The whole week had been about Rubens Barrichello. The Brazilian's first real tilt at his home race, a possible win for Ferrari, his rehabilitation in the eyes of his countrymen.

While Barrichello soaked up the rays of adulatory warmth, his team-mate, for once afforded a pretty quiet weekend, prepared himself in the calmer recesses of his side of the garage. We should have known. On Saturday, after a bizarre qualifying, interrupted three times by a falling sign - belonging to Ferrari's own major sponsors - Schumacher dismissed his relegation to third on the grid and simultaneously dismissed the ebullient confidence of arch-rival and pole winner Mika Hakkinen. "I'm confident," he said stoney-faced. "We'll see tomorrow."

The confidence, as in Australia, was well founded. As any putative challenge from his teammate disappeared on lap 28 in a slowly growing rooster-tail of smoke from the rear of his F12000 and Hakkinen's confidence turned to dismay when he was forced to pull straight into the garage with a mystery ailment a lap later, Schumacher metronomically reeled off the remaining laps, relaxing into his leadership enough to allow second-placed David Coulthard a sniff of McLaren revenge by letting the Scot eat almost 18 seconds out of a commanding lead before he crossed the line.

The briefest of dips towards his pit, the briefest of waves, job done. His third win here, his 37th career victory, 10 more points and a unexpectedly comfortable cushion to take back to Imola for the start of the European season in two weeks' time.

Ferrari were in the driving seat from the start. A daredevil start by both Schumacher and Barrichello saw the duo tussling with their respective McLarens into turn one and although Hakkinen and Coulthard held off the initial challenges, by the time they reached the same spot again a lap later, the Ferraris were through, both pulling off spectacular overtaking manoeuvres to claim first and third.

Barrichello looked to have sealed a famous first Brazilian race in the red of Ferrari when, unburdened by the same weight of fuel as Hakkinen, he bustled past the world champion on lap 15 to take second and be in with a shout of catching his teammate. But after his first stop Barrichello slowed as smoke began to appear from the rear of his car and he cruised into the pits where his race ended.

"I am disappointed with what happened," said Barrichello. "The car was going well and then I felt there was a problem with the hydraulic system, which affected the steering wheel and then it spread to the throttle."

Hakkinen briefly regained his lead when both Ferraris made early pitstops, indicating a twostop strategy, but despite the possibility of building a lead based on his one-stop strategy, the dominance was short-lived. A lap after Barrichello had been forced out with engine problems, Hakkinen slowed gradually, eventually diving into the pits and straight into the garage, where he admitted his dismay.

"I'm so disappointed I can't even express it in words," said the Finn. "I just don't know what was wrong with the car". McLaren later stated that Hakkinen had been forced out by an engine oil pressure problem.

With the champion out, McLarens hopes lay with David Coulthard, also on a one-stop strategy and looking at the possibility of pulling close enough to Schumacher to pass the German in the pit stops. Coulthard though was having troubles of his own.

"I lost third gear very early on, so had to run the whole race using only fourth and upwards," he said. "Obviously in the first and last sectors you don't lose too much time but in the middle sector I was very slow out of all the corners and even though Rubens made a mistake on the second lap and I got past, he was easily able to tow past me on the straights because I was so slow."

With the challenge of the McLarens fading and Schumacher powering on, despite a small mechanical problems which forced him to ease up in the closing stages, it was left to the chasing pack to squabble over the remaining points and the chief beneficiaries were Benetton and Jordan.

Despite the early disappearance of Alex Wurx, who was forced to start from the pit lane, team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella guided his Benetton B20 through a well-worked one-stop strategy to hold both Jordans at bay and record his first podium finish since last season in Canada.

"This is a great result," smiled the former Jordan pilot afterwards. "I'm very, very pleased with third. It was my target to be honest. Yesterday, I felt the possibility was there and so it was, so I'd like to thank the team for giving me the car to do it and hopefully the car will just get better from here."

With the Jordans of HeinzHarald Frentzen and Jarno Trulli claiming fourth and fifth to record the team's first points of the season, Williams' Ralf Schumacher stole in to claim the remaining point on offer to give the BMW-powered team their second points finish in a row. The afternoon was memorable too for Schumacher's young team-mate Jenson Button. The 20-year-old recorded his first finish in Formula One, finishing 11 seconds behind his team-mate after delivering a sparkling and gustsy performance.

The young English driver is fast proving to be a potentially inspired signing and looks to already have secured himself a bright future in the sport.