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Michael Schumacher was booed as he left his car after winning the Austrian Grand Prix.  It was after he passed Rubens Barrichello meters from the line, upon the orders of the team.

Juan Pablo Montoya finished a distant third for Williams, just ahead of team mate Ralf Schumacher. In fifth place Giancarlo Fisichella took Jordan's first points of the year. It followed a dramatic accident for team mate Takuma Sato which saw the Japanese suffer severe concussion. David Coulthard finished sixth for Mclaren.

Barrichello appeared comfortable at the front throughout the race and looked set for victory before the direction to move aside for Schumacher. On the podium the world champion insisted Barrichello stand on the top step, and in the press conference Barrichello again took centre stage.

"I am going through a period of a very good time in my life - as a better person, a better driver," said Barrichello afterwards. "My determination will get more wins, there was no point arguing. Michael gave me the trophy that I will take home. I am happy about that."

Meanwhile Schumacher admitted he was surprised by the result: "It was a team decision. Last year I was involved in the decision (regarding team orders) because it was tighter. I didn't believe it. Suddenly they told me he would move over.

"I am not very pleased about it either but we have to look what are the team's ambitions. They are out to win the championship. I have to thank Rubens. He has been outstanding all weekend. I don't take a lot of joy from this victory."

At the start of the race Barrichello led a Ferrari one-two in the first corner, as Schumacher moved past his brother from third on the grid. Meanwhile, Nick Heidfeld made a superb start to get past the other Williams of Montoya to take third. However a mistake from the Sauber driver later in the first lap then dropped him back to fifth.

As the two Ferraris started to pull clear from the Williams, further down the field Jacques Villeneuve was starting a storming drive for BAR. He clashed with the Arrows of Heinz-Harald Frentzen at the second corner, but then went on to put passes on numerous drivers as he moved up as high as third later in the race.

By lap 15 the Ferraris were already lapping backmarkers. The first of two safety car periods began on lap 24 after BAR's Olivier Panis spun to a halt on the pit straight after a mechanical failure. The Frenchman was lucky to avoid hitting the pit wall as he retired for the sixth time in six races.

The Ferraris, Villeneuve and Sato used the safety car period to make their first pit stops. This dropped Schumacher to third place behind brother Ralf when the race went green on lap 27.

The safety car was back out just a lap later for a far more serious incident. Heidfeld lost control on the approach to Remus, slewing across the corner and slamming into the left side of Sato's Jordan.

Heidfeld was quickly out of his car, but it was several anxious minutes before medics removed Sato from his cockpit and stretchered him into a waiting ambulance. With no broken bones but suffering from concussion, he was later helicoptered to hospital for further precautionary checks.

Several drivers used the safety car period to make pit stops and the race restarted on lap 36. Villeneuve was soon on the charge again, going past Fisichella and Coulthard in the space of two laps to move up to fifth.

Montoya, who had avoided the out-of-control Heidfeld by literally centimetres, moved ahead of Ralf Schumacher thanks to a quicker pit stop on lap 52. Ralf was then within a second of his team mate for the final laps, but was unable to find a way past the Colombian. Williams were the only team to try a one-stop strategy, but it wasn't enough to move them ahead of Ferrari.

Barrichello and Schumacher made their second and final stops on laps 61 and 63 respectively, with the leader retaining an advantage of over four seconds. This closed in the final minutes as Schumacher put in the fastest lap of the race with a 1.09.298 (lap 69). However, he still did not look like finding a way past Barrichello until the Brazilian slowed dramatically as they approached the chequered flag.

The closest battle in the latter stages was for fifth place, with Fisichella, Coulthard, Renault's Jenson Button and Villeneuve all in contention. Button just missed out on point as he finished seventh, while Villeneuve cruelly retired on the final lap with an engine failure. He was classified tenth.

Both Toyotas finished inside the top ten, with Mika Salo and Allan McNish finishing a creditable eighth and ninth respectively. The two other finishers were Frentzen in 11th and Minardi's Mark Webber in 12th.

Frentzen's race was severely compromised by an early stop following his clash with Villeneuve. The incident, in which the German appeared the innocent party, caused suspected damage to the front of his Arrows. Meanwhile, Webber was handicapped by a drive-through penalty awarded for ignoring blue flags.

Among the numerous retirements was Jaguar's Pedro de la Rosa. The Spaniard crawled into the pits after just one lap with a hydraulics problem. Team mate Eddie Irvine then also pulled into the garage to retire on lap 39, ending a disappointing day for Niki Lauda's team.

Arrows' Enrique Bernoldi retired on lap three with a suspected front suspension failure, while McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen saw his hope of points end on lap seven. The Finn pulled off onto the grass with an apparent engine failure. Sauber's Felipe Massa slowed and pitted to retire just two laps later.

Renault's Jarno Trulli lasted until lap 45 before his run of poor luck continued, the Italian slowing and pulling off the circuit. On the same lap the engine of Alex Yoong's Minardi gave out in spectacular fashion.

