After the first pit stops (wet to dry tyres) the race showed some promise. Schumacher was doing what he does best again, which is driving on a wet track. Hakkinen makes one of his rare mistakes and almost ends his race in a spin, leaving him in second place steadily falling back.

In Hakkinen’s defence I must point out that his car did not look comfortable until he pitted for tyres and a small, quick adjustment on lap 27. By now the track was virtually dry and it was almost immediately obvious that Hakkinen was in a different car. In six laps he closes right up on Schumacher.

I am often amazed at the press reports we see after a race. Some reporters believed that Schumacher’s tyres were going off and that was slowing him down. I have never heard of tyres making a car slow on the straights. On the corners maybe and it could possibly have a effect on speed through and acceleration out of the corner (which does have an effect on straight speed) but all one had to do was watch.

The McLaren was at least 15km/H faster in a straight line!

Just for those reporters that do not understand how a car works: It is the engine that pushes harder when you depress the accelerator, not the wheels.

And then the claims that Hakkinen made a amazingly, wondrous, nothing short of magic, brave move to overtake both cars on a part of the track where there is barely place for two. Again all you had to do was watch. There was place for Hakkinen to pass, if there wasn’t he would not have managed to get past. It is simple.

What did you expect? He was going at least 15km/H faster than Schumacher. Slotting in behind Schumacher is not overtaking. Of course he must look for another way around or stay behind him. Quick thinking? Yes. Excellent driving? Yes. One of the best overtaking manoeuvres this season? Maybe.

I do not think that it was an "amazing manoeuvre". It is what I would expect from a driver of Hakkinen’s calibre. He is good and can be expected to grasp an opportunity, which he certainly did.

On the other hand Zonta must have seen it as an amazing event being overtaken by both cars and he should be congratulated for keeping his cool.

I do not want to take anything away from Hakkinen. With the exception of his half spin on lap 13, which I suspect was as much due to his tyres or set up as the slippery ripple strip, he drove a perfect race in by far the fastest car. Hakkinen and McLaren deserved the win.

Coulthard, for the nth time this season lost track position because of a bad pit call. I am sure that, yet again, he could have finished in second if McLaren brought both drivers in one lap earlier. Bringing both cars in on the same lap would have been better for Coulthard – even if he had to wait 10 seconds for Hakkinen to clear the pit. A lap on the wrong tyres killed his chances.

Sure we saw some overtaking other than Hakkinen shooting past Schumacher, but apart from Schumacher overtaking Button on lap 4 it was again processional. If overtaking was easier Coulthard could have recovered a lot more ground and could even have finished on the podium.

One must wonder about Ferrari. Not only are they unable to match McLarens pace any more but it is unforgivable to run out of fuel in a race. Is their telemetry not reliable? Did Barrichello not come in when asked to? Did radio communication break down? Isn’t this the second time it happened?

Ferrari not only lack the pace of McLaren but they also seem to lose ground under brakes and are much harder on tyres.

It is almost as if they are pushing too hard on all fronts and are not getting it right.

Schumacher does not seem to accept defeat yet. Not that I expect him to, after all he is a professional through and through. But I wonder if he secretly does not see the writing on the wall? I do.

Just before Hakkinen overtook him it was obvious that he was already focused on keeping the Finn behind him rather than trying to go faster. On lap 40 he fought off Hakkinen’s challenge on the approach to Les Combes by weaving all over the road – had it been any other driver he would have been penalised. Moves of a desperate man.

Ferrari are not giving their drivers the equipment to take McLaren on, but then neither are the other teams.

I was surprised that BAR did not fare better. Villeneuve finished in 7^th position and Zonta who was lapped simultaneously by 1^st and 2^nd place only managed 12^th.

I expected BAR to be a lot faster on the high-speed circuits. Instead it is the other Honda motored Jordan team that is improving faster getting Frentzen into the points even though it was only one.

Williams, who up to now did not seem to be that good on the faster circuits, did amazingly well and Button would have done even better had he not lost several positions when he came together with Trulli. Williams could be challenging Ferrari before the end of the season.

I was delighted to see Alesi enjoy himself. The Prost almost looked drivable and Alesi certainly made hay in the one lap that he was on the best choice of tyres.

I am sure that this was not luck. I remind you of many times before (admittedly, in other seasons when he was driving real cars) that Alesi amazed us all with his skill in the rain and on damp tracks. Alesi took a calculated risk and it payed off, but he also had the ability to pull it off.