problems we had at the Australian GP turned out to reasonably trivial, which is frustrating but not insurmountable,'' he grimaced. ''Since then, Jarno has enjoyed two trouble-free days, where he completed a lot of long runs as well as simulated pit-stops to look at the car's reliability. We have definitely made progress, and now we need to deliver on the track. Jarno's very buoyed up, and the feeling has rubbed off on the team.''

The team to benefit most from the retirements of McLaren and Jordan was BMW-Williams and, while the team will be the first to admit that it lucked in to a podium finish, it sees no reason why it can't add to its points total this weekend.

''Melbourne was a great start for us,'' says BMW motorsport director Gerhard Berger, ''Our third place aroused impressive interest, but we must put the result into perspective. We achieved nothing more than our declared target, which was to be competitive in the upper midfield, and we were pushed onto the podium by the retirements of our competitors. We proved that we had made some good steps in terms of reliability, but we are still some way from our long-term target.''

Both the team's drivers are eager to get back on track after the promising showing in Australia, and appear to relish the chance to drive on a 'real drivers' circuit' after the street track of Melbourne.

''[Interlagos] is very challenging for both drivers and engines,'' said Ralf Schumacher, ''and you have to find a good compromise between aerodynamical downforce, mechanical grip and top speed. From the drivers' point of view, it is a real challenge because of the wide variety of corners, ranging from quick left-handers at the end of both straights to a twisty infield where establishing a good rhythm is vital.''

Team-mate Jenson Button has decidedly less experience of the Brazilian venue than the German, but still can't wait to get back behind the wheel.

''I've heard a lot about Interlagos in that it's quite bumpy and quite hilly,'' he says, ''but it's obviously difficult to get a true impression from the on-board footage that I've been studying. The team is helping to develop my understanding further with data from last year and, after a good week's testing, I am fired up for the job.''

British American Racing stunned the racing world by finally scoring its first world championship points in Australia, and will be keen to prove that it was no fluke. Accusations that both 002s ran with low downforce to keep Jacques Villeneuve and Ricardo Zonta ahead of their rivals in Melbourne do nothing to help prove that Honda's engine is on the pace, and the team may find that it is behind those it held up last time out as it increases the aerodynamics to cope with the Interlagos bumps.

''The result in Australia was great after the struggle of last year,'' admits Villeneuve, ''and, for Brazil, we have to build on this and try to keep the momentum going. The circuit is bumpy, and the surface very hard on tyres while, in addition, the temperature is likely to be high and there is always the possibility of heavy rain - so anything can happen. The important thing is to make sure we are around at the finish to be in a position to score some more points.''

Team-mate Zonta will be trying to banish memories of the practice accident which went on to interrupt his season as he recovered from foot injuries, and the team has said that it will try all it can to give him a good race.

''We'll do some back-to-back runs on new and used rubber just to confirm our thinking, and to make sure he's confident with his car,'' explained race engineer David Lloyd, ''Interlagos isn't really a power circuit, so we're going to aim for reliability and getting a higher grid position for Ricardo so that he can be there at the chequered flag to claim some more points.''

Zonta's replacement in 1999, Mika Salo, will be hoping that Sauber is allowed to keep anything it scores this weekend, having been thrown out of sixth place in Melbourne for running illegal bodywork. Ironically, the exclusion presented Zonta with his first points finish, but Salo is convinced that he can come in ahead of the Brazilian again this time around.

''I am determined to put the disappointment of Melbourne behind me,'' he said, ''and do even better for Sauber in Brazil. It is a circuit I really like and, with a car that feels very good, I will be looking for another strong performance.''

Jaguar, too, will be hoping that the 'disappointment' of Melbourne can be put aside, as it looks for greater reliability from the R1 in Brazil. Neither car made it past lap seven in Australia, and Johnny Herbert alone had five engines break on him over the weekend. Two days' intensive testing by Luciano Burti at Silverstone last week have allowed the team to make small improvements, but it is still not optimistic that things will be any better at Interlagos.

''We are working closely with Cosworth to rectify the problems,'' revealed chief operating officer Paul Stewart, ''and we have made some progress during the test, but I am not confident of having a trouble-free Brazilian Grand Prix. We still have a lot of work to do, but we will get there.''

The unfortunate Herbert will be out to make amends for his lack of track time in Australia, and admits to being fired up by the thought of racing in front of the Brazilian crowd.

''I enjoy racing at Interlagos because the atmosphere is incredible,'' he said, ''The noise generated by the crowd can be enormous and, after Rubens' performance in Australia, they will be out in force this year. I'll be going to Brazil with a clean sheet, so that I can start the 2000 season over again, and obviously I don't want a repeat of Melbourne.''

Another team to go to Australia with promise, only to see both cars retire early on, was Arrows, but the Leafield team is convinced that it can put on another good show in Brazil, despite having had to fly its cars home between grands prix to rectify problems with the suspension.

''I am looking forward to going to Sao Paulo,'' admitted Jos Verstappen, ''We have had a couple of weeks to sort out some minor problems on the car, and I think Brazil is where we can show our pace. I prefer this sort of circuit to street circuits, and I think the car will perform well there.''

Minardi and Prost will be expected to bring up the rear, although both showed flashes of form in Australia. Marc Gene and rookie Nick Heidfeld both finished the race, albeit a lap own on the leaders, but will hope that they can show a truer indication of their ability this time around. Jean Alesi tested for Prost in the week, but the French team has still to iron out some of the problems which have afflicted its build-up to the season, while Gaston Mazzacane will again face the ordeal of trying to qualify, despite putting in some good laps on his debut down under.

''As [the test at] Silverstone proved, we still have a concern about the electronics,'' admitted Prost's technical director Alan Jenkins, ''but the fact that Nick Heidfeld finished the race in Australia proved that the basic reliability of the car is good. In terms of performance, the limited testing miles have made our development programme difficult, but we have been working hard, and Brazil will see the introduction of both aerodynamic and mechanical improvements.''

Bridgestone is taking the same specification tyres to Interlagos as it did to Albert Park, but expects to see both the teams' choices and pit-stop strategy change for the more abrasive, 4.292km, Brazilian circuit.

''Interlagos, like Barcelona and Silverstone, is one of the few circuits that causes significant degradation in the tyres,'' reports technical manager Yoshihiko Ichikawa, ''In Melbourne, the teams were using scrubbed or old tyres during both qualifying and the race to reduce understeer but, at Interlagos, new tyres work best, as scrubbed one already have too much degradation. Here, the softer dry tyre is prone to increased degradation and, if the teams choose this specification, they also have to consider the increased tyre wear, which will figure strongly in race strategies. I anticipate that the teams will run a two-stop strategy.''

McLaren or Ferrari? Schumacher or Hakkinen? Or neither? The choice seems to be as narrow and as wide as it was in Melbourne.