FORMULA ONE: Jordan Honda rewarded but BAR Honda frustrated

In a tense and entertaining Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang circuit, Kuala Lumpur, the Honda-powered teams experienced mixed fortunes as Heinz-Harald Frentzen finished in the points for the second consecutive race for Benson & Hedges Jordan Honda with his team-mate Jarno Trulli finishing eighth. The two Lucky Strike Reynard BAR Hondas failed to complete the race after Jacques Villeneuve aquaplaned off while running sixth and Olivier Panis spun off after an oil system leak on lap two.

The race began with drama as Giancarlo Fisichella confused his starting position on the grid, positioning his Benetton diagonally across the track and forcing a restart. When the contest finally did get underway, Michael Schumacher led away from pole position while his brother Ralf tangled with his Ferrari team-mate, Rubens Barrichello, at the first corner, spinning in the middle of the pack. As the field reshuffled over the first lap, Honda-powered cars were in third (Trulli), fifth (Frentzen), seventh (Villeneuve) and ninth (Panis).

Within two laps the complexion of the race changed. The leading Ferrari pair spun off on the oil from Panis' BAR Honda, thus promoting Trulli to the lead as a deluge hit Sepang circuit. Cars, running on dry tyres, began to slide off, including Trulli himself and the safety car was deployed for eight laps. Over the next three laps there followed a frenzy of pitstops for wet tyres and by the time of the restart the lead had changed to Coulthard with Verstappen's Arrows running second, Frentzen third and Trulli sixth.

At the next restart when the safety car pulled in, the Ferraris began a charge up the field which would see Schumacher take the lead and extend beyond the reach of even his own team-mate. However, the battles raged all the way through the running order over the remainder of the race as Coulthard, Barrichello, Verstappen, Frentzen, Schumacher and Trulli pursued each other at various times, while the pitstop strategies were adjusted and the final shakeout took place 10 laps from the end.

As Michael Schumacher took the chequered flag he set a new record as the first Grand Prix driver to take six back-to-back victories, while extending his championship lead to 10 points from his team-mate.

Heinz-Harald Frentzen Position: 4th "This was one of the most exciting races I have ever had, fighting with Ralf, Jos and Mika. We went all over the place due to the standing water but this race was totally driven on the limit. I was very lucky to have been able to race today. At the start I had an electronic problem which caused the engine to misfire but luckily there was a restart which gave us time to reset the car's control system and everything was fine. When the race started again it was a bit wet and I gained a couple of places by the first corner, but I couldn't hold my position as I was heavy on fuel as we had a one-stop strategy planned and I also had a clutch problem from the start of the race. Just after the start we needed to change to wet tyres so I came in to pit while the safety car was out. My clutch and downshift problem lasted throughout the whole race which made it quite hard to drive in the wet and I also kept locking the wheels under braking. We were able to save fuel and run to the end - a good strategy which scored us valuable points."

Kazutoshi Nishizawa - Technical Director, Honda Racing Development "What a race! I have massive mixed feelings. First of all I feel very sorry for the BAR Honda guys. It was an unfortunate day. For the guys at Jordan Honda I am particularly pleased because the team of Jordan, Honda and Heinz-Harald worked well together which allowed us to run a risky strategy (on minimum fuel) right to the end."

Eddie Jordan, Chief Executive, Jordan Honda "It was a great race and brings back memories of France 1999, where we were brave and took a calculated risk on strategy and it paid off. The pit wall was so actively involved and it's brilliant to get a result. The fortune always favours the brave is a philosophy I have had since I was young and this is a great call."

Craig Pollock, Team Principal and Managing Director, BAR Honda "An extremely disappointing race for the team after so much work has gone into getting the cars into good positions on the starting grid. There has been great work carried out by everyone back at the factory to get the third car out here and there has been a great deal of effort by the team here at the track. We will put this one behind us and look to improve in Brazil."

Race Results 1 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:47:34.801 2 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 1:47:58.461 3 David Coulthard McLaren Mercedes 1:48:03.356 4 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Jordan Honda 1:48:21.344 5 Ralf Schumacher Williams BMW 1:48:23.034 6 Mika Hakkinen McLaren Mercedes 1:48:56.361 8 Jarno Trulli Jordan Honda 1:47:38.792 (1 lap)

Championship standings (after 2 of 17 rounds) DRIVERS 1 M Schumacher Ferrari 20 2 Coulthard McLaren 10 = Barrichello Ferrari 10 3 Frentzen Jordan Honda 5 4 Heidfeld Sauber 3 5 R Schumacher Williams 2 6 Raikkonen Sauber 1 7 Hakkinen McLaren 1 Villeneuve BAR Honda 0 Trulli Jordan Honda 0 Panis BAR Honda 0

CONSTRUCTORS 1 Ferrari 32 2 McLaren-Mercedes 11 3 Jordan Honda 5 4 Sauber 4 = Williams-BMW 2 BAR Honda 0

Round three of the FIA Formula One World Championship is the Brazilian Grand Prix on Sunday 1st April.