Rediscover Formula One : Formula One News, Views and Reviews

1       Michael Schumacher      Ferrari       1:19.882

2      Juan Pablo Montoya      McLaren-Mercedes       1:20.779

3      Jarno Trulli      Toyota      1:20.839

4       Kimi Räikkönen      McLaren-Mercedes       1:20.891

5       Ralf Schumacher      Toyota       1:20.964

6       Fernando Alonso      Renault       1:21.141

7       Rubens Barrichello      Ferrari       1:21.158

8       Jenson Button      BAR-Honda       1:21.302

9      Giancarlo Fisichella      Renault       1:21.333

10       Takuma Sato      BAR-Honda       1:21.787

11       Christian Klien      Red Bull Racing       1:21.937

12       Nick Heidfeld      Williams-BMW       1:22.086

13       David Coulthard      Red Bull Racing       1:22.279

14       Felipe Massa      Sauber-Petronas       1:22.565

15       Jacques Villeneuve      Sauber-Petronas       1:22.866

16       Mark Webber      Williams-BMW       1:23.495

17      Christijan Albers      Minardi-Cosworth       1:24.443

18       Narain Karthikeyan      Jordan-Toyota       1:25.057

19       Robert Doornbos      Minardi-Cosworth       1:25.484

20       Tiago Monteiro      Jordan-Toyota      No - Time

Kimi Raikkonen's title hopes have all but vanished after he retired from the lead of the German Grand Prix, handing victory to rival Fernando Alonso.

The McLaren driver led from the start and had the race under control when he suffered hydraulics failure on lap 35.

Alonso's Renault now has a daunting 36-point lead with eight races to go.

Juan Pablo Montoya gave McLaren scant consolation by finishing second after starting from the back of the grid, with BAR's Jenson Button taking third.

Button, who started second, was passed by Alonso and Michael Schumacher's Ferrari at the start and the world champion held on ahead of the Englishman until after the first pit stops.

But Schumacher's grid position was the result of him choosing soft tyres in an attempt to provide extra grip, and these began to wear at the rear.

That allowed Button to close, and he passed the Ferrari on lap 45 in an impressive move down the inside of the hairpin at Turn 4.

Button had to pit for fuel at the end of the next lap, but he made up enough ground to be ahead when Schumacher emerged from the pits after his final stop on lap 49.

Schumacher's fading grip allowed Renault driver Giancarlo Fisichella and Toyota's Ralf Schumacher to close up on the Ferrari.

Raikkonen led from the start only for his engine to fail

Fisichella passed Michael Schumacher into Turn 4 on the last lap, but Schumacher was able to fend off his younger brother and hold on to finish fifth.

Red Bull driver David Coulthard and Sauber's Felipe Massa took the final points position.

Raikkonen was in total control of the race, and streaked away into a comfotable lead after fending off a brief challenge from Alonso on the run to the first corner.

With Alonso in an equally comfortable second place, Raikkonen was on course to close on the Spaniard in the championship before his car ground to a halt. He left the track without speaking to the media.

Montoya's progress from the back of the field was the highlight of the race.

His pace underlined that McLaren have the fastest car in F1, but the team are throwing away Raikkonen's title chances through poor reliability.

Montoya was up to 11th after a brilliant first lap, and passed Toyota's Ralf Schumacher and Red Bull's Christian Klien to move up to ninth for the rest of the first stint.

A late first pit stop for fuel leapfrogged the McLaren up to fifth, whereupon he set about reducing the gap to Schumacher and Button ahead of him.

Lapping much faster than them, he made it a three-car battle for third place well before their second stops.

He stopped several laps later than both, and comfortably made up the time he needed to rejoin well ahead of Button to crown a superb drive.

Montoya was too far behind to do anything about Alonso ahead of him.

