This victory — Coulthard’s tenth — ends Michael Schumacher’s string of six consecutive race wins, all of them won from the pole.
More exciting than most recent races the Brazilian GP had all of the elements of a good story with both of the major contenders suffering early setbacks – Mika Hakkinen’s McLaren stalled on the grid and did not even start the race and local favourite Rubens Barrichello ran his Ferrari into the back of Ralf Schumacher’s Williams soon after.
The real news of the weekend was the resurgence of Williams-BMW with Ralf Schumacher qualifying second and Juan Montoya fourth. Their finishing positions do not do them justice as Montoya pushed passed Michael Schumacher and led almost half of the race before Jos Verstappen ran into the back of him during a lapping and cornering mistake. Both Montoya and Ralf Schumacher set several fastest lap times and had the fastest straight-line speed of any of the teams. If they can repeat or better these performances in the future the elite club of top-level teams has just gained a new member.
| Position | Driver | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | David Coulthard (GBR) | McLaren-Mercedes | 10 |
| 2 | Michael Schumacher (D) | Ferrari | 6 |
| 3 | Nick Heidfeld (D) | Sauber-Petronas | 4 |
| 4 | Olivier Panis (F) | BAR-Honda | 3 |
| 5 | Jarno Trulli (I) | Jordan-Honda | 2 |
| 6 | Giancarlo Fisichella (I) | Benetton-Renault | 1 |
| Fastest Qualifier: Michael Schumacher (D) | |||