Sometime over the last couple of years Hollywood actor Sylvester Stallone briefly flirted with the notion of filming a Formula One movie, but not even the highest paid Tinseltown scriptwriter could have come up with a script as incident-packed as yesterday's German Grand Prix. If a plot needed the kitchen sink thrown at it, yesterday's race could have supplied a showroom full.

The set-up was plotted on Saturday, a David Coulthard-Michael Schumacher face-off at the front of the grid - payback time for Coulthard after Schumacher had cut across him in Magny Cours a month ago. And so it turned out, the Scot viciously slanted his car into Schumacher's path to ostensibly hold his lead and raise a motorised version of the finger he had raised at the German in France. Except, the move had foreseen results.

While Coulthard escaped unmolested, his pointed message to Schumacher left him second as team-mate Mika Hakkinen streaked past both on the inside. Worse was to come for Schumacher though. Trying to edge round Coulthard's dive, the German, with eyes only for the McLaren number two, missed Giancarlo Fisichello barrelling down the outside, the Italian smashed into the back of the Ferrari, leaving both cars jammed up against the tyre walls and out of the race.

Schumacher, ripping his helmet off, strode back to garage behind Fisichella and then fully blamed the Italian for the incident that would eventually allow Coulthard and Mika Hakkinen to close the gap at the top of the drivers' table to just two points.

"Basically it's quite simple. I was turning in for the first corner from the outside line to get a nice exit to the main straight and get a run at Coulthard and then I was bumped from behind," said Schumacher. "The McLarens honestly didn't play much part in it. Fisichella was the person coming from behind and he was the person to look out for people in front. I'm out of the race not because of David but because of Fisichella and that's all I'll say."

While Schumacher was left to sit out the remainder of the race in the garage, his team-mate Rubens Barrichello set about replacing him at the front of the pack. Only one small problem, the Brazilian had 17 cars in front of him. Along with Jordan's Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Barrichello had suffered a disastrous rain-hit qualifying session which left the pair languishing at the foot of the grid in 17th and 18th. But as soon as the start-lights went out both began carving their way through the backmarkers and midfield until by lap 14 Barrichello was an astonishing third with Frentzen not far behind in sixth.

Both though were obviously running on low fuel loads in a bid to make up ground and would have to stop twice. And so it proved with Barrichello pitting on lap 19 and Frentzen ducking into the pitlane a lap later.

It seemed then that they would have to do it all again but then came the day's second major incident - the incursion on to the track of a former Mercedes worker protesting his dismissal from the company on health grounds.

As track marshals tried to apprehend the protester, with the cars blasting down towards the Jim Clark curve at over 200 m.p.h., the safety car was deployed and Frentzen and Barrichello's first stop deficit was negated.

With the opportunity to pit again to take on fuel enough to race to the end, the Ferrari number two and the Jordan driver were poised to move into position to challenge for the podium places. Barrichello was gifted the lowest of those as the safety car stayed out and Coulthard was forced into a late stop, a decision which dropped him back to sixth. As the safety car left the circuit, Barrichello immediately set off after Jarno Trulli, the Jordan driver having moved from a sixth-place start to second after capitalising on Schumacher's accident at turn one.

Again Barrichello got his chance via the safety car. Following a spectacular shunt which left Jean Alesi's car in tatters and the Frenchman visibly shaken at the side of the track, the safety car was again deployed. Once the debris was removed and the safety car had returned to its station, Barrichello piled on the pressure. But it wasn't until the inevitable rain began to fall that Barrichello finally found a way through, Trulli heading for the pits to take on wet tyres.

Ferrari though left Barrichello out to brave the conditions and it proved an inspired decision. The Brazilian is renowned for his wet-weather control and as Hakkinen too headed in on lap 35, Barrichello swept into the lead.

Despite struggling to maintain control of his increasingly nervous car in the downpour, Barrichello kept his nerve through the remaining 10 laps to secure an emotional and deserved first victory at his 123rd attempt, the longest wait for a maiden victory endured by any driver on record.

Ironically, the longest wait prior until this was suffered by Mika Hakkinen and since gaining that first win in Jerez in 1997, the Finn has gone on to win back-to-back Formula One titles.

The Finn's second place to Barrichello yesterday puts him closer to the magical three-in-a-row last achieved by Juan Manuel Fangio in 1956 as part of a fourtitle run. Both he and Coulthard now move on to 54 points in the title race just two points behind the hapless Schumacher, who has now failed to finish in the last three races and faces a daunting trip to the dusty and bumpy Hungaroring.