Ralf would finish the race several laps behind while Juan Pablo was lucky to finish in fourth. This result would see WilliamsF1's point lead over McLaren slightly reduced, but it will take the next race in Japan to finally settle the constructors championship results for the two teams.

The start of the United States Grand Prix would see Michael Schumacher lead from team-mate Barrichello, Coulthard, Ralf Schumacher, Montoya, Trulli, Raikkonen, Villeneuve, Heidfeld and Fisichella. There were no problems in the first corner.

But for the BMW WilliamsF1 team the race would start badly as Juan Pablo would try to pass Ralf at turn one, resulting in a collision. Ralf would lose his rear wing, while Juan Pablo would continue but down in seventh. Ralf would pit to have repairs done to his car by fitting a new wing, but of course he was now without any chance of scoring a good result. Juan Pablo would continue running.

Toyota's Mika Salo would pass Allan McNish, moving up into thirteenth. So after after four laps the top ten was Michael Schumacher, Barrichello (1.3), Coulthard (4.3), Trulli (6.2), Raikkonen (8.6), Villeneuve (9.8), Montoya (10.9), Heidfeld (12.3), Fisichella (13.1), and Frentzen (14.2). Ralf was one lap behind in twentieth position.

At the front Michael would continue to lead, been the quicker of the two Ferrari's. By lap eight Renault's Jenson Button would move into tenth, passing both Sato and Frentzen. Montoya's car was affected after touching Ralf's car, as he was struggling to keep up with Jacques Villeneuve. Barrichello was able to slightly close the gap to Michael, 0.8 secs behind after eleven laps. The Ferraris were a second quicker than the rest of the field.

Both Jaguar's were completely off the pace, with Irvine under pressure from Webber. Irvine would be passed by both Panis and Webber. With fourteen of the seventy three laps completed Jacques Villeneuve would be in fifth, ahead of Kimi Raikkonen. The Finns McLaren had some problem as his times were slowing. Montoya would also pass Raikkonen. By lap eighteen the Ferrari's had pulled out a lead of sixteen seconds to the third placed McLaren of Coulthard.

Panis would pit, stopping for 8.4 secs, which meant a two stop strategy. Ralf would find himself been lapped by the leaders. By lap twenty four there would be 1.1 secs between the Ferrari's at the front, with Coulthard 22.3 secs behind, Trulli 24, Villeneuve 26, and Montoya 31. Villeneuve would pit, stopping for 9.2 secs. Michael Schumacher was pushing very hard to open out a gap to Barrichello to ensure when they both pit that he comes out in front.

Michael would stop first and was back out on the track after 8.0 secs. He would come out in second just ahead of Coulthard. Barrichello would stop the next lap returning after 8.0 secs, allowing Michael to take the lead. Jaguar's De la Rosa would retire with technical problems, stopping out on the circuit. Barrichello would start to push Michael, been very close behind him. On lap thirty one Rubens was only 0.9 secs behind. With Trulli pitting Juan Pablo would move into fourth. With forty two laps remaining the order was Michael Schumacher, Barrichello (0.3), Coulthard (2.8), Montoya (6.0/pits), Raikkonen, Fisichella, Trulli, Villeneuve, Heidfeld, McNish, Irvine, Sato, Button, Webber, Frentzen, Yoong, Salo, Panis, and Ralf Schumacher. But Villeneuve would move ahead of Trulli, passing him in corner one.

Juan Pablo would stop in what was an unexpected pit stop. He would drop down to sixth. Juan Pablo had Coulthard, Raikkonen, and Fisichella in front of him. But all three still needed to come in for a pit stop. Coulthard appeared to be on a one stop strategy. He seemed like Raikkonen, Fisichella, Irvine, McNish, Webber and Yoong were also on this strategy.

Fisichella would pit on lap thirty eight. Coulthard and Raikkonen were still yet to stop. Minardi's Mark Webber would slowly come into the pits after a strong race to retire. Reports had Raikkonen's engine as the case of his problems. On lap forty two Coulthard would pit for fuel and new tyres, stopping for 10.8 secs, and returning to the track behind Raikkonen. The Finn would pit next stopping for 12.9 secs with thirty laps remaining.

Michael Schumacher would pull away again, which was very important for him so close to his second pit stop. Juan Pablo was in fourth and would have to push if he was going to catch the McLaren Coulthard, with nine seconds separating them. Minardi would lose their second driver with a huge engine failure for Alex Yoong. On lap forty eight Michael would make his second stop, stopping for 7.8 secs. Barrichello would stop for 7.6 secs, returning in second.

Raikkonen would finally retire with engine failure. So with twenty laps left to run Barrichello would again close up to Michael, bringing the gap down to 1.0 secs. Also closing the gap was Juan Pablo as he reduced Coulthard's lead down to 8.8 secs. With fifty five laps run the order was Michael Schumacher, Barrichello (0.9), Coulthard (15.9), Montoya (24.3), Trulli (53), Villeneuve (57), Fisichella (1 lap), Button, Heidfeld, Irvine, Sato, Panis, Frentzen, Salo, McNish, and Ralf Schumacher (2 laps).

Michael and Rubens would slow down by more than a second in the final fifteen laps, which is more or less the confirmation that there is a team orders have  been applied in some form. With only four laps left, the question was will Juan Pablo be able to catch Coulthard, with the gap down to 4.4 secs, or does he have to pit.

With three laps remaining the order was Michael Schumacher, Barrichello, Coulthard, Montoya, Trulli, Villeneuve, Fisichella, Button, Heidfeld, Irvine, Sato, Panis, Frentzen, Salo, McNish, and Ralf Schumacher. Juan Pablo would not make a second stop, so he was on a one stop strategy. The last lap would see Juan Pablo close onto Coulthard, while Ralf would slow down.

But on the final lap we would have the amazing site of the two Ferrari's lining up for a photo finish only to see Barrichello cross the line first to win. Michael had slowed down, and as they passed the line together Barrichello took the lead and won the race. Coulthard would finish in third with Juan Pablo fourth.

This was a race that would see the BMW WilliamsF1 team come away with three points but the result could have been much better had Juan Pablo not been hit his team-mate.