Schu fits at the 'ring

THE Schumacher brothers Formula One show was halted in Sunday's European Grand Prix by a stop/go penalty for Williams-BMW driver Ralf, ensuring big brother Michael took his fifth win of the season.

The victory means the Ferrari driver has collected 68 championship points, 24 ahead of nearest challenger David Coulthard (McLaren-Mercedes), who finished third at the Nurburgring. Ralf Schumacher was fourth, his teammate Juan Pablo Montoya taking second.

Filling out the last two points-paying positions were Ferrari driver Rubens Barrichello and McLaren's Mika Hakkinen, who endured the misery of being temporarily lapped by the winner.

The two Schumachers had raced eachother from the green light after qualifying on the front row, with pole sitter Michael making sure his brother didn't lunge into the first corner ahead by blocking his run at the corner.

The crunch came on lap 28 when the two leaders pitted. The Ferrari crew got Michael out a little quicker and in his haste to rejoin battle Ralf put two wheels over a white merge line for traffic exiting pit lane.

The result was a 10 second stop-go penalty that ended the younger Schumacher's tilt at a third grand prix victory for the year and his career.

"I am extremely disappointed about the outcome of the race as I had a chance to win in front of my home crowd," said Ralf afterwards. "However, under the circumstances I have to be happy with fourth.

"As for the white line incident, I was looking in my mirrors when I left the pits and obviously concentrated more on the traffic behind me than the line. I have to accept the penalty." Michael Schumacher offered his brother scant sympathy: "I heard it was very close in terms of how much he actually crossed but I remember some other things which have happened to me in the past and I remember thinking that they were a bit hard but these things are done sometimes.

"On the other side, if you know about it you should watch out just like not hitting a wall or something else, but a stop and go is a pretty hard decision." The three time world champion had a pre-race scare when he stopped on the track during the recognition laps and had to commandeer a motor scooter to get back to the pits in time to take his race car on to the track.

He only sacrificed the lead briefly to Montoya during the first round of pit stops and didn't give it up during the second lot of stops.

Montoya had closed to within 4.2 seconds of Schumacher by the chequered flag.

WEBBER WINS Mark Webber qualified second and finished second in the latest round of the FIA Formula 3000 at the Nurburgring Championship to close within five points of the title lead.

Webber now has 26 points, while title leader Justin Wilson of England has 31. Nurburgring race winner Tomas Enge of Czechoslovakia has 28 points.

BRISCOE WINS AND LOSES Teenage Australian international racing driver Ryan Briscoe has won his second straight race in the Italian Formula Renault Championship - but a penalty after the event robbed the young Sydney star of the victory.

Already identified by Toyota as a potential Formula One driver, Briscoe - a former karting whiz from Drummoyne - crossed the finish line in the race at the famous Monza circuit, home of the Italian Grand Prix each September, 4.5 seconds clear of his nearest rival.

However, officials imposed a penalty on Briscoe for having overtaken another driver under a yellow caution flag early in the race - a mistake Briscoe conceded he made.

RACE RESULTS
1 M Schumacher (Ferrari) 1:29.42.724
2 J-P Montoya (Williams) +4.217
3 D Coulthard (McLaren) +24.993
4 R Schumacher (Williams) +33.345
5 R Barrichello (Ferrari) +45.495
6 M Hakkinen (McLaren) +64.8
7 Eddie Irvine (Jaguar) +66.100
8 P de la Rosa (Jaguar) +1 lap
9 J Villeneuve (BAR) +1 lap
10 K Raikkonen (Sauber) +1 lap DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP
1 M Schumacher (GER) 68
2 Coulthard (SCO) 44
3 Barrichello (BRA) 26
4 R Schumacher (GER) 25
5 Montoya (COL) 12
6 Hakkinen (FIN) 9
7 N Heidfeld (UK) 8
=8 J Trulli (ITA) 7
=8 J Villeneuve (CAN) 7
=8 Raikkonen (FIN) 7 MANUFACTURERS' CHAMPIONSHIP
1 Ferrari 94
2 McLaren 53
3 Williams 37
4 Sauber 15
5 Jordan 13
6 BAR 12
7 Jaguar 5
8 Prost 3
9 Benetton 1
10 Arrows 1 Next round: French Grand Prix, Magny-Couurs, July 1