The closest finish ever recorded was in the 1971 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, the 0.010s gap remaining the tightest ever. The win means Ferrari have won 14 out of 16 races this year, of which eight have been 1-2 finishes, and have won the last nine in a row. It was also the marque's eighth victory in the United States Grand Prix, the 158th in its history and Rubens Barrichello's fifth career win. Ferrari are now the first team to score over 200 points from 16 races.

“The finish wasn't planned before the race. We were both having fun trying to be as fast as one another and I have to thank Michael for this and also the team for all their support through the year. The US is an important part of my life which makes today special for me", commented Barrichello afterwards. Team technical director Ross Brawn professed to have no knowledge of the driver's intentions.

With the two Ferrari's blasting off into the distance from the lights, David Coulthard ran an impressive race to eventually grab the final podium slot. On a one-stop strategy the McLaren driver put the two-stopping Ferrari's under a bit of mid race pressure before the red cars pulled away again.

Coulthard himself came under late race pressure from Juan Pablo Montoya who spent the race recovering from a second lap collision with his Williams team mate. Montoya tried to go round the outside of the German into turn one, but Ralf lost his car, spinning and catching Montoya, resulting in the younger Schumacher losing his rear wing.

Jarno Trulli finished in the points again, coming home fifth, while Jaques Villeneuve, after having qualified an impressive seventh, claimed the final point.

Juan Pablo Montoya had set provisional fastest time early in the session, but Schumacher, after abondoning his first run, posted a 1m10.790s on his second, a time that was good enough for pole position. He was never able to match the time on his last two attempts, while Rubens Barrichello, claimed the outside of the front row, despite having lost all the opening day's running after a major crash early in the opening session.

David Coulthard was a suprise third, pushing Montoya out of the slot on his final run, while team mates Ralf Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen occupied the next row. Behind them, former Indy 500 winner, Jaques Villeneuve pulled out a quick lap to line up 7th.