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GP - Race Michael Schumacher now has 98 points while Mika Hakkinen has 86 so regardless of the result of the Malaysian GP in 2 weeks, Michael Schumacher is the World Champion of 2000. This is his 3rd world championship and the 1st for Ferrari since Jody Scheckter won it in 1979. Lap 53: Michael Schumacher wins the Japanese Grand Prix ahead of Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard. Michael Schumacher is the new World Champion. Lap 53: Final lap and the Ferrari mechanics are out of their garage. Lap 52: 1 lap to go and the gap is 4.8 seconds. Lap 51: Mika Hakkinen is now 6 seconds behind Michael Schumacher. Unless Schumacher has a problem, he is on his way to become the World Champion of 2000. Lap 50: Michael Schumacher leading Mika Hakkinen by 5 seconds. Coulthard is 3rd ahead of Barrichello, Button and Jacques Villeneuve. Lap 49: 4 laps to go and the gap between the top 2 is steady at 4 seconds. Lap 48: Michael Schumacher leading Mika Hakkinen by 4.4 seconds. Coulthard is 3rd ahead of Barrichello, Button and Jacques Villeneuve. Lap 47: Both Schumacher and Hakkinen are going through traffic. Marc Gene retires. Lap 46: Michael Schumacher leading Mika Hakkinen by 3.975 seconds. Coulthard is 3rd ahead of Barrichello, Button and Jacques Villeneuve. Lap 45: Hakkinen has responded but it is probably too late with just 7 laps to go. Lap 44: Michael Schumacher has increased the lead to 5 seconds. Lap 43: Michael Schumacher leading Mika Hakkinen by 4.7 seconds. Coulthard is 3rd ahead of Barrichello, Button and Jacques Villeneuve. Lap 42: Ralf Schumacher spins and retires from 6th. Nick Heidfled retires in the pits. Lap 41: Michael Schumacher leading Mika Hakkinen by 4.1 seconds. Coulthard is 3rd ahead of Barrichello, Button and Ralf Schumacher. Lap 40: Michael Schumacher pits and rejoins in the lead. Lap 39: Michael Schumacher leads but yet to stop with Hakkinen in 2nd. Lap 38: Rubens Barrichello pits and takes 8.5 seconds. Alexander Wurz retires Lap 37: Michael Schumacher stays out for another lap. Lap 36: Hakkinen in the pits while Michael stays out. Hakkinen takes 7.4 seconds and rejoins in 2nd. Lap 35: Ralf Schumacher pits from 6th. Lap 34: Top 6 - Hakkinen leading Michael Schumacher by 1.16 seconds. Coulthard is 25 seconds behind ahead of Barrichello, R Schumacher and Button. Lap 33: Hakkinen laps Zonta and so does Schumacher, the gap is up to 1:263 Lap 32: Hakkinen responds back but he is still under a second ahead of Michael Schumacher. Lap 31: Top 6 - Hakkinen leading Michael Schumacher by under a second. Coulthard is 3rd ahead of Barrichello, Button and Ralf Schumacher. Lap 30: Schumacher only 1 second behind Hakkinen as it starts to drizzle!. Frentzen retires. Lap 29: Top 6 - Hakkinen leading Michael Schumacher by 2.15 seconds. Coulthard is 21 seconds behind ahead of Barrichello, R Schumacher and Button. Lap 28: Jarno Trulli makes his second pit stop. Lap 27: Michael Schumacher reduces the gap to 2 seconds. Lap 25: Top 6 - Hakkinen leading Michael Schumacher by 3 seconds. Coulthard, Barrichello, R Schumacher and Button make the top 6. Villeneuve overtakes Irvine for 7th. Lap 23: Coulthard pits and rejoins in 3rd. Mika leads Michael by 2 seconds. Lap 22: Top 6 - Coulthard, Hakkinen, M Schumacher, Barrichello, R Schumacher and Button. Lap 22: