24/07/2005
NEWS STORY
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As ever, there are a number of major factors to consider this afternoon as we look forward to the German Grand Prix.
First off, there is strategy. As ever, there are question marks over who was and who wasn't running light yesterday. The applause in the Renault garage following Fernando Alonso's lap seemed to indicate that the Spaniard was running heavier than many of his rivals.
Then there is the start, without assistance from his teammate Juan Pablo Montoya, Kimi Raikkonen will have to take on Alonso, not to mention Button, Fisichella and Michael Schumacher on his own. Though with the Colombian starting from the back of the grid at least the Finn doesn't have to worry about being taken out by his own teammate.
Then there's luck, and Kimi hasn't had a lot of it here at Hockenheim. Wing failure, engine failure, s, driveshaft failures and start-line accidents, you name it, Kimi has experienced it here, indeed, the McLaren driver has yet to finish a Grand Prix here.
Finally, there's the weather. Around fifty minutes before the start of the race, Pitpass editor Chris Balfe phoned photographer John Marsh (Redzone Images) to ask what the weather was like. "It's overcast, but I don't think it's going to rain," said John. Ten minutes later he phoned Chris back to announce that the first raindrops were beginning to fall.
Luck, strategy, the weather, the main World Championship protagonists starting from the front two rows of the grid, we could be in for something special this afternoon. Let's hope so.
Other than Kimi and Alonso, there are several drivers who will be keen to add to their points tally this afternoon, most noticeably Jenson Button, Giancarlo Fisichella and Michael Schumacher, while Takuma Sato will be desperate to open his 2005 points account.
One cannot help but feel that the grid positions of the two WilliamsF1s flatter to deceive, especially as this is BMW's home race. However, who knows, maybe the new aerodynamic package is paying off.
Starting from ninth on the grid is Jarno Trulli, and if recent events are anything to go by, anyone who is stuck behind him after the first corner is in for a long Sunday afternoon.
At the back of the grid, Juan Pablo is sure to be seeing red-mist, in addition to the rear of Tiago Monteiro's Jordan, and it's safe to say that we should see the Colombian on a real charge today.
As the car wait on the grid for the warm-up lap the air temperature is 24 degrees C, while the track temperature is 31 degrees. It remains overcast, with a very real threat of further rain, following the shower that hit the circuit thirty minutes ago.
As the cars head off on the warm-up lap, one cannot help but notice the swathes of empty seats in the grandstands. Is this down to Schumacher's lack of success this year, the after-effect of the United States Grand Prix, the disenchantment with the politics or have the fans simply got fed up with F1?
Button actually gets sideways as he takes his slot on the grid.
The last car slots into place, they await the lights.
Raikkonen makes a great start as does Alonso, while Michael goes very wide. Further back Sato appears to have had a moment as Montoya makes up a couple of places. Coulthard and Massa are also hot to trot.
At the end of lap one, Raikkonen leads Alonso by 1.3s with Michael in third ahead of Button and Heidfeld. Trulli and Sato both pit, the Japanese having hit the rear of Fisichella's car. Webber also pits, though his problem appears to be mechanical.
Out front it's still the same, as Massa is all over Coulthard for sixth, while Klien and Montoya - yes Montoya - are all over Fisichella for eighth.
Webber's race is over, WilliamsF1 experiencing another disastrous weekend.
On the third lap, Montoya passes Klien to take ninth, as his teammate extends his lead over Alonso to 2s. Further back, Villeneuve has had a coming together with Doornbos. Both have to pit.
After 4 laps, Michael is 2.4s down on Alonso, and 2.9s ahead of Button. Heidfeld is fifth ahead of Coulthard, Massa, Fisichella and Montoya.
Coulthard, Massa, Fisichella and Montoya are running as one, covered by around two seconds.
In the WilliamsF1 garage the crew is working on Webber's car, the Grove outfit determined to get the Australian back into the race, even if it's only to help his qualifying slot in Hungary next week.
Kimi posts a new fastest lap (15.638) as he extends his lead to 4s, while Schumacher is now 5s behind the Spaniard. Sadly, after just 8 laps the field appears to have settled into position, even Montoya seems to have 'settled' for ninth, for now.
The two leaders are lapping considerably quicker than the rest of the field, even Schumacher and Button are lapping 0.6s quicker than the rest.
Alonso ups his pace, closing to within 3.8s on lap 10. However the Finn responds with another fastest lap (15.637).
Behind Massa there's a mini traffic jam, with Fisichella, Montoya and Klien running astern of the Brazilian.
On lap 12, Raikkonen is a whole second quicker than Alonso, posting another fastest lap (15.192). Meanwhile, Webber is back in the race, albeit 10 laps down on the leaders.
