Coulthard

INDIANAPOLIS -- David Coulthard finished first in class in Sunday's United States Grand Prix even though the field is not divided into classifications. By finishing third, he was the best non-Ferrari car at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Because of Ferrari's dominance of the Formula One -- Michael Schumacher won the championship and teammate Rubens Barrichello clinched second with a win Sunday -- Coulthard's third-place finish for Mercedes-McLaren brought up the rest of the F1 field.

The driver from Scotland finished 7.799 seconds behind Barrichello. "There was a lot of traffic at that point," Coulthard said. "It was incredible. I've never seen so many cars that have to be lapped. So I think it helped that the Ferraris were going through the traffic first of all and helped clear a little bit of space for me. The fact that I was already a stop down and realistically it was just a case of not trying to lose too much time and make sure I could keep third place.

"We had a change to the car, which I think, on paper anyway, has made us perform a little bit better here. Obviously, you don't have the opportunity sometimes in a Grand Prix, we can't do it back-to-back, but I think slowly we're making a little bit of progress. And obviously the first goal is to get in front of Williams consistently. We have one more race to see if we can maintain that. But nonetheless, I think we can say that we have made progress, and that's encouraging."

Coulthard was rather amused at the post-race news conference as most of the questions were directed at Schumacher, who appeared to back off at the end of the race and allow Barrichello to win as payback for the Austrian Grand Prix on May 12.

Coulthard has been in similar "team orders" situations before and was asked for his view on letting a teammate win.

"I'd really like to, what is it, (take) the Fifth Amendment or something you plead out here?" the Scot asked. "Can you let me not answer that one, please?"

Ferrari chief pleased
Ferrari general manager Jean Todt still got a 1-2 finish from his team, although it came under unusual circumstances as Schumacher let Barrichello pass him at the finish line on the final lap.

"To take our 14th win and eighth 1-2 finish of the season is a fantastic result," Todt said. "Now that Rubens has taken second place in the driver's classification, we have reached all the goals we had set ourselves at the start of the year. Furthermore, we have become the first team to break the 200 points barrier in 16 races.

"Today we proved our motivation has not wavered. The team worked exceptionally well, and in some ways, crossing the line side-by-side is a symbol for an incredible season. The happiness of our drivers demonstrates the harmony that exists in this team, which works with passion and determination."

George satisfied
Indianapolis Motor Speedway president and CEO Tony George got to waive the checkered flag for the third year in a row. Although attendance was down to 130,000 on Sunday after the 2000 race drew more than 200,000, George remains pleased that the U.S. Grand Prix has found a home at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

"The general feeling of everyone connected with this year's race is that it was a very successful event, and I agree," George said. "I am looking forward to next year. Each year we have tried to improve the event. I think after the third year, the SAP United States Grand Prix has settled down to its real level. Our challenge is to build on that level and on the strong core of F1 fans in the U.S. and to continue to build enthusiasm for the future.

"That process beings today. There has been lots of conversation this weekend about the prospect of young American drivers in Formula One and of an American team. That is an exciting prospect, and I look forward to it happening."

Former Indy 500 winners point

	Villeneuve

Juan Pablo Montoya, the 2000 Indianapolis 500 winner, finished fourth Sunday and 1995 Indy 500 champion Jacques Villeneuve was sixth.

"Every point is crucial and important," Villeneuve said. "The car was competitive today, but there weren't many mechanical failures, just Ralf (Schumacher), who had a mishap with Juan Pablo (Montoya), so I'm happy we got a point here. It was a fun race. The car was working much better than I expected in the race. The tires were actually getting better with the run. I was happy."

Montoya was involved in an incident with teammate Ralf Schumacher on the second lap. Schumacher was off the race course and had to enter the pits for repairs while Montoya was able to motor on.

"He made a mistake and went wide on the last right-hand before the straight, so I got behind him and drafted him," Montoya said. "I went around the outside to pass him and braked really late, and I think he spun. I'm not going to say it was completely Ralf's fault. We were racing and everything. I haven't seen the incident on TV, but I know I gave him plenty of room because I was right on the edge of the track. Because I braked so late, I nearly didn't even make the corner."

Montoya said his Williams BMW suffered from oversteer after the incident. He also blundered when he made his pit stop 10 laps before the team was expecting him to.

"I saw the sign and I said, 'I think they called me in there.' So I said 10-4 to see if they were going to say something, and they said, '10-4 what?' And nobody said anything," Montoya said. "I was coming into the last straight before the pits, and they said if I don't pit, I'm going to run out of fuel, so I said let's go in. I was seeing people going in, and I guess I pitted 10 laps too early."