Sport 29-09-2003 Schumi Needs One More Point who: Michael Schumacher what: One point away from drivers` championship after victory in US Grand Prix where: Indianapolis when: Yesterday snippet: "The fat lady began clearing her throat here last night," says The Telegraph`s Tim Collings from the US Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, "when Michael Schumacher moved within a point of an unprecedented sixth drivers` world championship with a magnificent demonstration of his supremacy in treacherous conditions." The German could have won the drivers` title yesterday. "Once he had taken the lead from Jenson Button on lap 38, on the way to the 69th victory of his career, and his rivals Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya had stumbled, he was on course to score the points needed to win a record sixth crown and move clear of the legendary Juan Manuel Fangio," says The Independent. But to keep us in suspense, Raikkonen managed to finish second, leaving Schumi needing to finish eighth or better at the Japanese Japan Grand Prix next month. "From seventh on the grid, behind both Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya, his championship rivals, the Ferrari maestro had no right to victory in America," says he BBC`s Jonathan Legard. "He looked even less of a winner after the team made the wrong decision over tyres as the rain fell during the first round of pitstops. But when Montoya and Williams needed to be at their best, they self-destructed." Now, Legard continues, 23 year-old Raikkonen`s task is "almost certainly impossible" and Schumacher`s place in history all but assured. [... more]

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