Further back, Albers is running thirteenth, ahead of Karthikeyan, Monteiro, Sato, Trulli, Villeneuve, Doornbos and Webber.
At the end of lap 15, Heidfeld is the first of the front-runners to pit, as Montoya continues to follow Fisichella but making no attempt to 'have a go'.
After 17 laps, Raikkonen leads Alonso by 7.2s, with Michael almost 10s behind. Meanwhile the Stewards announce that car number 20 (Doornbos) is under investigation.
Raikkonen continues to lap almost 0.9s faster than Alonso, so much for the head-to-head we'd been promised.
The Finn is the first driver to break the 1:14s barrier, completing the nineteenth lap in just 1:14.996. At the end of the lap both Massa and Klien pit.
Next time around, Button pits as does Coulthard, this promotes Fisichella to fourth and Montoya to fifth.
Doornbos is given a ten-second stop and go penalty for refuelling and changing his tyres during the same stop.
At the end of lap 22, both Alonso and Schumacher pit. That's a big surprise as we thought the Spaniard was running heavier than the Finn. Clearly he wasn't. Elsewhere, Klien has an off at Turn 12 but is able to continue.
At the end of lap 23, Fisichella pits.
Lap 24 sees another fastest lap from Raikkonen (14.873) as he extends his lead over Alonso to 33.6s. Montoya is running third, but still has to stop, as does former teammate Ralf Schumacher who is running fourth.
At the end of lap 25 the race leader pits, 9s later he's heading back down the pitlane, emerging still leading. Ralf Schumacher also pits, which promotes his brother to fourth ahead Button and Barrichello, who has yet to stop.
Ralf emerges ahead of Fisichella, but the Italian wastes no time in reclaiming his position (7th). Elsewhere, Barrichello pits, which means that Montoya is the only driver that hasn't pitted.
That said, next time around the Colombian stops for fuel, he emerges in fifth, ahead of Fisichella.
Villeneuve has a coming together with Monteiro after the Portuguese driver appeared to notice that the Sauber driver was behind him. The former world Champion loses his front wing and consequently has to return to the pits. Monteiro also pits, as does Takuma Sato, who is having a torrid time.
After 30 laps, Raikkonen leads Alonso by 10.5s, with Michael Schumacher third, 1.7s ahead of Button. Montoya is fifth, ahead of Fisichella, Coulthard, Ralf, Heidfeld and Massa.
Raikkonen continues to force a remorseless pace, indeed he is the only driver lapping in the 1:16s, he continues to lap at least a second quicker than anyone else. Meanwhile, teammate Montoya is taking 0.4s a lap out of Button, in fact the Colombian is matching his McLaren teammate for pace.
As Raikkonen enjoys an 11.5s advantage over Alonso, Button closes to within 0.8s of Michael Schumacher. Meanwhile, Montoya continues to reel in the BAR driver. The other interesting little battles feature Heidfeld chasing Ralf Schumacher for eighth, and Klien all over Barrichello for eleventh.
Tragedy! It's all over for Kimi Raikkonen on lap 35 as his engine fails, yet again. A travesty for the Finn who walks slowly back to the pits.
Consequently, Fernando Alonso enjoys a 25.7s lead over Michael Schumacher, who is just 0.5s ahead of Button. Montoya continues to hound the BAR driver.
At Imola we saw Michael make quick work of Button, however it is unlikely that the German will be able to resist the Englishman's efforts this afternoon, the Ferrari appears to be struggling for grip.
Hard to believe, but Kimi is the only retirement thus far. As we said, tragic.
Christian Klien makes a great move on Barrichello, who appears to be concentrating on the Minardi that is up ahead. Meanwhile, the Stewards announce that they are "looking into" the incident involving Villeneuve and Monteiro.
Schumacher refuses to capitulate to Button, which allow Montoya to get within 2s. We could be in for an epic battle for second and third.
The German's right-rear tyre looks worn but still he refuses to surrender, as Montoya gets to within 0.9s of the BAR.
Fisichella is 7s behind Montoya in fourth, and 4s ahead of Coulthard, who is followed by Ralf, Massa and Klien. Meanwhile, Alonso leads by 32.3s.
As Montoya appears to ease off, Button makes a great move on Schumacher at the hairpin, the German is unable to respond.
Almost immediately, Button begins to pull away, as Montoya closes in on the Ferrari.
At th3e end of lap 46, Button pits as do Massa and Klien.
Next time around it is Alonso who pits, the Spaniard stationary for just 7.8s, before re-entering the race still leading. Coulthard also pits.
