European Grand Prix Review

Because of the effect of the rain, it was hard to gauge anything about relative performance from qualifying or the race, but, in a trend that's becoming repetitive, 6th to 16th on the grid were covered by a second. Which is why I thought it was more than a bit rich for Sir Frank Williams to criticise Jenson Button for qualifying 11th. If Jenson had gone 0.3s faster (As Williams had hoped for), he would have been 5th, and in front of Ralf Schumacher. But perhaps (and with new sponsors Allianz on board, too) he was looking for an extra special weekend for BMW.

On the other hand, I felt desperately sorry for Nick Heidfeld. He's struggled all year with a recalcitrant car, and this was probably the only chance he'll get this year to qualify as high as 13th. For the meticulous Alain Prost's team to have a car underweight by 2 kg (light years in a sport measured by milliseconds and millimetres) was cringe-worthy. It appears the Prost year is going from bad to worse; the wet evens the field out a little, but that doesn't help if your car doesn't make the grid.

Rubens Barrichello failed to shine again. I don't know why he was put on the strategy he was on. It seemed like a mistake on two counts. (1) He was behind to start with, so a 3-stopper was just madness. (2) He was late in for wets, to the point where Schumi, who had already made his stop, in one lap on wets had caught to within a corner or two of Rubens. These tactics cost him 3rd place, undoubtedly. Rubens himself said after the race:

"The race strategy was a disaster, something that almost never happens in Ferrari, but this time we made a mistake."

He says he's not worried about the 18 point gap in the championship - and there's no real reason he should be given the fact that there are still 11 races to go. But this time, he was comprehensively outdriven by his major opponent, and that should be of some concern. And before I forget, how Mika can say that start was not the best of his career is beyond me.

David Coulthard wasn't great in the rain, but he was dropping back in the early laps anyway. I can't really explain it, and I doubt he can either, but still I feel positive vibes around the Scotsman. This time, though, it was not to be - why he was off the pace of, and yielded so easily to the teammate he claims to be on par with is a question best left unasked. But this was a one-off; when he gets back to full health, I do believe he will show us that he has finally worked out how to be Hakkinen's equal consistently. Trouble is, a certain Ferrari driver might be too far in front by then.

He could learn from his team-mate Pedro de la Rosa, whom I thought was the man of the race without question. To run 3rd and finish 6th under great pressure from the conditions and the names around him was testimony to his mature approach and sensible car control.

Just when I thought Jordan had overcome their reliability problems, they do this to me! Both cars gone by lap 3, and now I honestly think they face an uphill battle to finish in the top 4 in the manufacturers' title. It is fascinating to see how far Jordan has fallen from the heights of last year. It seemed they were on the cusp of taking over the mantle as one of the "top teams". But it is clear they are still one or two steps behind the Ferrari, McLaren and Williams trio. An improved performance, though, from Jarno Trulli, was destroyed by an imprudent and lucky Giancarlo Fisichella, who got away a touch too quickly off the grid for his own (and especially Trulli's) good.

Williams had an off race on a track where I thought they would excel. Ralf was taken out in unfortunate circumstances (see below), and he was absolutely marvellous as the track was getting more and more wet. The ability to manhandle a car on dry tyres in the wet seems to run in the family. But in the early laps he didn't look like a threat at all. Button can be excused for not figuring too prominently in the rain, given his inexperience, but there were moments when I thought he showed a real racer's instinct. Johnny Herbert says he felt he taught a few things to Jenson during the race, and wet race experience can't hurt.

Sauber had a shocker. Pedro Diniz quite understandably looked like he didn't want to race here again after his terrifying rollover last year, while Mika Salo was just off the boil. The way he went off looked a touch amateurish to me. To get anywhere in F1, Sauber just can't afford to have weekends where they look as though they've been forced to show up.

Jean Alesi is, along with Schumacher, the rain king. That he couldn't make anything of the conditions in his Prost reflects very poorly on the quality of the car. 2000 is a nightmare for Prost that will seem interminably long. With no Mercedes engines for 2001, Alain can see no light at the end of the tunnel, and neither can I, frankly.

Eddie Irvine was too committed to avoid tangling with Verstappen, and he was very unlucky not to be missed by Ralf Schumacher's spinning Williams. I don't know if Johnny Herbert could have given Wurz more space in their clash, but really Johnny doesn't look like improving much. While Wurz might have given himself more time, Johnny's days are numbered, I'm afraid.

Minardi were slow, as usual, and I don't have to tell you why that is. Although it was amusing to see Marc Gene on wets catching Schumi's Ferrari on slicks, hand over fist. One up for Minardi strategy over Ferrari's!! Good job from Gaston Mazzacane too for simply staying on the road. But 2000 really does look barren and bleak for the Faenza team, and the worst thing is that it's not their fault.

So we move on now to the Monaco, the place where Schumacher in the past has been alternately invincible, or suffering from severe mental lapses. One senses that the onus will be on him rather than Hakkinen to either achieve, or underachieve. Given Monaco's no overtaking rule, it looks once more that we'll see the top 4 in the top 4 places; all this does, of course, is make the title battle a little closer. Monaco is the home of glitz and glamour and all that makes F1 so special - but racing wise it will boil down to just 2 concerns: pole position, and pit stops.