Michael Schumacher arrived in the US looking for a Formula One showdown and he left on Sunday with one rival's title hopes dead and buried and another's barely alive.
The Ferrari hot shot must wait two more weeks for his unprecedented sixth crown but his US Grand Prix win killed off the challenge of Williams's swashbuckling Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya.
PHOTO: AP
Only Finland's Kimi Raikkonen, 11 years the German's junior, remained a potential danger as Formula One's closest championship duel in years suddenly looked like a foregone conclusion.
One point is all Schumacher needs.
"We still have a chance in Japan but it's more difficult now," 23-year-old Raikkonen told reporters.
Schumacher has won for the last three years in Suzuka and will again be favorite on Oct. 12. He has 92 points to Raikkonen's 83.
Ferrari also regained the lead in the constructors' championship, although that battle is far closer with Williams three points behind and 18 at stake. Raikkonen's McLaren team are now out of contention in third place.
The post-race mood in the paddock was flat, apart from Ferrari celebrating their second win in a row after being lambasted at home in August as a team in crisis.
The suggestion that the title battle was all over bar the shouting could not be used for Montoya, for whom it was simply all over.
His army of supporters, who packed the main grandstand with their Colombian flags and banners of support, stopped their shouting long before Schumacher took the chequered flag as a race winner for the 70th time in his career.
Schumacher refused to take anything for granted, even though history clearly beckoned.
"Obviously, it's a very good position for us to start the last race," he said. "We just need one point basically. But you never know.
"It was just outstanding in Monza," he said, referring to his last win in Ferrari's home race. "This tops it again. Who knows what will be the next?
"I'm just so delighted and happy about the way things have gone. If you see everything, the amount of pressure that is on is still there, although you handle it. It's just so beautiful when you get the result in like that."
The irony of this most unpredictable of seasons is that Ferrari, whose runaway dominance last year led to a major rewriting of the rule book, are close to turning the clock back to where it was.
There have been first-time winners and a knife-edge championship battle has been fought but Ferrari and Schumacher remained ahead of the rest on Sunday.
Equally important, the luck that seemed to have deserted Schumacher had clearly returned.
Tires were critical and Bridgestone, outgunned by Michelin in the European heat wave, came into their element in the colder North American conditions.
Possibly the critical moment of Schumacher's race was when he made his first pitstop after his rivals and then came in again straight away to change to wet tires while others continued on less suitable rubber.
Suzuka, Bridgestone's home track, is unlikely to offer Raikkonen as much of a chance as Indianapolis but his team were still ready to clutch at any straws.
"There is still a tiny chance to win the world championship and that means that we will continue to fight in the last round at Suzuka," said Mercedes motorsport boss Norbert Haug.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
The Minnesota Timberwolves, with so many promising performances spoiled by late mistakes fresh in their memory bank, sure timed this strong finish well. Jaden McDaniels scored a career playoff-high 30 points and spearheaded Minnesota’s stifling defense on an ailing Luka Doncic, and the Timberwolves beat the Los Angeles Lakers 116-104 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Friday night. “Jaden never looks tired. He looks like he could play 48 minutes,” said teammate Anthony Edwards, who had 29 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Julius Randle added 22 points for the Wolves, who outscored
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
RSS