Fans turned out in force for this afternoon's USGP, greeted by glorious weather conditions for the start of the 73-lap event, the penultimate round of the 2002 championship season. Track temperature was at 32 degrees as drivers made their way to the grid for the start of the formation lap. Everyone gets away without a problem and Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello lead them around the Indy circuit and back to the starting grid. Michael goes a little over his grid spot and reverses back. The lights go out and it's GO in America!

Schumacher screams into the lead followed by his teammate, David Coulthard and Ralf Schumacher, who gets passed his teammate. A clear start by all with the two Renaults getting a brilliant start, however Montoya soon gathers speed and puts the move on his teammate, put Ralf spins as the Colombian goes by and the two touch taking out Ralf's rear wing in the process! Ralf is on the grass, and Patrick Head is far from impressed! Ralf makes his way back to the pits while Montoya is back in seventh due to the tangle! Ralf sits calmly in the pits for over a minute as mechanics change his wing.

As expected, the two Ferrari drivers begin to pull out a substantial lead, the two men fighting each other in this race. The two Toyota drivers fight each other for position. Takuma Sato makes a move on Heinz-Harald Frentzen but goes across the grass in the process, coming back on track to eventually make the move. Mika Salo has come from 19th to 13th on the grid, ahead of his rookie teammate.

For some reason Pedro de la Rosa is all the way down in 19th place, ahead of Ralf Schumacher, who is a lap down but behind the Minardi of Alex Yoong. Jenson Button makes a move on both Sato and Frentzen and moves up to tenth place. Mika Salo tries to make a move on Frentzen. Mark Webber, in 17th place is driving a brilliant race, close behind the battle between Olivier Panis and Eddie Irvine for fifteenth place. Rubens Barrichello is bringing the gap down to his teammate to just over seven tenths of a second after twelve laps, however it's an 11 second gap back to third placed David Coulthard.

Jacques Villeneuve is out to please the American fans and is succeeding as he makes a move on Kimi Raikkonen for firth place. The BAR driver is now just five seconds off the fourth placed Renault of Jarno Trulli. Raikkonen appears to be losing time as Montoya makes the move as well, the Colombian driver now up to sixth. Raikkonen could have a problem as Montoya's car isn't performing as it should be after earlier contact with his teammate. McNish and Webber are both past Irvine now but Eddie Irvine soon retakes 16th place from Webber as Rubens Barrichello records the fastest lap of the race, two tenths faster than his championship winning teammate, who continues to lead this race.

Panis gets past Mika Salo for thirteenth place and at the end of lap 21 he comes in for his first stop. Michael and Rubens lap Alex Yoong and Pedro de la Rosa, who took 18th place from Alex Yoong. The two Ferraris are well in amongst the back markers, Michael getting past Irvine while Barrichello is held up behind the Jaguar. Barrichello gets past as Michael laps the Toyota of Allan McNish. R4ubens also males the move, but in the process, the time difference between the two leaders increases.

BAR ready for Villeneuve's first stop at the end of lap 25. The Canadian driver was running in fifth place but drops back to 12th after 9.2 seconds where he took on 83 litres of fuel. Sato pits with Michael Schumacher coming in moments later. The race leader is in for 8 seconds and 66 litres of fuel. Barrichello is in the next time around for the same time and the same amount of fuel. Both Ferrari's come back out in front of David Coulthard and in the same positions, Michael in the lead, Rubens still second. Pedro de la Rosa comes to a halt and the car's in flames as Trulli pits for 116 litres of fuel, enough for 38 laps.

In his rush to get away from the flaming Jaguar, de la Rosa jumps over the barrier and lands in the river! Montoya pits and fuels till the end of the race. Rubens closes in on Schumacher again but the two are back in the middle of traffic passing back markers with relative ease. David Coulthard, who is yet to pit, follows closely behind the two Ferrari drivers. Plenty of action further down the field with Irvine getting past McNish, Fisichella pitting and Villeneuve getting past Jarno Trulli.

Mark Webber becomes the second retirement of the day, coming into the pits and driving straight into the garage. David Coulthard is on a really strong run, keeping the two Ferrari drivers in his grasp. He is yet to stop, the Scot on a one stopper, the Ferrari's on a two, so therefore all three men need to stop. He comes in on lap 42 for 10.8 seconds. He emerges in fourth place behind his teammate, however the young Finn is yet to stop. He soon does so and everyone has stopped at least once. Michael still leads, Barrichello is second, Coulthard third, Montoya fourth, Villeneuve back in fifth and Raikkonen sixth with 30 laps remaining.

Ralf is in for his second stop, however his first was on lap two for a wing replacement. Brother Michael is now 3 seconds ahead of his teammate. Alex Yoong retires his Minardi with a blown Asiatech engine. Michael Schumacher comes in for his second stop, but he is 37 seconds ahead of the one-stopping McLaren of David Coulthard. The reigning world champion comes back out with ease ahead of the Scot with Barrichello coming in the following lap. Schumacher keeps the lead, Barrichello coming back out just behind him. The two Ferrari drivers are allowed to race each other today so now it's up to Barrichello to hunt his teammate down in the remaining laps. Frentzen has a slight off but regains the circuit, the German down in 11th place. Kimi Raikkonen's day comes to an end with yet another blown Mercedes engine, the Finn is far from happy and makes his way back to the McLaren pits.

Fifteen laps remaining and it seems as if the two Ferrari men are just cruising to their eighth one-two of the season, Michael Schumacher's eleventh win. Only four retirements from the race at this stage and only the top six are on the lead lap. Michael and Rubens have backed off the pace by over a second a lap, obviously Barrichello won't be challenging for the win after all, despite the announcement that the duo were free to race each other. However, if they finish where they are, Rubens has secured second place in the drivers championship and there are five different engines manufacturers in the top six, Ferrari, Mercedes, BMW, Renault and Honda.

Seven laps remain and Montoya begins to home in on Coulthard, the Colombian wanting a podium finish here today. The laps tick down and Montoya edges closer and closer but there isn't enough time to pass the Scot. Final lap and Michael brings home the formation finish side by side with Barrichello, but the computer places Barrichello as the winner!

Top six: Rubens Barrichello, Michael Schumacher, David Coulthard, Juan Pablo Montoya, Jarno Trulli and Jacques Villeneuve.