---

German Grand Prix result:

1 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault one hour 26 minutes 28.599 seconds
2 Juan Pablo Montoya (Col) McLaren-Mercedes +22.569secs
3 Jenson Button (GB) BAR-Honda 24.422
4 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Renault 50.587
5 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari 51.690
6 Ralf Schumacher (Ger) Toyota 52.242
7 David Coulthard (GB) Red Bull-Cosworth 52.700
8 Felipe Massa (Brz) Sauber-Petronas 56.570
9 Christian Klien (Aut) Red Bull-Cosworth 1:09.818
10 Rubens Barrichello (Brz) Ferrari 1 lap
11 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) Williams-BMW 1 lap
12 Takuma Sato (Jpn) BAR-Honda 1 lap
13 Christijan Albers (Neds) Minardi-Cosworth 2 laps
14 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 3 laps
15 Jacques Villeneuve (Can) Sauber-Petronas 3 laps
16 Narain Karthikeyan (Ind) Jordan-Toyota 3 laps
17 Tiago Monteiro (Por) Jordan-Toyota 3 laps
18 Robert Doornbos (Ned) Minardi-Cosworth 4 laps
NC Mark Webber (Aus) Williams-BMW 12 laps
R Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) McLaren-Mercedes 32 laps

1.Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) McLaren-Mercedes 1:14.320
2 Jenson Button (GB) BAR-Honda 1:14.759
3 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 1:14.904
4 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Renault 1:14.927
5 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari 1:15.006
6 Mark Webber (Aus) Williams-BMW 1:15.070
7 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) Williams-BMW 1:15.403
8 Takuma Sato (Jpn) BAR-Honda 1:15.501
9 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 1:15.532
10 Christian Klien (Aut) Red Bull 1:15.635
11 David Coulthard (GB) Red Bull 1:15.679
12 Ralf Schumacher (Ger) Toyota 1:15.689
13 Felipe Massa (Brz) Sauber-Petronas 1:16.009
14 Jacques Villeneuve (Can) Sauber-Petronas 1:16.012
15 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Ferrari 1:16.230
16 Christijan Albers (Ned) Minardi-Cosworth 1:17.519
17 Robert Doornbos (Ned) Minardi-Cosworth 1:18.313
18 Tiago Monteiro (Por) Jordan-Toyota 1:18.599
19 Juan Pablo Montoya (Col) McLaren-Mercedes no time
20 Narain Karthikeyan (Ind) Jordan-Toyota no time

The blog will be updated more often

Juan Pablo Montoya won his first race for McLaren after a tense duel with Renault's Fernando Alonso at the British Grand Prix.

Montoya, who started third, took the lead from Alonso with a brave move into the Maggotts corner on the first lap.

The Colombian led throughout. Alonso made both of his pit stops later but narrowly failed to beat the McLaren.

McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen started 12th but took third from Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella's and BAR's Jenson Button.

Michael Schumacher was sixth after an uncompetitive race for Ferrari, heading team-mate Rubens Barrichello and the Toyota of Ralf Schumacher.

Raikkonen, who was demoted 10 places on the grid as a penalty for changing his engine, slipped to 26 points behind Spaniard Alonso in the world championship battle with eight races to go.

The Finn drove an impressive race using slightly later pit stops than all his rivals to capitalise on the pace of his McLaren.

The team did a good strategy and Fernando got some traffic and that was enough

Juan Pablo Montoya
More Montoya reaction
Raikkonen made up three places at the start, including passing Jacques Villeneuve and Ralf Schumacher three abreast at the 160mph first corner.

But his chances of challenging for the lead were lost when he was held up behind Toyota's Jarno Trulli and Michael Schumacher's Ferrari throughout first stint.

Once on a clear track after his first pit stop, Raikkonen was the fastest driver on the track and made up a 13-second deficit to Button in as many laps.

He passed the BAR when Button made his final pit stop on lap 43, but was too far behind to make any impression on Montoya and Alonso ahead of him, despite setting fastest lap on the final tour of the race.

