Hungary GP 2002 - Rubens cruises to victory.

The rest of the field had no answer to Ferrari once the Hungarian Grand Prix got under way and, perhaps as expected after he took pole position, Rubens Barrichello was able to lead home a Scuderia 1-2 for his second win of the year.

The Brazilian made the most of his top spot from qualifying, utilising the cleaner side of the track to power into an immediate lead while team-mate Michael Schumacher was left to fend off a determined challenge from brother Ralf in the first of the two Williams. As usual at the Hungaroring, the run to turn one decided many drivers' fortunes, with winners and losers the full length of the truncated 20-car grid.

Apart from Barrichello, the biggest gainers included Giancarlo Fisichella, Felipe Massa and Jenson Button, who all cemented top six places at the expense of Juan Montoya who lost ground from fourth on the grid, and Kimi Raikkonen, who vaulted past team-mate David Coulthard and Jarno Trulli to take an early eighth. Trulli had found himself sandwiched between Button and Montoya rounding turn one, and had no option to back off. Behind him, Coulthard forced his way past Nick Heidfeld to claim tenth.

Further back, the biggest loser of all proved to be Olivier Panis, who converted twelfth into 19th, sandwiched between the two Minardis and, on the one-line layout, unable to make up ground before the opening round of pit-stops - some 25 laps away.

By the end of the lap, a two-second gap had opened out between the Ferraris and Ralf Schumacher - after Michael had managed to hold off his younger sibling through turn one - and this continued to grow as the Scuderia resumed the sort of superiority it had enjoyed throughout free practice. The two frontrunners continued to bang in fastest laps and, by the end of ten tours, enjoyed a lead edging into double figures.

With little in the way of overtaking possible on a circuit bordered by dust and debris, the order remained pretty static until Jacques Villeneuve became the first retirement of the day, pulling off at the end of the main straight, engine dead.

Remarkably, the Canadian's demise coincided with the first real overtaking move of the race, as Raikkonen took full advantage of an error by the under-pressure Montoya. The Colombian had not been happy with the handling of his car right from Friday morning, and ran wide towards the end of lap 21, breaking off part of the air deflector behind his left front wheel. Further unbalanced, Williams allowed McLaren alongside entering turn two next time around, with Raikkonen running around the outside of JPM in order to claim the inside of three.

Montoya made it difficult for his young rival, mindful of his own move past the Finn at Hockenheim, but, despite the Williams' extra grunt between corners, Raikkonen stuck his nose down the inside, forcing Montoya to take to the grass on the exit. The Colombian's day then got worse as he dropped to tenth while recovering the road, all the time shedding enough carbonfibre to require an early pit-stop and a drop to the tail of the field.

Raikkonen, meanwhile, pressed on, and was quickly on the tail of the sixth-placed Button, harrying the Briton as he attempted to keep the clearly faster McLaren behind. Eight laps after Montoya succumbed to the pressure, his Williams predecessor did the same, hooking a wheel over the outside kerb approaching turn 13 and spinning into the gravel. The Renault man was deep enough in to become the third retirement of the afternoon, joining potential 2003 team-mate Villeneuve and Eddie Irvine, who coasted to a halt with no electrics three laps after the Canadian dropped out.

Button's departure came just a few laps after the first pit-stop window opened with Allan McNish and Mark Webber continuing their race for position off the track. The Scot led in, and duly led out again, but not until his Minardi rival had locked up and bowled over one of his tyre men. The mechanic was fortunately unhurt, but Webber's pain was increased when he found McNish's Toyota crew still clearing their equipment from his path as he tried to leave.

Fisichella was the first of the 'frontrunners' to stop, dropping to ninth such was the competitiveness of the midfield, but was able to regain his initial position as those behind him gradually made their pit calls. Massa, too, held on to fifth ahead of the still-flying Raikkonen, while Coulthard used both his won speed and a late call from the McLaren team to move ahead of the obstinate Trulli for seventh.

Interrupting the midfield rota, Schumacher and Barrichello made their own stops on laps 31 and 32 respectively. Although the world champion was serviced almost half a second faster, his team-mate managed to slip in a new fastest lap to ensure that he came out ahead. Both were momentarily behind the leading Williams, but normal service was resumed as soon as Schumacher Jr made his own, efficient, stop.

Despite not being under any real pressure from Trulli, Coulthard briefly jeopardised his chance of point by running off the road on lap 46, a back-end slide catching the Scot out as he closed in on team-mate Raikkonen. Like Montoya - who had originally run off at the same place - DC lost some bodywork, but it appeared to have little effect on his pace and he was quickly back on the trail of the scrap for fourth.

