Hakkinen wins emotional U.S. Grand Prix

McLaren's Mika Hakkinen, furious at being penalised for a pit lane mistake, held off a double-headed Ferrari challenge to win his second grand prix of the season at the home of American motor sport on Sunday.

World champion Michael Schumacher was second after his Brazilian team mate Rubens Barrichello developed engine problems in the closing stages of a thrilling, emotion-charged race.

McLaren's David Coulthard claimed third as Barrichello tried to limp around the track before slowing to a halt on the penultimate lap. Italian Jarno Trulli was fourth in a Jordan ahead of Briton Eddie Irvine in a Jaguar and German Nick Heidfeld in a Sauber.

The 20th win of Hakkinen's career came only two days after the double world champion's 33rd birthday.

The Finn, who is taking a year off next season, celebrated on the podium as champagne returned to Formula One following the last race in Italy two weeks ago.

That Monza grand prix had taken place just days after the attacks on America - and serious injuries suffered by Italian Alex Zanardi in a CART event - and there were doubts whether the American race would take place.

But the biggest crowd of the season, at a venue that can seat 250,000, were treated to a great race in which the lead swapped back and forward between Ferrari, Williams and McLaren.

Schumacher almost quit the sport after Monza in a reaction to the September 11 attacks, but he felt the drivers had helped lighten the mood among Americans on Sunday.

"If you look at the faces of the people here, you see joy and happiness are coming back. It makes us happy feeling that we are doing the right thing for the people here," the German said.

Schumacher had already won the championship and the results in the penultimate race of the season consolidated Coulthard's second place overall.

Hakkinen's Success
Hakkinen's success could not have been predicted in the hour before the race when he was suddenly demoted from the front row of the grid to the second for infringing a pit lane regulation.

He had left the pit lane under a red light in the warm-up and was stripped of his fastest qualifying lap as punishment.

"I was pissed off. I was really upset. In reality of course there is no excuse, but after all there were five cars lined up and it was impossible to see the light," Hakkinen told a news conference.

"The rules are rules but you have to use common sense."

Hakkinen then made a sluggish start off the grid, losing one place as Barrichello and Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya made storming getaways behind Michael Schumacher on pole.

It had looked like Barrichello's race from the fifth lap, when he slipped past Schumacher on the inside after earlier taking Montoya.

The German made life easy for his team mate as he had promised to do since he won the world championship in Hungary last month. But Hakkinen, who made just one pit stop to Barrichello's two, made up ground as others fell away.

Ralf Schumacher skidded out into a gravel trap on lap 37 and Montoya, in the other Williams, ground to a halt two laps later, shortly after overtaking Schumacher on the inside of the first corner to take the lead with breathtaking skill.

Miniature Stars and Stripes flags were handed out free to the first 100,000 spectators to arrive at "The Brickyard' on Sunday morning.

Security was tight but not excessive, with police patrolling outside the track and sources at the circuit reporting a three-mile air exclusion zone around the circuit.