Ferrari’s Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher turned jeers into cheers on Sunday by winning what was possibly the last Austrian Grand Prix. Returning to the circuit where fans booed him last year after Ferrari ordered Brazilian team mate Rubens Barrichello to move over and let him win, Schumacher beat McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen into second place. With ‘team orders’ now banned, there was no controversy this time at Spielberg, but Schumacher was lucky to escape a near-nightmare first pitstop at which flames licked his car after a fuel rig jammed. Schumacher won by 3.3 seconds but failed to wrest the overall championship lead from the Finn who, harried by Barrichello over the closing laps, hung on to top spot by two points after six rounds. Cool about the pit-stop fire drama World champion Michael Schumacher laughed off the pit lane fire which almost cost him the Austrian Grand Prix at the A1 ring today. The five-time world champion sat coolly in his Ferrari as flames leapt from the fuel tank of his car as he made his first pit stop. The danger was ended when mechanics reached for the fire extinguishers but the German’s car left the pits underfuelled which threatened his chances of taking a third successive win this season. “Maybe the mechanics thought I was too cold and cool and needing warming up a little,” laughed Schumacher. “But we did our job under the circumstances and the car worked very well. We did some fast lap times after that to ensure the margin we needed for our strategy.” After surviving the pit lane drama, Schumacher retook the lead when the engine in the Williams of Juan Pablo Montoya blew up. The German star was able to outbrake Raikkonen to take the lead which was sufficient to take him through the final round of pit stops and on to a 3.36sec victory which now puts him just two points behind the Finn in the world championship standings after six rounds. Barrichello, also hit hard by a fuel rig problem on a long first pitstop, was third. Briton Jenson Button was fourth for BAR, compatriot David Coulthard fifth for McLaren and Ralf Schumacher sixth for Williams. Australian Mark Webber scored points for the second successive race in a Jaguar and Italian Jarno Trulli handed Renault the final point. It was Schumacher’s third straight win and the 67th of his career. In an eventful race with two aborted starts, Schumacher led from pole until the first pitstop.
