Hakkinen robbed as Schumacher inherits win

WORLD champion Michael Schumacher returned to the winner's circle in dramatic fashion yesterday, snatching victory in the Spanish Grand Prix from Mika Hakkinen on the final lap.

The win was the 47th of Schumacher's 150-race career and gave him the outright lead in the drivers' championship.

Hakkinen looked set to claim his first victory of the season at Barcelona when the clutch in his McLaren-Mercedes exploded just a few corners from the finish. The Finn had been leading Schumacher by over 40 seconds but was unable to make it to the flag.

Schumacher, who had led until the second pit stop after claming pole position and then slowed because of a vibration, said he was sorry for Hakkinen.

"It's shocking, because he's really done everything right and then something like this," Schumacher said. "I went to see him because it's not the way you like to win a race, but then sometimes it happens in racing. It's happened to me and it has now happened to Mika, but that's the way it goes sometimes."Juan Pablo Montoya finished second in a Williams to score the first championship points of his grand prix career after coming from 11th on the grid. It was also the first time the Colombian had finished an F1 race.

"I think it's really exciting. The first four races have been very hard for me. We have been competitive in some of them not so much in others," Montoya said.

Former world champion Jacques Villeneuve scored BAR's first podium finish of the season to take third and give the podium a fresh but unusual look.

"The whole team, everyone in the team has worked really hard for the last three years, and the beginning of the season has been really really hard and to finally get a podium is great. I think it's the boost that everyone was needing," Villeneuve said.

Jordan's Jarno Trulli was fourth, ahead of David Coulthard and Nick Heidfeld in the first of the Sauber's.

Coulthard produced a spirited drive from the back of the field to finish fifth, after he stalled his McLaren-Mercedes on the grid as the drivers left for the formation lap.

The Scot was subsequently forced to start the race from the rear of the grid and then had a coming together with the Arrows of Enrique Bernoldi towards the end of the first lap, requiring a pitstop to replace the nosecone.

Olivier Panis and Kimi Raikkonen finished seventh and eighth respectively for BAR and Sauber, and were the only other driver's on the lead lap.

Michael Schumacher is now eight points clear of Coulthard in the drivers' championship, with Rubens Barrichello still holding down third on 14 points, two points clear of Ralf Schumacher.

Trulli has moved from eighth to sixth, while Hakkinen has dropped from seventh down to ninth. Montoya and Villeneuve are finally on the leader board and sit in equal seventh and equal ninth respectively.

Positions remain unchanged in the constructors' title, although Ferarri has increased its lead to be 18 points ahead of McLaren.

* Meanwhile, on Saturday in Barcelona, Aussie Mark Webber finished seventh in the third round of the FIA Formula 3000 championship. Webber only qualified 11th after a practice crash. He is now third in the championship chase on 10 points, five points behind Englishman Justin Wilson.

RACE RESULTS 1 M Schumacher (Ferrari) 1hr31min3.305sec 2 Montoya (Williams) +40.7383 Villeneuve (BAR) +49.6264 Trulli (Jordan) +51.2535 Coulthard (McLaren) +51.6166 Heidfeld (Sauber) +1:01.8937 Panis (BAR) +1:04.9778 Raikkonen (Sauber) +1:19.8089 Hakkinen (McLaren) +1 lap10 Alesi (Prost) +1 lapDRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP1 M Schumacher (GER) 362 Coulthard (UK) 283 Barrichello (BRA) 144 R Schumacher (GER) 125 Heidfeld (UK) 86 Trulli (ITA) 7=7 Frentzen (GER) 6=7 Montoya (COL) 6=9 Hakkinen (FIN) 4=9 Villeneuve (CAN) 4CONSTRUCTORS' CHAMPIONSHIP1 Ferrari 502 McLaren 323 Williams 184 Jordan 135 Sauber 96 BAR 77 Benetton 1Next round: Spielberg, Austria, May 13