Bharath Kumar

Michael Schumacher won the 67 lap action packed German Grand prix infront of his home crowd and enliven the 2006 Drivers’ Championship. Team mate Massa is right behind him in well deserved second place. Kimi Raikkonen comes home third for McLaren with Jenson Button fourth in the much improved Honda. Most importantly Alonso is down in fifth which makes the Championship very interesting. Now Alonso got 100 points to Schumi’s 89 in Drivers Championship. With testing ban for everyone for another 2 races and the way Ferrari dominated the weekend, it looks like Renault is in deep trouble. I hope Schumi cuts down the remaining 11 points deficit in the comming two races in Hungary and Turkey.

Into turn one Raikkonen held on to the lead from Schumacher and Massa but both the Renaults passed Button in to the first corner. Button overtakes both the Renaults in the next lap anyways suggesting how the Renaults are suffering. On the whole it was an exciting first lap with lot of incidents. The heavily light Raikkonen led the first 10 laps untill he pitted from the lead on lap10 handing over the lead to the Ferrari’s. Raikkonen pitstop dropped him to 8th place and it looked like its almost Ferrari’s race at that point. Alonso kept struggling for pace as Fisi keeps pulling off and Webber closing on him. In the next couple of laps it was Barrichello who put pressure on Alonso. Massa pitted on lap 19th for Ferrari and on the next lap Schumacher pitted and rejoins ahead of Massa. Alonso pitted in the next lap and rejoined in 9th place. By lap 28 the lead over third place Mark Webber was 21.1 seconds but Webber hasn’t pitted yet. that shows how dominant Ferrari is at the front.

Raikkonen made his second stop on lap 29 and rejoined in seventh, behind Alonso. By lap 30 the 10th placed Ralf Schumacher was already one lap down which shows how impressive the pace of Ferrari is. It looked like by the end of race Ferrari will lap everyone on the track. On lap 34 Button looked like he is secure in third but he is 29 seconds behind second placed massa. At this point it looked like its almost Ferrari’s race to loose. On lap 44 Alonso pits from 4th place and Massa pits from second place in the next lap. Ferrari looks safe for first and second bt the big question at this point remains who holds on to the final podium position. Button, Webber, Alonso, Fisichella all looked to be in with a chance. Schumi pitted on lap 45 and retakes the lead. By lap 54 Kimi looked to be the one for final podium position. On lap 55 Kimi made a late dash in to the pits and joins behind Button, who is in 3rd position. But on lap 58 Raikkonen was alongside Button and touch each other as Raikkonen takes the place. Alonso survived a dramatic off track excursion, but stays ahead of Fisichella, who struggled for pace as well. By lap 62 Trulli was right on the tails of both Renaults and looked like going to spoil Renaults already poor race but the positions remain same till the end of the race.

Alonso puts in his fastest lap of the race on the penultimate lap of the race. I have to mention here how Alonso made fun of Ferrari and Schumi in Monaco’s press conference when they were asked about Schumi’s fastest lap of the race in the final laps. Well atleast Schumi made fastest lap of the race but stupid, arrogant Alonso just made his fastest lap here.

Finally Schumacher crossed the line to take victory in front of his home crowd and most importantly cut Alonso’s lead by 6 points in the Driver’s Championship. With Massa securing the second place Ferrari also cut down the Renaults lead in Constructors Championship. Ferrari are just 10 points behind Renault in constructors and Schumi just 11 points behind Alonso with 60 more points available in the remaining 6 races of the season. On the whole dominant Ferrari crushed all their opponents ruthlesly in German Grand Prix at Hockenheim. Come back for the next review of Hungary Grand Prix next weekend.#.