AUGUST 21, 2001

Celebrations as the championships are decided

ITALY and Germany have gone Formula 1 crazy after Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello scored their 1-2 finish in the Hungarian Grand Prix, netting both the drivers' and constructors' world championships.

ITALY and Germany have gone Formula 1 crazy after Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello scored their 1-2 finish in the Hungarian Grand Prix, netting both the drivers' and constructors' world championships.

In the Schumacher family's home town of Kerpen, over 2000 people gathered from all over Germany at the family-owned indoor karting arena to watch the race and party the night away.

Meanwhile in Italy, Gianni Agnelli, head of the Italian empire which includes Ferrari, Maserati and the European soccer giants Juventus was overjoyed. "It's as if Juventus had won two champion leagues," he said. "He (Schumacher) is at same level of Fangio, he's like Warhol!"

Ferrari president, Luca Montezemelo, flew to Budapest to join the celebrations last night and spoke in praise of his entire team.

"First of all I want to thank Todt and his lads," he said. "They are a fantastic group, united and strong both on the professional and human front.

I also want to say thank you to Schumacher. Michael has had a fantastic weekend. Today he drove fantastically. He has always been exceptional throughout the time he has been with us, both in and out of the car.

Barrichello drove a very important race for us from a tactical point of view. He was very quick and could have been on the front row, but given the track conditions it was actually better that he started from where he did on the grid.

"A third vote of thanks finally, goes to our engineers, because the Ferrari was the quickest and most reliable car and this shows that our technology and the ability of our engineers and our suppliers, so important to our work, is absolutely on the cutting edge."

The Gazetta dello Sport meanwhile produced a ten-page celebration of all things Ferrari and Schumacher and suggested that Michael could yet overcome the two records that will be left unbroken before he retires - Juan Manuel Fangio's five titles and Ayrton Senna's 68 pole positions.