Button is running sixth behind Ralf Schumacher, who is 6.1s down on Fisichella. Out front, Montoya continues to harry Schumacher.
The German pits at the end of lap 49 and re-emerges behind Button, Barrichello also pits, from eighth, as do Fisichella and Ralf. The pit stops work well for Toyota, as Ralf leapfrogs Coulthard.
Of the leaders, Montoya has yet to make a second stop. After 51 laps the Colombian is running 16.2s behind Alonso and 18.6s ahead of Button. Michael Schumacher is 5s down on the BAR driver.
As Montoya gets held up by back-markers (Trulli and Heidfeld), the Italian attempts to turn the situation to his advantage, but fails. Unfortunately, the Italian gets a drive-through penalty for ignoring the blue flags.
As the Toyota driver comes in to serve his penalty, Sato makes his third stop of the day.
After 54 laps, Montoya is the fastest man on track, consistently lapping in the 1:15s, as he closes to within 13.9s of Alonso, but more importantly extends his lead over Button to 22s.
At the end of lap 56, the McLaren driver pits. 6.2s later he's heading back down the pitlane, emerging well ahead of Button.
With 10 laps remaining, Alonso enjoys a 30.7s lead over Juan Pablo Montoya, who is 4s ahead of Button. Michael Schumacher is a further 12s down the road, just 0.6s ahead of Fisichella, who has Ralf all over him. The podium looks to have been decided, while Michael is really going to have to battle for every point.
Coulthard is seventh, ahead of Massa, Klien, Barrichello, Heidfeld, Sato, Trulli, Albers, Villeneuve, Karthikeyan, Monteiro, Doornbos and Webber. Meanwhile, Trulli makes his sixth visit to the pits this afternoon… hope he's remembering to pick up his free gifts.
Smelling blood, Fisichella ups the pressure on Schumacher, whilst keeping an eye on his mirrors to see what Ralf is up to.
Fisichella makes a move on Schumacher, but the German is having none of it. That said, the end result appears inevitable, Michael cannot resist for much longer, surely.
As the World Champion continues to hold his rivals at bay, David Coulthard closes in to take his place at the rear of the F1 'train'.
Out front, Alonso can ease off, he still enjoys a 27s lead over Montoya, who knows that second is the best he can possibly hope for.
Fisichella makes another lunge at Michael but again the German says 'nein!'. That said, on the back straight the Italian finally gets past, the German unable to do anything about it. Elsewhere, Jarno Trulli's miserable afternoon comes to an end as he parks his Toyota.
Alonso takes a win that even he, and Renault, will admit was fortuitous, earlier this afternoon he had no answer for Raikkonen's remorseless pace. Then again, we are all aware that to finish first, first you have to finish - or is that Finnish - and perhaps Kimi pushed a little too hard.
The qualifying rules mean that thanks to his retirement, Kimi will be first out in Hungary next week, a notoriously dusty and unforgiving circuit. A double-whammy for the youngster who surely deserves better than this… his Hockenheim nightmare continues.
Alonso heads to Hungary with a 36 point advantage, and with just seven races remaining, it would be a brave man who would bet against the Spaniard taking the title. Sadly, as for Kimi, the reality is that his runner-up spot could be under threat.
Juan Pablo Montoya will, quite rightly, be pleased with his remarkable performance this afternoon. However, had it not been for yesterday's unforced error it could have been him atop the podium this afternoon, and his team might not have been able to close the gap to Renault.
After the trials and tribulations of the fuel tank saga, not to mention the ongoing drama as to who he will drive for in 2006, congratulations to Jenson button for a spirited performance this afternoon. The Englishman fully deserves his six points and the calm way in which he shadowed Michael before finally nailing him should be clear proof to the doubters that the BAR driver's 2004 performances weren't a flash in the pan.
Poor Giancarlo suffered yet more bad luck today, having been clouted at the beginning of the race. However, he drove a solid race, finally made his move on Michael, and thereby added another five points to Renault's tally.
Another disappointing day for Ferrari, and no matter how Jean Todt tries to dress it up in his post-race press conference, it is the four bits of runner on the corners of the red cars that are causing all the problems. In 2004, Michael wrapped up his seventh title here, this year he and his teammate were lucky to finish fifth and tenth.
We now head to Hungary, but as we have already said, Kimi is already handicapped due to the fact that he will be first out in qualifying. Let's all hope that he, McLaren and Mercedes can come up with something, some minor miracle, that will keep the championship alive. No disrespect to our friends at Renault, a blue-wash is little different to a red-wash, only the hue is different. What we want is a real head-to-head battle for the title. At this stage that doesn't seem likely.