27/8/2000

Record updated

Schumacher always said that Hakkinen was his toughest rival and it was on this day back in 2000 that they had one of their best duels.

With Hakkinen on pole the race started under the safety car due to the wet conditions but got underway in earnest soon after with Hakkinen pulling away in the wet. However as the track dried Schumacher closed in and when Hakkinen spun, he took the lead and started to pull away. After the final round of pit stops the track had dried fully and Hakkinen was on a charge, his dry set up giving him an advantage on the straights. On lap 39 he came up fast behind Schumacher and went for the inside, whereupon Schumacher pulled over on the McLaren leaving no choice but to back off or taking to the grass at over 200mph.

Hakkinen chose to backed off and was clearly not amused. However on the next lap he executed one of the best overtaking manoeuvres seen in Formula 1, passing Schumacher in a stunning display of bravery and audaciousness as they dived either side of Ricardo Zonta in the BAR into Les Combes with Hakkinen coming out in the lead which he held to the finish.

As the two men pulled up in parc ferme at the end of the race, Hakkinen got out of his car and walked straight over to Schumacher and, using hand gestures, calmly expressed his opinion of the 39th lap incident with Schumacher.