German Grand Prix Review

Ferrari's simply superior domination of the German GP weekend was spellbinding. It was not just the handling and balance of the 248 chassis, but also the Bridgestones in the hotter temperatures. Once Kimi Raikkonen removed himself from the real battle for the lead thanks to his fuel strategy, the Ferraris were able to build a full pit-stop's worth of lead even when they didn't need to. They cruised and crushed at the same time; they could have lapped most of the field if they wanted to.

It was a clinical example of a perfect weekend from start to finish, getting the job done and walking away with maximum points while the rest floundered. It completed a seismic shift from, say, Monaco and Canada, when it was Renault doing the dominating and everyone else doing the floundering. Even Felipe Massa matched Michael's pace and made no mistakes, playing the perfect rear-gunner role even though there was no threat from behind to speak of.

Schumi has taken 14 points off Alonso lead in 3 races. The heat of Hungary and Turkey, the midsummer testing ban and the tifosi atmosphere of Monza should all be in Ferrari's favour, although the three flyaways at the end are harder to call - especially China, where Michael's record is abysmal. Schumi has never come back from a sizable car and points disadvantage to seize the title, having failed to do so in 1997 and 1998. He has the momentum to pull it off this year, and if he does it will be his greatest title yet.

The momentum has swung so much that things are simply not going right for Renault right now. For start, it is obvious that Michelin has been shown up by Bridgestone in the last three races in warmer temperatures. At Hockenheim the R26s were blistering their rear tyres, and Flavio Briatore made a point of seeking out Michelin's Nick Shorrock straight after the race. This has always been a risk that came with Michelin pulling out at the end of the year. How willing will they be to throw everything into these last 6 races?

Then there was the controversial Renault mass damper system, that was banned by the FIA, allowed by the stewards, appealed against by the FIA, and finally withdrawn by the team - although Renault look like running the gauntlet and putting the system back onto the cars for Hungary. It's interesting how no one has yet suggested that this is another FIA pro-Ferrari conspiracy; probably because there are no grounds for saying that, when Renault ran the system at Indy and Magny-Cours and got soundly beaten anyway.

And then there has been two languid drives by Alonso at Indy and now here. If Indy was average, this was worse. Having shown more than enough times that he is miles better than Fisichella, who has now finished all 11 races since Bahrain in the points but 8 of those off the podium, and who put in another average performance over the German GP weekend, Fernando struggled to match and beat Fisi and looked uncomfortable driving an unhappy car.

Gathering points whilst driving at 95% capacity may have been enough, and even the smart thing to do, last year when McLaren took one step back for every two steps forward, but in Ferrari and Schumacher Alonso has a far more formidable opponent. His season may be running out of gas at a critical moment. It shouldn't have come to this, but will his defection to McLaren next year come back to bite? For his hapless showing with the championship at stake, Alonso receives the 'Reject of the Race' award this time.

McLaren ended up being the best Michelin team at Hockenheim. The effort in getting Raikkonen to 3rd by race end was by no means faultless, though. They didn't put enough fuel into his car for the third part of qualifying, such that he took a fortuitous pole and pitted way early after only 9 laps of unindicative glory up front, there was another bungled tyre stop as in Canada, and they erred but being the only major contender on three stops when they were sucked into thinking that others were as well.

Still, they had heeded Norbert Haug's call for McLaren to stop playing it conservative in qualifying, and the more aggressive approach reaped rewards. Without the delay at the first stop Raikkonen would have easily secured 3rd, but as it was the Finn was left to put a fine passing move on Jenson Button near the end, muscling past and catching the Briton unawares. If Kimi can continue to mix it with the Ferraris and Renaults, he could turn out to be an unwitting player in the outcome of this year's championship.

Honda proved to be another spoiler in the ranks. For the first time in a long time, not only did they have the qualifying pace but also the ability to sustain it throughout the race. Button started and finished 4th on what is traditionally a strong track for him, and although he lost out to Raikkonen his position was never in doubt, after he undid his poor start by making two barnstorming moves on the two Renaults. It was simply his strongest race of the year since Malaysia.

But it had not been a perfect Honda performance by any means, with poor starts affecting both Button and Rubens Barrichello, and Rubinho's race once again ending early because of engine problems, showing that there is still a way to go before Honda can live up to their own big-talking promises. But whereas Barrichello's run was ended early, an engine malaise also sidelined the undoubted star of the race (besides the Ferraris), who could have caused more grief to the team run by his own manager.

