Schumacher takes Melbourne

by Christian Albrecht 
In a thrilling race Ferrari got a one-two. Michael Schumacher won the Australian Grand Prix 2000 Rubens Barrichello came second, Mika Häkkinen dropped out. Initially the McLaren-Mercedes star Mika Häkkinen and his teammate David Coulthard had a good start and both quickly got away from the other racing drivers. Only Michael Schumacher could keep up with them. While the three leading drivers fought over the win, it was a bad day for Jaguar. It did not take long, only eight laps and the two Jaguars were out. Johnny Herbert was the first driver to retire with a smoking engine, followed by Eddie Irvine. After that David Coulthard had a pit stop. Afterwards he went out with engine trouble. So there was a duel between Mika Häkkinen and Michael Schumacher, and the world champion could get away from his opponent in the Ferrari. But steadily Schumacher got closer to Häkkinen. The driver lying third, Heinz Harld Frentzen, was 13 minutes behind. A few laps later Mika Häkkinen had the same problem as his teammate and went out, too. And so the way was free for Michael Schumacher and he could slow down a bit. The second Ferrari was now in third position. In round 39 Heinz Harald Frentzen went out and so both Jordans were out of the race. Now Schumacher's little brother was third. And this didn't change until the end. Schumacher won before Barichello and his brother Ralf Schumacher. The fourth German driver, Nick Heidfeld, finished ninth. Schumacher won his first time in Melbourne and was very happy.Many teams had problems with their cars and so only nine of twentytwo finishde the race. The next race will be in Interlagos/Brasil.