Takuma Sato, running impressively if alone in tenth, kicked off the second round of stops, the final chance for any real change of positions. The Japanese driver rejoined without losing a place, and managed to fend off the recovering Montoya to the flag to record another top ten finish, but this is not what the packed Magyar crowd was focusing on.

Fisichella again stopped earliest of the top six, and carried enough pace on his second lap out back on track to squeeze ahead of closest rival Massa when the Brazilian emerged from the pit-lane. Both, however, were to lose out to the unexpected pace of the McLarens, which were left to circulate for a further five and nine laps, allowing Coulthard and Raikkonen respectively to move into to five positions. Massa was the biggest loser, dropping out of the points altogether despite a solid drive, but continued to chase Fisi to the flag in case the Jordan should break.

Again the Ferrari pit calls intersected those of their pursuers, and again Barrichello managed to come out on top. This time, however, things were a lot closer as Schumacher, despite having to trail Nick Heidfeld out of the pits following his stop, was only just unable to pass his Brazilian partner. Unwilling to cause controversy by trying a move on warmer tyres into turns one and two, the German settled back into second spot - but banged in a new lap record five tours from home as if to emphasise his potency.

The two scarlet cars remained tied together for the remaining laps, with the rest of the field unable to do anything about closing the gap. Ralf Schumacher continued to circulate alone, robbed of the potential threat from his team-mate - whom he subsequently lapped in the closing stages - and too far ahead of Raikkonen for the Finn to make a bid for third.

The two McLarens held station some eight seconds apart, with Fisichella keeping head and car together to celebrate Jordan's Ford deal with a point for Honda. Massa, seventh, went another step towards saving his mercurial F1 career by finishing comfortably ahead of Trulli, the first of the lapped runners.

Heidfeld and Sato completed the top ten, with Montoya next up, ahead of the luckless Panis. On a day when only a fifth of the field wilted in the Hungarian heat, there was little to be gained from reliability without speed, but the likes of Salo, de la Rosa, McNish and Webber plugged away in vain hope of a good finish. With Anthony Davidson spinning out of his debut on lap 58, the Australian brought up the rear of the field, delayed further by a slow second stop.

McNish thus toured around in clear air, but could do nothing about approaching the scrap between his team-mate and the lone surviving Jaguar. The battle took on extra vigour in the closing stages after Salo squeezed de la Rosa leaving the pits and then repeated the feat on the track just a couple of laps later, but both cars managed to take the flag, albeit in 13th and 14th respectively. Salo was then assessed a 25secs penalty for the pit incident and dropped two places.

Twelve months on from clinching Michael Schumacher's fourth world title, Ferrari wrapped up the 2002 constructors' crown, leaving race wins the only honour on offer to the rest of the field. On its Hungarian showing, however, even these may be out of reach....

Race result:

1.Rubens BarrichelloBrazilFerrari-Ferrari77 laps1hr 41min 49.001secs
2.Michael SchumacherGermanyFerrari-Ferrari+0.434secs
3.Ralf SchumacherGermanyWilliams-BMW+13.355secs
4.Kimi RaikkonenFinlandMcLaren-Mercedes+29.479secs
5.David CoulthardBritainMcLaren-Mercedes+37.800secs
6.Giancarlo FisichellaItalyJordan-Honda+1min 08.804secs

7.Felipe MassaBrazilSauber-Petronas+1min 13.612secs
8.Jarno TrulliItalyRenault-Renault+1 lap
9.Nick HeidfeldGermanySauber-Petronas+1 lap
10.Takuma SatoJapanJordan-Honda+1 lap
11.Juan MontoyaColombiaWilliams-BMW+1 lap
12.Olivier PanisFranceBAR-Honda+1 lap
13.Pedro de la RosaSpainJaguar-Cosworth+2 laps
14.Allan McNishBritainToyota-Toyota+2 laps
15.Mika SaloFinlandToyota-Toyota+2 laps*
16.Mark WebberAustraliaMinardi-Asiatech+2 laps

RtdAnthony DavidsonBritainMinardi-Asiatech58 laps completed
RtdJenson ButtonBritainRenault-Renault30 laps completed
RtdEddie IrvineBritainJaguar-Cosworth23 laps completed
RtdJacques VilleneuveCanadaBAR-Honda20 laps completed

[* Salo penalised 25secs for pit incident]

Fastest lap:

Michael SchumacherFerrari-Ferrari1min 16.207secslap 72