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Of course the slower you get the cars going and the more switchback the nature of the track layout the more people can see the cars for longer. More people equal more revenue - and you thought circuit design was about good racing! The braking area into it is bumpy and it drew very mixed comments from the drivers. What nobody expected was that it would create one of the most dramatic first laps in recent GP history. More anon. Qualifying alone drew a crowd of some 120,000 fans. They really love their motor racing in this part of Germany. A Ferrari front row was expected by most, but as it turned out things were not as simple as that. Michael suffered from a gearbox problem early on and had to swap to the spare car. The handling of the spare was not to his liking at first and so very few laps were available for him to get the best from his equipment. In his totally professional way Michael did almost just that with a time good enough for P3. Rubens was just behind in P4. The front row was an all-Williams affair with Montoya taking his third pole in a row by a tiny margin from teammate Ralf. It was an "all ducks in a row" grid, with McLaren P5 & 6 and Renault P7 & 8. At lights out most seemed to get away well and it was a four- wide charge to the hairpin. So much was to happen in the first few corners that it was hard to take it all in. At the first corner Fisichella spun and collected his teammate in the other Jordan - when it doesn't rain it pours! Also at the first hairpin Ralf got around the outside of Montoya (they had swapped sides at the start) in a super move which may have had a bearing on Montoya's performance later on. Coulthard was also good and aggressive at this point. But the star of lap one was Rubens who from P4 on the grid was leading the race at the end of the lap. The order at this point was Rubens, Ralf, Michael and Montoya. Rubens was simply driving away and it seemed clear that a two stopper was planned. Michael got past his brother on lap 3 to make a Ferrari 1-2. By lap 5 the front four (2 x Ferrari, 2 x Williams) were followed by Coulthard, Raikkonen, Button and Massa. Michael was closing on Rubens but more noticeable was their pace. By lap 9 the gap from Rubens to Ralf was a staggering 16 seconds! By lap 20 it was 30 seconds as we approached pit stop time. "Our" lads were really flying and even if they were not nose to tail it was a great race to watch. The Renaults stopped on laps 22 and 23, which indicated a two stopper and explained their excellent early pace. Then on lap 23 Michael spun chasing Rubens. There are few better sights than a chasing foe dropping it in the mirror. It was a simple error and an indication of just how hard Michael was pushing at the time. Only ten seconds were lost, however and he quickly pitted to get it all over with in one go. On lap 24 Rubens pitted (in an identical time to Michael) and rejoined in the lead. At this point in the race Montoya was fading badly and led a train with Coulthard and Raikkonen very close behind and being held up. On lap 28 Coulthard tried a move on Montoya down the outside of the first hairpin. It was a good and brave move but I suspect that Montoya did not fancy having this done to him twice in one day. In his attempt to defend he spun and most unfortunately his car then collected Coulthard and both retired with light damage - a great shame. I can understand Coulthard being upset but it really was just a racing incident. Both Williams had been in trouble with rooted Michelins anyway. The second Ferrari pit stops were to happen at lap 43 and 44, again with the same time for both cars. After the stops the Ferraris once again traded fastest laps, although Michael in P2 clearly had the edge as he closed up very rapidly to the back of his team mate. On lap 51 under the closest media scrutiny ever seen on a pit wall Ross Brawn calmly unzipped and ate a banana! Now if you had your two drivers fighting for a race win would you eat a banana? No of course not. It was a signal that it was game over. Get the cars home boys, let Rubens win and let's score a few points with the public before the FIA disciplinary meeting on Wednesday in Paris. And so it came to pass. A very emotional and deserving Rubens took the win and we all loved him for it. Whilst the true race lasted it was a classic. Now I am not one to complain and I do understand Ferrari's concern about getting the cars home . I also think that Rubens deserved the win, it was a great drive under pressure. However I cannot