Schu hands victory to Barrichello

Barrichello, whose only previous victory was at Hockenheim in 2000, said: 'The only difference between this and my other win is that this time I'm crying more!

' I'm very happy. Of course people will be saying many things about Austria, but my son and my wife are here, so let's just enjoy this.

'It's been a fantastic run. From third on the grid to finish first is a fantastic feeling. It was a fair-andsquare race and Austria is part of the past already. All in all, I agree with what happened in Austria. What is done is done.

'It was really a great race today. We pushed it and the performance was there. I have to thank everyone at Ferrari - the car was really great.'

Schumacher, searching for his seventh win of the season and a fifth world title that would equal Juan Fangio's record, lost ground when he spun midway through the race.

The German accepted he had been beaten by the better man. He said: 'He drove a superb race. He didn't make a mistake so he deserves to be the winner and I deserve to be second. I did fight very hard - so hard that I came off.'

Before his second pit stop, Schumacher was lapping about half a second faster than Barrichello and slashed the Brazilian's lead from five seconds to 0.7sec. He then slowed down and moved to within 0.2sec only on the final lap.

Schumacher said: 'Basically, after the second pit stop there wasn't any chance to overtake because we were too similar.

'Then the team came on the radio and said: "You have enough of a gap behind you so let's take it in a safe way and drive to the finish, because you guys can't do anything on the circuit anyway?.'

Fears of problems at the opening corner proved groundless when only the Jordans of Giancarlo

Fisichella and Takuma Sato were involved in any incident.

Williams team-mates Juan Pablo Montoya and Ralf Schumacher had led into the first bend but were overtaken by Barrichello before the end of the lap. Michael Schumacher had moved into second place by the end of the third lap. McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen finished a distant third to the Ferrari pair, equalling his best result, while Ralf Schumacher was fourth despite starting on the front row.

Briton Jenson Button returned to form with fifth place in his Renault - his first points in five races - and Sauber's youngster Felipe Massa was sixth.

McLaren's David Coulthard was denied a third successive podium finish after a collision with Montoya put both drivers out of the race on the 27th lap.

Coulthard tried to pass Montoya on the outside of the first corner but the Colombian clipped the kerb and slid into his rival. The pair exchanged words afterwards and Coulthard said: 'I hoped he would look at the bigger picture because he was losing two seconds a lap. The big picture is the chequered flag and we both threw it away.

'There is no glory in both cars not finishing the race and I think the guy is all over the place.'

Jaguar's Ulsterman Eddie Irvine retired 33 laps into the race, while Toyota's Scot Allan McNish was 14th, a lap down.