The nature of Schumacher's win at the A1-Ring prompted boos from spectators as he took to the podium. However it did extend his advantage in the driver standings to seven points over nearest rival Montoya. In the constructors' championship Ferrari now lead Williams by an extended margin of 16 points.

According to their press release they have been working on the restructuring over the last six months and are aiming to make Jordan a more flexible and have a more open style of organisation.  Which they also had back in 1999, the teams most successful season.

This will lead to a reduction in staff numbers by around 15%, including some senior managers, whilst maintaining a workforce of just over 200.

Team members were informed last November that there would be a period of change to, maximise the capability of the team.

BMW motorsport boss Gerhard Berger has admitted that Ferrari are hot favorites for the 2002 FIA Formula One World Championship after their dominant one-two victory at Imola - a race which saw Berger's record for the most Ferrari drives fall to Michael Schumacher.

Schumacher was virtually unchallenged as he raced from pole to win by 18 seconds from team mate Rubens Barrichello, who finished for the first time this year. It was the world champion's 97th Grand Prix for Ferrari, beating Berger's previous mark, as the Austrian watched from the pit wall.

Berger drove for Ferrari in two three-year stints from 1987 and 1993, winning six times. The former racer, now a key figure in the BMW-Williams partnership, said they were being realistic about Ferrari's strength, but had not given up their own title aspirations.

"For me Ferrari are the clear favorites for the season," said Berger. "Ferrari were very strong. The car is very good, they made no mistakes and everything worked well for them. It was a great day for them and it was impossible to beat them."

The superiority of Ferrari's latest car showed at Imola on Sunday in their first race with both drivers using the new F2002. Williams appeared the only serious challengers to the Italian team as Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya finished third and fourth respectively. However, Berger admitted they still have much to do if they are to close the gap on the world champions.

"Our goal beginning of the season was to get second because we have been third and we proved again that is where we are," he added. "But the moment you are second you start thinking how you can get to be first. But to catch up Ferrari it is a long way to go and we need to be patient."

Ferrari's maximum-points finish at San Marino enabled them to overtake Williams at the head of the constructors' championship. They now have 40 points to Williams' 37.

Former BAR managing director Craig Pollock has backed his successor's decision to cut at least 15 per cent of the team's workforce, announced by new principal David Richards just before the Brazilian GP.

He also said that he would have liked to have made changes a year earlier but was unable to because technical responsibility lay with joint MD Adrian Reynard.

Richards not only cut numbers at the team by 15 per cent, but also let go engineering director Malcolm Oastler and chief designer Andy Green.

Pollock himself left the team just before Richards' appointment, but continues to manage its lead driver, former world champion Jacques Villeneuve, and has a substantial shareholding in BAR.

"I think Dave Richards has made some pretty rational decisions, things that should have happened in reality 18 months to a year ago," said Pollock. "Eighteen months ago I wasn't in a position to do that.

"Anything to do with the technical side was covered by a shareholder's agreement we had, and it didn't come under my shareholding. It came under Adrian's.

"That has been changed and he has the free hand to do it, what he has basically done, the basics. The start is right we just have to wait and see how strongly he can put it all together thereafter."

Pollock said he was frustrated at not being able to make much-needed changes.

"It was hugely frustrating when I was in there but now it is a relief because I can sit back on the outside take some time for myself," he added.

"I'm coming from a huge knowledge of the inner workings of the team and knowing what, in my mind, should have been changed a long time ago.

"So I'm very well suited to have a logical opinion but at the same time I have a shareholding in a business that I want to appreciate, not depreciate. So there is a huge interest [from my point of view] in that.

"At the same time I want to see the team performing and Jacques winning. I am very positive about the changes that have been made. I am not negative about it at all.

"I just want to see how it evolves from here."

McLaren boss Ron Dennis believes his team can return to the top of the podium in San Marino when the FIA Formula One World Championship™ reaches Italy next week. Dennis insisted they can get their season back on track by beating Ferrari, even though Michael Schumacher is now armed with the new F2002 car.

Schumacher extended his lead in the drivers' championship with his second win three races in Brazil, while David Coulthard finished a distant third after being outpaced by both the Ferrari and the Williams of Ralf Schumacher.

Coulthard and team mate Kimi Raikkonen have scored just four points each from the opening three rounds of the season, leaving McLaren trailing in third place in the constructors' standings, 22 points behind leaders Williams. Nevertheless, Dennis said the team know what they must do to close the gap on their rivals.

"The lesson we take to Imola is to work harder," said Dennis. "It is the only thing that fixes things.

"I think we have a competitive chassis and the lap times show that. There is a gap to the Ferrari but we are working on changing that."

McLaren were around three-tenths of a second a lap slower than Schumacher's new Ferrari around Interlagos, but after the hype that had surrounded the introduction of the F2002, Dennis said he was convinced it was not invincible.

"I think the new Ferrari is beatable," he said. "Some people have been portraying it as unbeatable but it's not. Time will tell."

Although Coulthard qualified on pole for last year's San Marino race, McLaren have not taken victory at Imola since the Scot triumphed back in 1998. In contrast Ferrari driver Schumacher has won two out of the last three races there, with brother Ralf taking the honours last season for Williams.