help feeling that Ferrari has still not learned the lesson. What we want is racing. Surely their drivers could have been trusted to race to the end. It could have been an absolute classic - one to remember for years. We was robbed again ! Jean Todt: “ We knew we would be more competitive in the race than in qualifying and that’s how it turned out. That was in part due to the excellent performance of the Bridgestone tyres. Rubens made an extraordinary start and managed to take the lead on the opening lap. Michael found it a bit tougher to get ahead of those in front of him as he moved up to second. We allowed our drivers to race one another up to the second pit-stop and then we told them to hold station. We have picked up sixteen very important points towards the Constructors' Championship and the Drivers', in which Michael has extended his lead, while Rubens is now back with the leading group. This race showed that Ferrari is a great team, united and determined to secure the best result possible, adopting the strategy best suited to this objective." Rubens Barrichello: “ The start was very exciting and I was looking to get away cleanly and I did not want to put Michael in a difficult situation. I backed off and then I saw Coulthard come past so I got off the brakes and went by on a very tight line. Then the two Williams were fighting and I saw a gap to get past Ralf and I took it and that made my race. The team let us push hard for a very long time but then after the second pit stops, we were told to be careful to bring the cars home. Is this payback for Austria? That was in the past. That time, the strategy favoured Michael, this time it went in my favour. It shows what a strong and united group we are.” Michael Schumacher:“Rubens drove a superb race and deserves the win, while I deserve to be second. At the start, I chose the wrong side to make a move. I tried to go to the outside of Montoya and Ralf but then I had to slow for the kink and saw Rubens and Coulthard fly by. Ralf was very fair when I came to pass him, although I had an eventful couple of laps to pass Montoya, after which I closed on Rubens. I think I spun because I got too close to him and lost downforce, but I heard that Rubens also had problems at that point so maybe there was some dirt or oil. I was giving it everything I had and was pushing very hard as I would be staying out one lap longer than him before the pit stop and thought I might take advantage of that. But after the stop I lost a bit of time with backmarkers. After the second stop I did not really get a chance to pass and the team came on the radio and told us to bring the cars home safely. Why was Rubens not asked to let me by? The situation was very different to Austria, when we were not arrogant enough to think winning the title would be easy, given that nothing can be taken for granted. Now, later in the season, the championships are still not decided, but we are in a much stronger position than in Austria.“ RACE RESULTS European GP 60 laps. Weather: dry, warm Classified: Pos Driver Team Time 1. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1h35:07.426 2. M. Schumacher Ferrari (B) + 0:00.294 3. Raikkonen McLaren (M) + 0:46.435 4. R. Schumacher Wiliams (M) + 1:06.963 5. Button Renault (M) + 1:16.943 6. Massa Sauber (B) + 1 Lap 7. Heidfeld Sauber (B) + 1 Lap 8. Trulli Renault (M) + 1 Lap 9. Panis BAR Honda (B) + 1 Lap 10. Bernoldi Arrows (B) + 1 Lap 11. de la Rosa Jaguar (M) + 1 Lap 12. Villeneuve BAR Honda (B) + 1 Lap 13. Frentzen Arrows (B) + 1 Lap 14. McNish Toyota (M) + 1 Lap 15. Webber Minardi (M) + 2 Laps 16. Sato Jordan (B) + 2 Laps World Championship Standing, Round 9: Drivers: Constructors: 1. M.Schumacher 76 1. Ferrari 102 2. R. Schumacher 30 2. Williams 57 3. Montoya 27 3. McLaren 37 4. Coulthard 26 4. Renault 14 = 4. Barrichello 26 5. Sauber 9 6. Raikkonen 11 6. Jordan 6 7. Button 10 7. Jaguar 3 8. Fisichella 6 =8. Arrows 2 9. Heidfeld 5 =8. Minardi 2 10. Trulli 4 =8. Toyota 2 =10. Massa 4 12. Irvine 3 =13. Frentzen 2 =13. Salo 2 =13. Webber 2 Click here to return to the Ferrari Happenings page.
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As
at the last race in Canada, the Nurburgring has had the earthmovers in
recently. The original first corner right-left sequence was very prone
to incidents and to being covered in gravel from lap 1, although it was
quite fun to drive. This has now been replaced, at a cost of around £5m,
by a new tight infield section creating the Mercedes Arena. It is said
that an extra 10,000 fans can now be accommodated.
