Schumacher’s Victory Protested

Not even Michael Schumacher was certain he had won the British Grand Prix, which ended in confusion when he veered into pit lane at the end of the final lap instead of taking the checkered flag on Sunday at Silverstone, England.

Schumacher’s Ferrari was leading by more than 20 seconds as he raced around the 60th and final lap. Just seconds from taking the flag, he surprisingly drove into the pits.

Mika Hakkinen, pursuing in a McLaren, sped across the finish line. Television monitors showed Hakkinen had won. Then they showed Schumacher had won.

In the pit, Schumacher climbed out of his car, gazed around for a knowing clue, shrugged, then hugged team members signaling he thought he had won.

Schumacher did win, but he did it driving down pit lane--parallel to the track as he crossed the finish line--a first for long-time Formula One observers.

McLaren protested and lost. McLaren later appealed the decision and has seven days to confirm it with FIA, the sport’s governing body.

Schumacher, under orders from his garage, came into the pit on the final lap to take a 10-second penalty for overtaking under a yellow caution flag. McLaren said that he should have taken the 10-second stop-go penalty during the final few laps--not at the end.

Formula One officials--eventually acknowledging an error by race stewards--threw out the protest on a technicality, saying Ferrari wasn’t notified about the penalty for 30 minutes and, therefore, couldn’t impose it until the end.

Schumacher’s average speed was 107.384 mph and his time was 1 hour, 47 minutes, 2.450 seconds--22.465 ahead of Hakkinen. Schumacher’s average speed was 107.217 mph.

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Jeff Burton, who had expressed a definite liking for New Hampshire International Speedway, proved it was more than idle talk with an easy victory in defense of his Jiffy Lube 300 title at Loudon, N.H.

Burton led 191 of 300 laps in a Ford to win for the first time this season and fourth in his Winston Cup career.

His margin of victory was 7.439 seconds over teammate Mark Martin. Third was Jeff Gordon, the reigning series champion.

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Ron Hornaday, driving on badly worn tires, held on to win his 21st career NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Nazareth Speedway in Nazareth, Pa.

Hornaday, who started 10th, drove his Chevrolet into the lead on the 57th of 200 laps around the one-mile speedway and never gave up the front-running position. He beat Stacy Compton’s Ford by 3.985 seconds.

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Alex Zanardi in the midst of negotiations that will determine if he remains in the CART FedEx Champion Series or returns to Formula One in 1999, was dominant again with a victory in the Medic Drug Grand Prix of Cleveland.

He led 68 of 100 laps and beat runner-up Michael Andretti by 8.422 seconds. Dario Franchitti finished third, followed by Scott Pruett, Adrian Fernandez, Gil de Ferran and Jimmy Vasser.

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Dave Villwock, whose racing career nearly ended less than a year ago, became the sixth driver to win three consecutive Gold Cup unlimited hydroplane championships when he drove Miss Budweiser to an easy victory on the Detroit River.

Steve David, who leads the season points race in Miss Chrysler Jeep, finished second.