It's water torture for Coulthard

'It was great to get another 10 points on the board but today we were lucky,' he admitted.

He was certainly fortunate not to have fallen a lap adrift of the procession behind the safety car because of the hiccup in the pit lane which would have prevented him from closing up to within 10 seconds of the Scot.

Fortunate, too, that he opted for intermediate wet tyres, rather than the full wet tyres Coulthard was allocated when the heavens opened.

Also fortunate to gain such a dramatic advantage of up to five seconds a lap when the weather improved, rather than worsened.

It was definitely a case of the right rubber, rather than any significant advantage in horsepower or aerodynamics, which gave the Ferrari duo their competitive edge.

McLaren boss Ron Dennis said: 'We took what we believed was the right decision to give our drivers full wet weather tyres because of the risks created by the track, which was saturated in places. But we were frustrated because, against all the odds, it was something that worked in favour of our rivals.

'If I thought there was anything more sinister to it, I would say so, but there is not. They just 'lucked in', with the presence of the safety car playing a crucial role.

'It was so difficult out there and the race stewards were perfectly correct in keeping the safety car out for as long as they did. But it proved to be an advantage for Ferrari and not us. That's life.'

Coulthard did his dogged best to keep in touch after the early race mayhem which claimed several victims, including Olivier Panis and Jacques Villeneuve of BAR and Juan Pablo Montoya's Williams.

The Scot said: 'There was so much water we were aquaplaning at only 50mph. You couldn't control the car. It was more like being in a speedboat - virtually no steering.'

Having survived that ordeal, however, he was left in the wake of Schumacher and Barrichello, ultimately settling for third place and a joint-share of second spot at this early stage of the championship.

'There came a point when I realised it was a question of protecting what I had, rather than risk ending up with nothing,' added Coulthard. 'I achieved more than I expected in the circumstances. Ferrari were flattered to a degree but they are the class act and we have a lot of work to catch up.'

There was no stopping Schumacher once he had the bit between his teeth and at one stage he roared ahead of Barrichello.

The Brazilian said: 'That was a bit sad for me. I was taking care because there were so many difficult spots on the track. Michael came up behind me and took his chance, although I would have said my team-mate should have stayed composed. We could have waited for other chances.'

Schumacher is currently in no mood to hang around for anybody and the reigning champion is setting new records almost for fun.

He has led for more laps than any other driver in F1 history, he has had more fastest laps than any of his predecessors and won more races back-to-back than any living driver.

'The records don't count as much as how many wins and championships you get,' he said. 'I like wins like this, that come after we've had to work so hard as a team.'

There is clearly a lot of hard work ahead for McLaren-Mercedes, who had Hakkinen in sixth place, behind Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Jordan) in fourth and Ralf Schumacher (Williams-BMW) fifth.

That also applies to Eddie Irvine (Jaguar), who retired early, and Jenson Button, who finished a distant 11th in his Benetton.

For now, Schumacher rules, OK - luck or no luck.