Having just missed Q3, with Williams preferring to concentrate on race set-up rather than qualifying pace, Webber was simply stunning on Sunday. A brilliant first lap (he is making a habit of being a first lap opportunist) was followed by the longest first and second stints of the frontrunners, as Mark pushed hard all the way and got himself right into the mix of the battle for 3rd with Raikkonen and Button. His race also included a bold move inside Fisichella mid-race. Who says he can't pass?

REJECT OF THE RACE
Fernando Alonso
Is Fernando seeing things slipping away?

Either Webber stays with Williams and gets the reliable and powerful Toyota engines for next year, or Raikkonen goes to Ferrari and leaves the Renault position open, in which case they could do a lot worse than to poach the Australian. He just has to keep doing his best even if his team's performances keep going downhill. It's now 7 races without a point for Sir Frank's men, and Nico Rosberg made another rather pathetic rookie error as his Bahrain debut heroics slip further from the memory.

Just to hammer home the Bridgestone advantage at Hockenheim, Toyota were also in the running for points, and claimed 4th and 5th in the fastest laps. Trulli put in a terrific drive of his own to claim 7th right on the tail of the two Renaults, having had his engine changed and being forced to start from the back of the grid. Despite a poor run with technical problems this year, his confidence continues to rise, and especially because his deal to drive for Toyota until the end of 2009 has now been announced.

Jarno is also confirming the ascendancy over Ralf Schumacher that he has regained after three-quarters of a year. As he has always done during the course of his career, Ralf will put in some brilliant races, and then frustrate with his ineptitude in others. This was sadly an example of the latter. He had that silly tangle with de la Rosa in Q3, and then another unnecessary collision with David Coulthard at the same place on lap 1, which undid his top-10 grid position.

However, the Austrian will need another six of those performances in order to reverse the most likely decision for next year, which at this stage will see him moved aside as Coulthard's team-mate. DC is the more proven performer, of that there can be no dispute, but this hasn't been a vintage season from the Scot like last year had been. His efforts over the whole weekend were generally OK at best and slightly disappointing at worst. He proved ineffective in the race, especially after that assault from Ralf on lap 1.

Coulthard even lost out in the end to Vitantonio Liuzzi's Toro Rosso, the Italian bling-king responding impressively to the recent form of his team-mate Scott Speed, and mixing it with the Toyotas and the Red Bulls where arguably his year-old package ought not to be. This on a weekend when Speed went back to blotting his copybook again, thanks to his crash in Q1 and another off-track moment on race day. This is the trouble with these two - they just aren't consistent enough to both be on song in the same race.

The BMWs might also have been in the midfield battle, but their first German GP as a works manufacturer turned into a disaster. There is probably some truth, though, to their claim that the FIA's recent decisions, forcing them to change their allegedly-flexing rear wings and banning their ugly twin-tower nose wings, have affected them adversely. Neither Nick Heidfeld or Jacques Villeneuve were really near the pace, and both then got caught up in the first lap dodgems.

Although the Midlands were both disqualified post-race for flexing wings of their own, Christijan Albers in particular showed his appetite for a dice during the race and is really getting the upper hand over Tiago Monteiro. Again, compared to the ever-improving speed and maturity we saw last year, all we're getting from the '06 Monteiro is someone regularly outpaced by the increasingly-creditable Albers, and here he got a drive-through for ignoring blue flags. A real 'Reject of the Year' candidate right now.

The MF1s might also soon be coming under increasing threat from Super Aguri. The new SA06, with its somewhat annoying colour scheme that makes them look like Toyotas, got within range of the Midlands' lap times, despite virtually no running for the new challenger pre-race. Like at Indianpolis, Takuma Sato managed to beat more than just his team-mate in qualifying, and when the team extracts more of the potential from the new car he could prove a real nuisance amongst the MF1s and the Toro Rossos.

Sakon Yamamoto finally made his race debut, and even though he has enough runs on the board in Friday practices to suggest that he is a far better proposition than Yuji Ide, it was a very troubled first effort. He had numerous offs and other technical difficulties in his SA06, was forced to qualify in an SA05, started late from the pit lane, and only completed one slow lap before being forced into retirement by a broken halfshaft. He'll just have to forget this weekend and treat Hungary as his proper race debut!