Raikkonen's team-mate Montoya was under constant pressure from Alonso, who spent the closing laps just a second behind the Colombian.

Montoya deserved the win today, if only to prove everyone wrong, but he really must become more consistent

Alonso had been 7.1 seconds behind Montoya when the Colombian made his final stop on lap 44.

But Alonso stayed out five laps longer, enabling him to close the gap.

Crucially, the Renault driver was held up by Toyota's Jarno Trulli while lapping him, costing him the best part of two seconds.

That may well have been enough to prevent him taking the lead as he rejoined the track; instead, Montoya flashed past as the Renault rejoined the track.

Montoya said: "I had a good start and I knew Fernando was not able to risk too much and I was willing to risk more on that first lap.

I lost three seconds with Jarno but it was not his fault

Fernando Alonso on Jarno Trulli

"The team did a good strategy and called me in a lap early for my final stop and Fernando got some traffic as expected and that was enough."

Alonso refused to blame his former team-mate Trulli for holding him up.

"The (warning) blue flags (for slower cars) didn't work at all. I lost three seconds I think with Jarno but it was not his fault because there were no blue flags and he probably didn't know I was fighting for the victory."

Fisichella was also in the battle for the lead until his final stop, when Renault brought him in early.

Renault engineering chief Pat Symonds revealed after the race:" The team had to bring Fisichella in that point because we had given him less fuel than Alonso on his first stop."

But that turned out to be immaterial when Fisichella stalled leaving the pits, losing the final podium place to Raikkonen.

World champion Schumacher was never in the picture, dropping back rapidly from Raikkonen during the second stint.

But he managed to finish ahead of team-mate Barrichello, who did one more stop than the German.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

British Grand Prix result:

1. Juan Pablo Montoya (Col) McLaren 1hr 24mins 29.588secs
2. Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault +00:02.739secs
3. Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) McLaren 00:14.436
4. Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Renault 00:17.914
5. Jenson Button (GB) BAR 00:40.264
6. Michael Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari 01:15.322
7. Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Ferrari 01:16.567
8. Ralf Schumacher (Ger) Toyota 01:19.212
9. Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 01:20.851
10. Felipe Massa (Bra) Sauber 1 lap
11. Mark Webber (Aus) Williams 1 lap
12. Nick Heidfeld (Ger) Williams 1 lap
13. David Coulthard (GB) Red Bull 1 lap
14. Jacques Villeneuve (Can) Sauber 1 lap
15. Christian Klien (Aut) Red Bull 1 lap
16. Takuma Sato (Jap) BAR 2 laps
17. Tiago Monteiro (Por) Jordan 2 laps
18. Christijan Albers (Net) Minardi 3 laps
19. Patrick Friesacher (Aut) Minardi 4 laps


Did not finish: Narain Karthikeyan (Ind) Jordan 50 laps completed

Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 5 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:14.412
2 16 Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:14.521
3 9 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 1:14.559
4 1 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:14.572
5 4 Takuma Sato BAR-Honda 1:14.655
6 2 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 1:14.832
7 6 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 1:14.887
8 3 Jenson Button BAR-Honda 1:15.051
9 10 Juan Pablo Montoya McLaren-Mercedes 1:15.406
10 12 Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas 1:15.566
11 11 Jacques Villeneuve Sauber-Petronas 1:15.699
12 17 Ralf Schumacher Toyota 1:15.771
13 7 Mark Webber Williams-BMW 1:15.885
14 8 Nick Heidfeld Williams-BMW 1:16.207
15 14 David Coulthard Red Bull Racing 1:16.434
16 15 Christian Klien Red Bull Racing 1:16.547
17 19 Narain Karthikeyan Jordan-Toyota 1:17.857
18 20 Patrick Friesacher Minardi-Cosworth 1:17.960
19 18 Tiago Monteiro Jordan-Toyota 1:18.047
20 21 Christijan Albers Minardi-Cosworth 1:18.335