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Exactly a decade ago the Hockenheimring marked the end of the longest drought of wins in Ferrari history. Gerhard Berger ended a period of almost four years without winning by bringing his 412T1B home first. Since then no season has passed without at least one Ferrari win and that Grand Prix might be seen as the turning point that has led to today’s supremacy of the Maranello squad. Today, 73 wins later, the German racetrack hosted the twelfth round of the 2004 Formula One Championship. Although Ferrari had already won ten times this season, Ross Brawn downsized the high expectations a bit by claiming he would be surprised to be on pole for the race. During Saturday’s qualifying both Ferrari drivers had to set their time in the middle of the session. When Rubens Barrichello crossed the line it looked like Brawn had been right. A time of 1.14.277 was good enough to take the provisional pole but with a difference of only 0.009 seconds on BAR-Honda driver Takuma Sato it was clear it would not last to the end. Michael Schumacher was the next one out. He was almost a second faster than his team mate and his time of 1.13.305 became the benchmark for the others still to come. All top drivers were faster than the German in the first section of the lap but lost their initial lead in the second and especially the third section. In the end Schumacher took an unexpected pole and Barrichello ended up in eighth place. Because Jenson Button’s car had undergone an engine change on Friday he was placed back ten positions on the grid, moving the Brazilian to seventh in the starting order. Just before the start , the Toyota of Olivier Panis had a failure on the grid, causing the start to be delayed. When the second warm-up lap began, the Frenchman only managed to move a few metres before coming to a complete halt. Although it seemed a terminal problem, the Toyota crew got the car running again so Panis was able to start the race from the pitlane. Schumacher had a great start and dived into the first corner in front of the rest. Second-placed Juan Pablo Montoya had an awful start and dropped back to seventh in the first corner. On the other hand Fernando Alonso had an excellent start. Coming from fifth on the grid the Spaniard moved up to second place just behind Michael Schumacher. The first corner is famous for its many incidents right after the start. This year the entire field managed to get through it without any damage. A few corners later however, Rubens Barrichello tried to outbrake David Coulthard. When his wheels locked the Brazilian hit the back of the McLaren, loosing his nose in the process. Barrichello was forced to pit at the end of lap one. When his nose was replaced, the number two Ferrari found itself at the back of the pack. Team mate Schumacher still was in the lead and was followed by Alonso and Raikkonen. Alonso was the first driver to pit for a scheduled stop in lap eight and was soon followed by almost the entire field. After the first series of stops the race order settled with Schumacher leading Raikkonen, Alonso and Button. Raikkonen could follow Schumacher’s pace but when his rear wing broke at the end of the straight he went off the track with a big bang, leaving Schumacher with a lead of approximately ten seconds over the rest. After the second and third series of pit stops the most interesting battle was fought behind Schumacher for second place. Alonso and Button had a close fight for a good part of the race swapping places several times. In the end the battle was won by Jenson Button. On-board television coverage showed the Briton driving with one hand on the steering wheel, while on the straights the other hand held his helmet. After the race it became clear he had some problems with the strap of his helmet that had come a bit loose. On the straights his helmet got lifted by the air flow which caused Jenson to have some difficulties with breathing. To reduce this problem the BAR driver tried to push his helmet down with his hand. In the end he brought his car home in second place. Rubens Barrichello’s race was not very colourful. After his first-lap incident he had driven the entire race outside the points-scoring positions. In the final stages he climbed to ninth place but a puncture meant he was passed by several other drivers. He was classified twelfth. The performance of Alonso and Button meant Ferrari did not clinch a title this weekend yet. Although Ferrari has a massive 99-point lead over second placed Renault, mathematically it is still possible for Renault to take the title. However, with a maximum of only 108 points to score it is very unlikely. Third placed BAR-Honda could equal Ferrari’s current score, but even if they do they still have fewer wins than Ferrari, leaving Renault to be the only remaining competitor for the constructors’ title. For the drivers’ title there are only three candidates left. Besides both Ferrari drivers, Jenson Button is the only remaining competitor that has a small change of landing the championship crown. With still sixty points to be scored, Ferrari only needs to take eleven points to secure Michael’s title. It is just a matter of time…
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