| | Associated Press
MONZA, Italy -- Mika Hakkinen and Michael Schumacher are
getting ready for the unknown.
The inaugural U.S. Grand Prix could go far in determining which driver wins his third Formula One title. Hakkinen has a two-point lead entering the Sept. 24 race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The Finn who drives for McLaren says the first F1 race in the
United States in nine years could pose problems.
"It will be a new experience for all of us, but I'm not worried," Hakkinen said. "Two points are not a lot, but I'm still in the lead."
His advantage shrunk the last time out in Italy from six points when Schumacher won the Italian Grand Prix, a race marred by an accident on the first lap that killed a course worker and knocked out more than a third of the field. Hakkinen finished second.
Schumacher thinks the biggest challenge for his Ferrari team will be transferring test data to a new track on which not even one lap has been run.
"Indianapolis is an unknown circuit to all of us, but we can simulate the American track condition in tests," he said. "It should not be more difficult to win there than in any other place."
Until winning the Italian Grand Prix on Ferrari's home track, that had proved difficult elsewhere. The victory was the German driver's first since June, when Schumacher held a 24-point lead.
With only three of 17 events remaining, slumps would be extremely costly now. While he concedes the importance of the U.S. Grand Prix, Hakkinen looks at the other remaining races -- in Malaysia and Japan -- as being just as critical regardless of the outcome at Indy.
"It's possible that the duel with Michael goes through the last
race," Hakkinen said.
It did just that last year, when Hakkinen won the title to deny
Ferrari the driver's championship for the 20th straight year.
At least Schumacher, in tears Sunday after his 41st victory tied him with the late Ayrton Senna for second on the F1 career list, can easily define the opposition. The big crash Sunday eliminated McLaren's David Coulthard and Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello as title contenders.
Schumacher later explained that breaking his slump at Monza -- before 110,000 flag-waving Ferrari fans -- left him emotionally drained. Now he hopes to claim his first championship since 1995 in Suzuki, Japan, on Oct. 22, but some of his fellow drivers think he's the underdog.
"Mika is cooler in the crucial moments of the championship," said Canadian Jacques Villeneuve, himself a former F1 and CART champion "I think he's going to prevail."
Hakkinen's fellow Finn, Mika Salo, thinks fans in their country
will be able to celebrate again.
"I believe Mika is going to clinch the third title," he said.
History would say he's right, but the fans remain optimistic
that Ferrari's first champion since Jody Scheckter in 1979 will
stand on the podium in Japan.
"It's the right year; Schumy is going to win the title,"
Alberto Tinconi said while celebrating the victory in Monza. | |
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