Schumacher wins in Germany

Source: www.rediff.com
July 30, 2006 19:51 IST

Ferrari's Michael Schumacher blasted the Formula One title race wide open on Sunday with a commanding one-two victory in his home German Grand Prix.

While the 37-year-old celebrated the 89th victory of his incredible career, serenaded by air-horns and his jubilant army of red-shirted fans, Renault's world champion Fernando Alonso limped home fifth.

The Spaniard's overall lead was slashed from 17 points to 11, leaving his championship hopes on a knife-edge with six races remaining.

Schumacher, in what some fear could be his final race appearance in Germany, took the lead after 10 laps when McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen pitted and the rest was straightforward.

On a blazingly hot afternoon in southern Germany, Schumacher and Brazilian team mate Felipe Massa were in a race of their own as they anchored the team's second one-two finish in three starts and tyre partner Bridgestone's 100th grand prix success.

They crossed the line in close formation, just 0.7 seconds apart. Raikkonen, who had started on pole, was out of sight in third place and 13.2 seconds behind.

Briton Jenson Button was fourth for Honda, ending a run of five races without points.

Alonso, who had qualified a disappointing seventh on his 25th birthday, made up two places at the start but then faded and was never in contention for the second race in a row.

The Spaniard, who now has 100 points, would have been staring at his worst result in almost a year had Australian Mark Webber, wrestling every scrap of performance from his Williams, not retired eight laps from the finish while running ahead of him.

Alonso also survived a big scare five laps from the end when he went wide, the car bucking and jumping over the gravel before he regained the track just in front of Italian team mate Giancarlo Fisichella.

Fisichella finished sixth, with Toyota's Italian Jarno Trulli seventh and Austrian Christian Klien taking the final point for Red Bull.

Germany's Nico Rosberg failed to get past the first lap, crashing into the tyre wall, while Canadian Jacques Villeneuve also had a crash in the BMW Sauber.

France boosts Schumacher's title hopes

Source: www.rediff.com

Even if the odds are still against him, Michael Schumacher believes he can turn his record eighth French Grand Prix win into an eighth Formula One championship.

The Ferrari driver's dominant victory at Magny-Cours on Sunday -- with the pole position and fastest race lap on his way to a 150th career podium finish -- only fuelled that confidence.

"We have clearly made up ground and we have to keep on working at that pace and for sure everybody will just keep pushing for the last seven races," said the first driver to win the same Grand Prix eight times.

"It's far from being over."

Yet the 37-year-old German also knows that his young Brazilian team mate Felipe Massa, who started on the front row on Sunday for the second weekend in succession, can make or break those dreams.

While Massa's third place helped Ferrari's constructors' championship hopes, Schumacher needs him to do more -- to drive a wedge between him and his Renault rival.

Unless Alonso makes a major error, about as likely as a Honda victory this season, the balance of power remains with the 24-year-old Spaniard who has a comfortable lead of 17 points.

With seven races remaining, Alonso needs to�finish only second in every race to retain the title even if Schumacher wins one after the other.

It has been more than a year since the Renault driver retired from a race and nearly that long since he last failed to score points.

In 11 races, Alonso has won six and finished second four times. He fully expects to be winning again soon, possibly in Schumacher's Hockenheim home race next week.

CRUSHING RESPONSE

France was Schumacher's second win in a row, and 88th of his career. The last time he had back-to-back victories, at Imola and the Nuerburgring in April and May, Alonso's response was instant and crushing.

The Spaniard made a pointed reference to that on Sunday.

"I think Indianapolis was a strange race...from the tyres and the difficulties we had last year," he said, casting his mind back to the race before Magny-Cours.

"Maybe we were too conservative or whatever. I think here we were close but not quick enough.

"It's the same as Nuerburgring and Imola but at that point Ferrari seemed to have more development than anybody else and everybody thought that they would win all the races," he added.

"And then we won four consecutive races and hopefully this will happen again from the next race on."

A victory in Hockenheim would be sweet revenge for Ferrari's win in Renault's backyard.

The hope is that Germany also throws up a more entertaining battle than Sunday's largely processional offering at Magny-Cours.

Anyone who watched Sunday's MotoGP at the Sachsenring, with Valentino Rossi leading a thrilling four-way battle to the finish, would welcome that.