Michael Schumacher pits and takes 7.4 seconds. He rejoins in 3rd behind Hakkinen. Coulthard yet to pit. Lap 21: Hakkinen pits and takes 6.8 seconds. He rejoins in 3rd. Michael Schumacher and David Coulthard yet to stop. Lap 20: Rubens Barrichello pits and so does Jenson Button. Mika Hakkinen and Michael Schumacher yet to pit. Lap 20: Jean Alesi blows an engine and stops in the middle of the track. The marshals quickly clear the track. Lap 19: Ralf Schumacher pits from 4th, he was 28 seconds behind. Villeneuve in 7th also pits. Lap 18: Hakkinen is 2.56 seconds ahead of Michael Schumacher as he sets the fastest lap of the race. Lap 18: Johnny Herbert pits from 8th. Lap 18: Villeneuve is catching Button in 6th. The gap is 0.8 seconds. Lap 17: Top 10 - Hakkinen 2.17 seconds ahead of M Schumacher, Coulthard, R Schumacher, Barrichello, Button, Villeneuve, Herbert, Frentzen and Irvine. Lap 16: Eddie Irvine pits from 5th. Lap 16: Jarno Trulli pits from 10th, he appears to be on a 3 stop strategy. Barrichello closing in on Irvine who is in 5th. Lap 15: Top 10 - Hakkinen 2.17 seconds ahead of M Schumacher, Coulthard, R Schumacher, Irvine, Barrichello, Button, Villeneuve, Herbert and Trulli. Lap 14: Pedro Diniz makes his first pit stop. As expected he was on a lighter fuel load in the warmup. Lap 13: Hakkinen leads by 2 seconds from Michael Schumacher. David Coulthard is 11 seconds behind while Ralf Schumacher in 4th is 20 seconds behind Hakkinen. Lap 12: Rubens Barrichello is closing on Eddie Irvine in 5th. Lap 11: Top 6 - Hakkinen 2 seconds ahead of M Schumacher. Coulthard is 9 seconds behind followed by Ralf Schumacher, Eddie Irvine and Rubens Barrichello. Lap 10: Hakkinen leads by 1.8 seconds. Verstappen retires from 10th. Lap 9: Top 10 - Hakkinen, M Schumacher, Coulthard, R Schumacher, Irvine, Barrichello, Button, Villeneuve, Herbert and Verstappen. Lap 9: Behind the top 6 there is an interesting fight between Villeneuve and Herbert with Villeneuve overtaking Herbert and taking 8th position. Lap 8: Behind the leading 2, Coulthard is constantly dropping back and is now over 6 seconds behind Hakkinen. Ralf Schumacher is over 10 seconds behind Hakkinen already. Lap 7: Hakkinen extends the lead to 1.4 seconds. There are no retirements so far. Lap 5: Hakkinen leads Michael Schumacher by 1 second. Coulthard is 3rd over 4 seconds behind Michael. Ralf Schumacher is 4th followed by Irvine, Barrichello, Button, Herbert, Villeneuve and Verstappen. Lap 3: Mika Hakkinen leads Michael Schumacher but the gap is 0.9 seconds. Lap 2: Mika Hakkinen leads Michael Schumacher by 1 second. Coulthard, R Schumacher, Irvine and Barrichello make the top 6. Both Ferrari's had bad starts. Race Start: Hakkinen gets a better start and leads from Michael Schumacher with Coulthard in 3rd. Ralf Schumacher is 4th with Irvine and Barrichello making the top 6. Formation lap underway! Michael Schumacher is starting from pole as he did in 99 and 98. Mika Hakkinen is starting from 2nd position but has won in 99 and 98 - Formation lap in 1 minute. Michael Schumacher can secure his 3rd World Title if he wins. Mika Hakkinen needs to win or at least be ahead of Michael Schumacher if he wants to take the fight to Malaysia - Formation lap in 3 minutes. Formation lap in 5 minutes. Weather conditions: Cloudy with a chance of rain and a temperature of 22 degrees. |