Ferrari and Shell face a trip into the unknown

But records, they say, are only made to be broken and in winning the French Grand Prix, Michael is Formula One Drivers’ World Champion in the quickest time ever recorded. Not more than a week after winning his title, he will be racing at home in Germany. German fans are renowned for their passion, but the return of their champion with another title to his name is likely to send them into apoplexy. Add to that the fact that the spectator capacity at Hockenheim has been raised from 83,000 to 120,000 and you will begin to understand some of the feelings building up towards the German race this weekend.

For the teams, this is probably the hardest week of the year. France was hot and the teams worked hard in the glaring sun to get their cars into the race. With Hockenheim only a week later, the teams now pack up in Magny Cours and travel directly to Germany to start all over again.

Ferrari will be buoyed by their driver’s phenomenal success in France and the team has a good chance of winning the Constructors’ Championship, which will spur them on even further. For Ferrari’s technical partner Shell, the work also continues. “We are so pleased with the result,” explained David Barnes, Shell Global Motorsport Business Manager. “Michael won in France with a new fuel formulation from us and that is the ultimate endorsement of our support. We all celebrated on Sunday night with the team, but it’s back to the hard work now. There is still the Constructors’ Championship to fight for and we are working with Ferrari already on next year’s engine.”

It is this level of commitment from Shell that explains the high praise they received from Jean Todt, Ferrari’s Technical Director after the French race. “I have to thank Shell who have been believing in us since 1996,” said the champagne-soaked Frenchman.

Hockenheim itself is set to be an interesting race. The legendary old track has been completely changed. Gone are the long flat-out straights and tight chicanes, and in have come long corners and a very sharp hairpin. The track is now 1.39 miles shorter than last year, and the average lap speed is set to be around 133 mph, around 15 mph slower. Where the track once disappeared into the forest, it now turns hard right and cuts down to the hairpin where the third chicane once stood. The track’s designer Hermann Tilke has a good pedigree; he is the man who designed Sepang in Malaysia. He has worked on Hockenheim’s redevelopments with the Formula One drivers and the FIA.

Many are sad to see the track go, but the general feeling is that the long, lonely and narrow straights were fast losing their place in Formula One. New grandstands and new overtaking opportunities are eagerly awaited.