FORMULA 1/US Grand Prix: The Ferrari steamroller rumbles on and on the evidence of yesterday's victory for Rubens Barrichello at the US Grand Prix in Indianapolis it has all the sensitivity of the self-same machine.

After dominating the race from his pole position start to the last turn before taking the chequered flag, Michael Schumacher slowed on the circuit's world famous banked oval section and engineered another win for the Brazilian, who swept past the finish line ahead of his team-mate in what now ranks as the closest ever finish in Formula One history, with just .011 seconds separating the pair as they took the flag.

In 1971 Peter Gethin beat Ronnie Petersen to the flag at Monza by .01 seconds but the event was hand timed and only recorded to the hundredth of a second.

The US crowd, unused to the rampant domination of Ferrari over the previous 15 races and unfamiliar perhaps with the shenanigans that had led to Barrichello ceding victory to Schumacher in Austria, reacted with mute incomprehension.

At the moment when the US branch of the travelling tifosi was supposed to indulge in wild celebration, the silence was deafening, confusion rife.

Afterwards, Schumacher insisted that result was not another case of Ferrari manipulation but had been a purely personal choice, in part payment for Barrichello's self-sacrifice at the A1-Ring in May.

"There wasn't any plan of that (manipulation)," he said. "We tried to be side by side. And we were. I can only say there wasn't any plan from my point of view. I didn't feel happy with Austria but we understood that it was necessary at the time and now with what has happened here I can give something back. He deserved the win. It just happened."

Schumacher added that the decision to let Barrichello past has entirely been his decision and that before the race Ferrari bosses had insisted that no such action should be taken should the result be another scarlet one-two finish.

"I did ask before whether I could let him by and they said no," he said. "There was no plan. The team didn't want it. But I feel it's nice what happened."

Schumacher dismissed American journalist's concerns that the result brought the sport into disrepute. "I don't think if you look at how close we were that you can look at it like a purposeful result. I know from your point of view it may look this way but you see one event. We have seen the other 16 races. I've seen all the rest. I think Rubens deserves it."

Barrichello, who with victory sealed second place in the drivers' championship, was happy to take the victory from Schumacher.

"It wasn't planned," he confirmed. "We never said anything about it at the beginning of the race. It was a lot of fun out there trying to be as fast as the other. What can I say, I thank Michael and the whole team very much. The crowd was very happy for me. The USA is a very important part of my life. Michael was very kind to let us finish equally. We're having a lot of fun working together and this is the parade lap for us."

While the consternation over the Ferrari one-two continued, David Coulthard admitted he was pleased to have taken third place, his best result since third in France in July though he added that closing on the Ferraris was never an option.

"There was a lot of traffic at the point I might have had a go," he said. "I've never seen so many cars to be passed . We weren't going to beat Ferrari. It was a question of just beating Williams. We can take a little boost from this weekend because we've taken a step forward."

Williams' Juan Pablo Montoya had to settle for fourth, his starting position after colliding with team-mate Ralf Schumacher in turn one after being passed by Schumacher at the start. Montoya survived the collision which smacked of a Schumacher error but the German dropped to the back of the field and finished in last and 16th place.

Jordan had begun the weekend in bullish manner, an uprated Honda engine giving Giancarlo Fisichella a much-needed boost. The Italian hadn't scored a point since Hungary and a ninth-place qualifying performance on Saturday was, he believed, the platform he needed to make an assault on points at a circuit that has been good to the Irish team in the past with Heinz Harald Frentzen third in 2000 and Jarno Trulli fourth last year.

It wasn't to be for Fisichella, however. The Italian's one-stop strategy was enough to boost him from ninth to seventh as the rest of the field opted for a two-stop race, but reliability ahead, particularly from sixth-placed Jacques Villeneuve, meant that the chips would not fall the Jordan pilot's way.

Fisichella's team-mate Takuma Sato opted for two stops after qualifying 15th in a bid to jump up the field on low fuel. He profited from retirements ahead but could progress no further than 11th.

It was a difficult day for Eddie Irvine too. The Irishman had begun the weekend brightly, running at the head of the timesheets on Friday and early on Saturday with the Ferraris, McLarens and Williams. But an engine change before qualifying was blamed for a drop in power on the mile-long pit straight and Irvine qualified a lowly 13th. In yesterday's race he progressed to 10th.