German Grand Prix Review

It is becoming so repetitive to see McLaren fail to chain an entire trouble-free weekend together. Yes, Raikkonen had the race comfortably won at half distance, but for the third weekend in succession his McLaren struck problems. One wonders if his driving style is anything to do with the constant spate of engine and hydraulics problems he suffers. He has set the fastest race lap in the last four races, and he can be considered desperately unlucky, but to finish first, first he and his car have to finish. Simple as that.

Likewise, it was a truly brilliant drive from Juan-Pablo Montoya, making use of the inherent speed advantage McLaren had over Renault this weekend. From the back of the grid to 2nd place through sheer aggressive driving and quick laps when it mattered was JPM near his best. But why did he start from the back? Because of his spin on the final corner of his qualifying lap. To finish on the first row of the grid, first he has to finish his qualifying lap.

In all honesty, with a 36-point gap for Kimi to bridge in seven races (that's over five points per race, i.e. Kimi winning with Alonso 5th or worse in every race), Tom Cruise in Ray-bans might as well enter, stage right. It's mission impossible. Especially when Fernando has finished no worse than 4th this year when he's made the flag. Of more interest will be McLaren's new livery for Saturday and Sunday in Hungary, when they switch to Johnnie Walker branding once the EU's ban on tobacco advertising kicks in!

Alonso was the fastest man who finished the race, and as such he deserved to win it. It matters not that he has probably not had the fastest package on the track since Imola. He's 36 points clear for a reason. He's driven consistently and fast; he's pushed his R25 as much and as well as Raikkonen has pushed his MP4/20. If Giancarlo Fisichella is a good gauge of how the Renault can averagely expect to fare, then Alonso's results and driving this year has been nothing short of Schumacher-esque.

No World Champion has ever been undeserving, but several have won the title despite not having the fastest car. In 1958, Mike Hawthorn with only one win beat Stirling Moss with four. In 1982, Keke Rosberg won on consistency when Ferrari and McLaren had the best of pace. In 1986 Alain Prost snuck home when Williams self-disintegrated. Arguably, Ayrton Senna didn't have as much speed as Nigel Mansell's Williams in 1991. And of course, sheer Schumi brilliance trounced the faster Williams in 1995.

Fisichella's recovery to 4th after being clouted by Takuma Sato on the wild first lap was admirable, but his dice with Schumi in the latter stages raised questions about his racing ability. We all know he can be ultra-smooth, ultra-stylish and ultra-quick. But some of his jabs and stabs at the Ferrari, in places where it was suicide to stick his nosecone in, were really amateurish. Even Jenson Button, by no means a great racer himself (as opposed to 'driver'), got the job on Michael almost done in one.

Despite a mediocre start, his move on Michael Schumacher at the hairpin was very good, clean and clinical, and he managed to hold the position comfortably even though he would pit for his second stop earlier than the Ferrari. But it was more disappointment for Takuma Sato, who still is yet to open his 2005 account. He spoilt his strategy by being involved in several of the first lap shenanigans. On his current early-2004 style fast-but-untamed form, was that any surprise?

Although Michael finished 5th, Ferrari and Bridgestone were just not competitive. On softer rubber, Schumi had decent pace over one lap, but by the end of the race he was struggling for grip and we beheld the unusual sight of seeing him fall into others' clutches, and being comparatively helpless against Button and Fisichella. Had Giancarlo been more efficient in getting past the Ferrari, then perhaps Ralf would have successfully attacked his brother as well (subject to Ralf's willingness to do so, of course!).

On harder tyres, Rubens Barrichello endured serious embarrassment. Though he did make a conscious decision to sacrifice qualifying speed for race pace, from the second free practice session on Friday he was never higher than 14th quickest, and his lowly grid position of 15th put him on the same row as a Minardi (even if he was 1.3s faster). That in itself was enough to earn him 'Reject of the Race'. One would be hard-pressed to recall when was the last time a Ferrari started alongside a Minardi on genuine pace.

Toyota's form proved to be the opposite of what it had been in recent times. Their single-lap speed in qualifying was less-than-brilliant, but their race pace and strategy, their major bugbear in the last few events, was fine, especially in Ralf's case, allowing him to finish 6th on home soil. For once it was he who had the better race, even though Jarno Trulli had outshone him in qualifying again, whereas the Italian was left floundering after being caught up in the first lap incidents and an unscheduled stop.

