Following the two McLaren wins at the British and Spanish GPs it became even more important that Ferrari needed to re-assert their authority. Qualifying was not perfect in that Michael Schumacher got caught out by the drizzle after Coulthard had set a pole winning time. Nevertheless the lead Ferrari started from the front row with Mika Hakkinen and Rubens Barrichello just behind.

At the start Hakkinen shot between the two front row men and took the lead, which he somehow managed to hold from Schuey for the first ten laps on a dry track. The rain then started and Schuey was quickly past and pulled away at the rate of some 3 secs per lap. After the entire field had pitted for wet weather tyres Schumacher maintained his lead in front of Hakkinen until an early second stop put the McLaren into the lead until Lap 46 out of 67 when roles were again reversed.

The final 20 laps were somewhat nail-biting in that Hakkinen was clearly putting in better lap times than Schumacher but all the bad luck with back-markers went the McLarens' way. Track conditions got worse with heavy spray lingering down the straights making visibility a bit of a guessing game.

However, Schumacher kept it all on the road and he finished some 13 secs ahead of Hakkinen with Coulthard in third and Barrichello in fourth. Barrichello was not really in contention, having been subjected to a strange three-pit stop strategy whilst the other leading runners stopped only twice. Towards the end he easily caught Coulthard's ailing McLaren but was unable to pass it in the difficult conditions when, to go off-line would have risked leaving the track. The indignity of being lapped by Schumacher would also not have pleased his team mate.

Jean Todt: "As we expected, this was a difficult race because of the changing weather over the course of the weekend. We were competitive in both the wet and the dry. This is down to all the hard work accomplished by the team and the drivers. This is Michael's fourth win of the season and it means we maintain our lead in both championships. We adopted a riskier strategy for Rubens, putting him on three stops in the hope of making up for the time lost just prior to his first stop. But overtaking proved very difficult in these conditions. Nevertheless, he still managed to finish a fine fourth after a great drive."

Michael Schumacher: "This is one of the best days of my life because it is the first time I have won in Germany with Ferrari. I have seen my fans standing here for three days in this bad weather and I hope this win has warmed their hearts a bit. I knew we were strong but that it would also be a tough fight. It was also interesting and enjoyable. Everything was perfect and the car worked well in the rain. The only critical point was when it started to rain. None of us in the front wanted to pit as it was not clear if this was for real. As soon as we saw others going faster on rain tyres then I came in immediately. I had some problems with aquaplaning, especially towards the end, as by then I had done over 30 laps on the same tyres. In the past I have dreamed of going to Monaco with this sort of lead. Sometimes dreams come true! I have gone well at Monaco in the past and I hope that will happen again."

Rubens Barrichello: "I am a bit disappointed as I could have done better than fourth. The race was difficult mainly because of the lack of visibility caused by the rain. The car was good except that I had a small problem with my down-shifts. My initial thought is that maybe I stayed out one lap too long on dry tyres. The three-stop strategy which meant I had to overtake slower cars in poor visibility was not ideal, but it was definitely the quickest way to make up lost time. I had been looking forward to a closely fought race for some time now. Maybe I should have been on the podium today."

RACE RESULTS

European Grand Prix
The Nurburgring, Germany; 67 laps, 305,235 kms.
Weather: Dry start, rain midway.

FFastest Lap: M. Schumacher, 1:22.269 (199.365 km/h), lap 8

Acknowledgement - Race data by Atlas F1, Pictures by Sports.com.

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