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R. Schumacher takes an unexpected maiden win Ralf Schumacher, piloting a Williams BMW, made a quick move at the start and led all 62 laps of the race to win Sunday's San Marino Grand Prix. The German crossed the finish line in a time of 1 hour, 30 minutes and 44.817 seconds in winning the race by 4.352 seconds over David Coulthard. The younger brother of three-time world champion Michael Schumacher claiming his first- ever Formula One victory. His previous best finishes were seconds at the 1998 Belgium Grand Prix and 1999 Italian Grand Prix.

Ralf Schumacher got the jump on pole sitter Coulthard and shot past the 2001 Brazilian Grand Prix winner on the inside before the drivers reached the first turn. "We were lucky," said Ralf Schumacher. "David (Coulthard) gave us the space we needed." Coulthard, the fastest in the this morning's practice, could not stay up with the young German and settled for second place. The six points he earned tied him with Ferrari's Michael Schumacher for the overall championship at 26.

Favorite and two-time defending champion Michael Schumacher struggled with his tire and suspension setup throughout the weekend and was never higher than fifth. On lap 23 his left front tire went flat and he limped back to the pits. After new tires and fuel, he reentered the race but completed just one more lap before related brake and suspension problems ended his afternoon. Since 1995, Michael Schumacher had finished either first or second in this event.

After having an incident in each of the first three races, Rubens Barrichello ran a clean race and finished third. Coulthard's teammate Mika Hakkinen completed a good afternoon for McLaren/Mercedes finishing fourth. The Jordan- Honda team filled the rest of the points positions with Jarno Trulli and Heinz-Harald Frentzen finishing fifth and sixth.

Just 12 cars finished the race, with five on the lead lap. With the win, Ralf Schumacher jumped to fourth in the championship with 12 points, just two points behind Barrichello. Nick Heidfeld remains in fifth overall with seven points. The win by BMW/Williams was the first victory by a team other than Ferrari or McLaren since Frentzen's first place at the 1999 Italian Grand Prix. It was BMW's first win since returning to Formula One in 2000.The BMW engine has shown to be both powerful and reliable. Frank Williams, owner of the BMW/Williams team and a sentimental favorite, got his first win since the 1997 Luxembourg Grand Prix. There will be another shakeup at the next event, the Spanish Grand Prix on April 29th, as traction control will now be legalized.

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