Add a drive-through penalty for inadvertently disobeying blue flags whilst in a scrap with Heidfeld, and a late and rare engine failure, and it was a race to forget for Jarno. For him the dizzying heights of Malaysia and Bahrain and running 2nd in the standings are not fast becoming a distant memory as he slips down the table. In truth though, despite Ralf's creditable result, Toyota's main competition this weekend had been with Red Bull, Sauber and Williams, and that would not be pleasing to the bigwigs in Tokyo.

After a mid-season in which they had possibly dropped to the bottom of midfield, it was an impressive return to form for Red Bull, on the back of their not-unexpected decision to join Ferrari in signing the Concorde Agreement for 2008 and beyond. That they have been able to react to other teams' improvements and keep up the developmental pace, despite their comparative lack of budget, is a credit to them, and 7th and 9th places by race's end was just reward.

REJECT OF THE RACE
Rubens Barrichello
Battled all weekend in and around Minardiville

It was another stellar performance from Felipe Massa, whose mid-season has been quite excellent. It was rewarded with a point for 8th in a race where seven constructors scored points, and when Sauber really weren't at their best. From 13th on the grid, Massa has made climbing up through the field something of a specialty, even in races of low attrition. He has done so especially by staying quick and trouble-free, something which has been his weakness in the past.

Villeneuve's late-braking style can get him into trouble at the best of times, but he was really in the wars here. Not only did he and Barrichello touch on lap one, dropping him to the back, but then he also rear-ended both Robert Doornbos and Tiago Monteiro. Neither incident was his fault though. In Doornbos' case it was a rookie braking a bit too early, whereas Monteiro chopped viciously across the Sauber's bows. At any rate, it all added to the Canadian's compounding misery for season 2005.

That we refer to Williams 8th out of the 10 teams says it all. Apart from Jordan and Minardi, they were the only team not to score. Their lack of pace in recent weeks has been staggering, and though there was a slight upturn on the Saturday, one suspects it had more to do with running on the smell of an oily rag. The fact that Heidfeld fell to a lapped 11th gave the game away. His margin to Alonso in qualifying was less than 1 second. Come race day, on more comparative fuel loads, the gap was much larger.

It is questionable if he could have remained in the points had he not been delayed. His start was once again average, and Heidfeld's pace suggests he would have been hard-pressed to hold off the Red Bulls and Saubers. Williams' current uncertainty over their 2006 engine supplier must be galling to him, so too the fact that Coulthard, essentially driving for Mark's old team, is only 3 points behind and almost as competitive, if not more so, than his current employers.

Even if Williams do have to work out a way of applying wind-tunnel figures to real life situations and making new aero parts work as soon as they are fitted - it seems like a hit-and-miss thing at the moment - BMW simply must take some of the blame. The Williams have been consistently slow in speed traps, and surely not all that has to do with the fact the cars are running more wing. The reputedly high-revving, powerful Cosworth V8 does sound like an attractive proposition.

Minardi had what, in effect, was a very good weekend, in which they out-gunned Jordan, not for the first time this year. Using his experience of the track from his DTM days, Christijan Albers qualified 16th and took advantage of others' misfortunes to finish a fine 13th. A fellow Dutchman in Doornbos of course joined him in the team, making it the first time there have been two Dutch drivers in the same team since the 1962, when Carel Godin de Beaufort and Ben Pon drove the Ecurie Maarsbergen Porsches.

Again for Jordan there was not much to aim for in a race of such low attrition. They brought Nicolas Kiesa back into the action as third driver, incidentally at the same place as where the Dane had made his F1 debut with Minardi two years ago. In those races in 2003 Kiesa had proven himself reliable enough but not particularly quick, and in the 18 months since he does not seem to have had regular motorsport action, let alone in F1. It showed, as Nicolas struggled with fitness in the Friday practice sessions.

Narain Karthikeyan continued his habit of over-driving at critical moments, in this case on his qualifying lap, even if the Jordan EJ15 is a dog. The early-season speed that marked him out as a man to watch has been outweighed by his tendency to lose control, especially in the face of team-mate Monteiro's continuing perfect finishing record, plus the fact that the Portuguese driver is now regularly matching and sometimes beating the Indian for speed. Even if Tiago's chop on Villeneuve was, it has to be said, pretty daft.

Although it was a better racing spectacle at Hockenheim than it had been at Magny-Cours or Silverstone, there was still a comparative lack of action, which does not bode well for this coming weekend's round at the Hungaroring. Or should that be the Hungasnoring? Two years ago, Alonso took his maiden victory there, with Raikkonen second in the youngest podium on F1 history. Now they head to Budapest in battle for the title, though nothing it seems can shake Fernando's vice-like grip on it.