Photos courtesy and copyright Ferrari Media

In Ferrari's most blatant display of how much they want Michael Schumacher to win the 2002 driver's championship, Rubens Barichello let Schumacher pass him with 50 yards to go, after dominating the race, qualifying and the rest of the weekend. One of the few times I've ever heard the fans boo the outcome of a grand prix race.

Rubens was fresh off signing a two year extension as the number two driver for the Scuderia. The team hit home the point of the "2." This happened in last year's running of the same race, except it was a gift of second place, not a win. Schumacher helped jump start the spin control on it, by letting Barichello stand on the top spot of the podium and receive the 1st place trophy. It wasn't enough to settle the fans.

While the rules don't specifically bar this type of behavior, it's not very sportsmanlike. For this, VeloceToday.com awards the Scuderia Ferrari-Marlboro the "Raspberry of the Season" award. Yes, I know the season isn't over, but if someone can top this, I'll give out a second one...

Juan Pablo played pit strategy and came out ahead of Ralf for the last spot on the podium, albeit wearing extremely soiled underwear. Hiedfeld's Sauber had a catastrophic brake disc failure which sent him into the grass sideways heading into Remus. He then reentered the track, backwards, in front of Montoya, and slammed into the side of Sato's Jordan, while traveling approximately 100 mph.

Fortunately, Sato's injuries were said to be minor. The FIA should be commended for its insistence on the survival cell designed on modern Formula 1 cars. Several years ago, this same incident would have been fatal. Sid Watkins was even surprised on the limited extent of the injuries. Heidfeld limped away and had to be carried to the side of the track. Nothing broken, only a bruised leg.

The accident overshadowed the fact that Jordan and Honda scored their first points of the season when Fisichella brought his car home in 5th place. Not a stellar year for the team, but points on the board are points on the board.

The other safety car incident of the race was caused by Panis's engine failing, locking up and forcing the car into a spin at the end of the track in front of pit row. Olivier kept the car out of the wall minimizing damage to the chassis, only to be rewarded with a fireball over the back of the engine.

Toyota has worked some of the bugs out of the chassis and more importantly, the gearbox and had a 8th and 9th place finish to show for it. They're getting better by the week. Look out McLaren, they're going to be on your heels before you know it.

Villeneuve still can't buy a break. His engine let go in spectacular fashion one minute short of finishing. BAR has its work cut out for them. Other than these highlights, it's still another modern race in the history books. Jaguar still sucks. Only half the field finished. And the also rans shuffled the field.

The race was decided by strategy around the safety car incidents. Ferrari was on a 2 stop strategy and had built up a considerable lead before the first accident. They wisely came in immediately, with Schumacher waiting his turn in pit row for fuel and tires. The game worked out perfectly until the last 50 yards.

Jean Todt summed it up this way. "Sometimes one has to take difficult decisions and today was one of those times. In the past we have lost the Drivers' Championship at the last race three times in a row and we know we are up against strong opposition. We therefore have to make the most of every situation. The extra points Michael picked up today could come in useful later in the season."

The translation is that Ferrari has invested hundreds of millions of dollars/yen/euros/lira into having Michael Schumacher as world champion this year and they are not going to let anything, including Rubens, get in the way of that.

Schumacher admitted Rubens had won, "Rubens did a superb job and he outpaced me all weekend. This is a challenging situation having him pushing me. I am sure he will win races this year." Which means once the championship is all wrapped up, I'll get out of the way.

The circus heads to Monaco in two weeks, a track where qualifying definitely decides the outcome of the race. Schumacher Sr. loves the track. The question becomes how the BMW-Williams team will tackle the situation. Hopefully, team orders will be less obvious.