INDIANAPOLIS -- Michael Schumacher won the Austrian Grand Prix with some help from Ferrari teammate Rubens Barrichello. He can repay the favor at the U.S. Grand Prix on Sunday.

In May, Ferrari director Jean Todt ordered Barrichello to slow down on the final straight of the Austrian race to allow Schumacher to win and help his bid for a fifth Formula One championship.

Now, with the title in hand, a victory by either Ferrari driver on Sunday would clinch second place in the standings for Barrichello.

''At the beginning of the season we had the first objective, which was Ferrari manufacturer world champion, and it seemed like Michael had better chances to be driver champion,'' Todt said. ''So, the team did support him as much as it could.

''Once it was achieved, the second goal was to allow Rubens to win the second position.''

Schumacher has won a 10 races this season and has 128 points. With two races remaining, Barrichello has 61 points and leads Juan Pablo Montoya (44), and Ralf Schumacher (42) in the race for third.

A victory by Michael Schumacher, or a finish of at least third by Barrichello would clinch second place for the Ferrari driver.

Castroneves in a Jaguar?

	Castroneves

Helio Castroneves says he's not sure how his recent F1 test will impact his career but, according to grandprix.com, it was impressive enough that Jaguar is seriously considering hiring the two-time Indy 500 winner.

Walking through the paddock here Saturday, the ever-effervescent 26-year-old said his test with Toyota last week had gone much smoother than he anticipated.

"I was surprised, it was much easier than I thought it would be and it must have been OK because the crew clapped for me when it was over," said Castroneves, who turned the third best time of all the drivers testing this fall at Paul Richard in France. "I don't know what's going to happen (with F1) in the future but I'll keep knocking on doors."

Evidently, it was good enough to impress Jaguar. Joe Saward, editor of grandprix.com, claims that there is enough interest in Castroneves that he could replace Pedro de la Rosa in the 2003 lineup. Saward says Ford, which owns Jaguar, wants a driver more useful to its North American market and the popular, fence-climbing Brazilian would fit that mold.

Saward says the Jaguar board of directors will vote on Castroneves this Friday.

Salo warns da Matta
Even though Carl Haas says it's still not 100 percent finalized, Cristiano da Matta will be joining Toyota's F1 effort in 2003 because he won't have to be a test driver for a year.

The 30-year-old Brazilian had balked at leaving Haas' CART team for F1 because, supposedly, he was going to be forced to be a test dummy in 2003 and had no guarantee of a steady ride beyond that.

Whatever transpired in the past two weeks must have been agreeable for da Matta and the announcement will be at the season finale in Suzuka, Japan in two weeks.

But Toyota driver Mika Salo warns the current CART points leader to be wary of the treacherous world of F1 politics.

"This is a good race team but there are another 500 people outside who have no idea about racing but try and make decisions," said Salo, who along with teammate Allan McNish will be terminated at the end of this season despite some decent runs with the new team.

"You've got some 65-year-old man telling you to brake later because he was in the corner and saw Michael Schumacher do it. It's really dangerous."

Salo, who said CART held some interest for him, said da Matta won't like the changes he'll be facing.

"Driving has so little to do with Formula One anymore," he continued. "If you have the right software, you can succeed. If not, forget it. It will be very hard for him (da Matta) next year, for sure.

"And my advice would be to stay away from the politics."

F1 for Fisher?

	Fisher

Indy Racing League driver Sarah Fisher, the first woman to drive a Formula One car in 10 years, wouldn't turn down a chance to race in the F1 series ''if it was with the right team and the right people.''

The 21-year-old driver, already in her fourth season in the IRL, became the first woman to win the pole position in a major auto race last month in qualifying for the Belterra Casino Indy 300 in Sparta, Ky.

She drove three laps in a demonstration run in the McLaren F1 car Friday.

''Very exciting opportunity for me. Because of my partnership with Tag Heuer and their partnership with Team McLaren, it gave me the opportunity to feel what an F1 car is like,'' Fisher said. ''Any race-car driver in America will tell you that the ultimate is to at least drive these cars for a couple laps and see what its like.''

The last woman to drive a Formula One car was Italy's Giovanna Amati in 1992. Amati drove for Brabham but failed to qualify for a race.

Another Italian, Lella Lombardi, is the only woman to score a point in an F1 race, finishing sixth in the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix.

Cosworth to Jordan
The Jordan F1 team will switch from Honda to Ford Cosworth engines starting next season. The three-year agreement was announced by Ford's European president Martin Leach.

Ford will develop the current V10 engine for Jordan next season. Ford Europe also is reintroducing the Cosworth RS road cars into its product lineup.

The BAR team will continue using Honda engines.

Pit change
Formula One race director Charlie Whiting moved the pit speed-limit line 144 feet closer to the pit entrance Saturday after drivers indicated the original line was in a braking zone.

The speed limit is 37 mph for practice and qualifications and 50 mph in Sunday's race.

Robin Miller contributed to this story.