Schumacher Doesn’t Let Some Rain Spoil His Racing Day

Michael Schumacher, making another bold tire decision in the rain, won the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps to move farther ahead in the Formula One standings.

The German dominated the early part of the 44-lap race, coming out on wet-weather tires after a shower just before the start of the race soaked the track. The two-time series champion drove his Ferrari to victory by 26.753 seconds over the Jordan-Peugeot of Italian Giancarlo Fisichella.

Schumacher covered 190.5 miles in 1:33:46.7 and averaged 121.9 mph.

“It counts very much to make the right decision, to know a bit about the weather here,” Schumacher said of the tire decision.

Schumacher waited in the pits until it started pouring, then went out on the track after everyone else was already on the starting grid. He got a solo lap to warm up his rain tires while the other scrambled back to the pits to change to treaded rubber.

Jacques Villeneuve, who trails Schumacher by 12 points in the standings, finished sixth.