Its a title celebration for Michael in Germany

Starting from first and third and on the clean side of the track Ferrari will be hoping that both drivers make a safe and clean getaway to a race that should be a good one for Ferrari. The track temperatures have risen dramatically compared to the morning warm-up session in which Ferrari dominated but the Bridgestone tyres are expected to handle the extra heat without any problems. Ferrari have opted for the harder of the two compounds which should reduce the risk of any wear rate issues in the blazing sun.

And as the red lights go out both Ferrari’s make a good start and hold their starting positions going round the opening lap. Schumacher begins to ease out a lead over R Schumacher in the Williams as Barrichello makes moves onto the Williams from third place. Raikkonen has jumped past Montoya at the start and runs in fourth. Schumacher continues to set fastest laps but he gap is not growing much now as his tyres appear to lose some of their earlier performance, what was a 5 second lead has dropped to a 4 second advantage. Behind the top three we witness a thrilling battle between Raikkonen and Montoya with the Williams driver winning this battle with some brave driving moving him up to fourth.

Michael appears to have re-found his earlier pace as once again he extends the race lead to 5 seconds as Barrichello continues to fill the mirrors of Ralf looking for a way past the Williams. Heavy blistering is apparent on the rear tyres of M Schumacher’s F2002 as once again Ralf closes in on the world champion and in turn he is dragging Barrichello with him. Lap 26 and Rubens Barrichello is in for his first stop of the day and is back on his way in 8.6 seconds and rejoins the track in fourth place. Next lap and Michael Schumacher is in for his stop and he will be glad to get some fresh tyres. 8.4 seconds in the pitlane for Schumacher as the team appear to change his strategy by short filling him. The Williams pair are soon to pit and once they do the running order of M Schumacher, R Schumacher, R Barrichello and JP Montoya was resumed.

With it being such a short lap passing the tailenders is keeping the race leaders very busy and Michael Schumacher continues to hold about 3 seconds of a lead over Ralf with Barrichello falling slightly back from the leading pair. Man on the move is Montoya who is closing in fast on Barrichello and Rubens will need to up his pace to keep himself away from any attack by the Colombian. 25 laps to go and Michael has got a healthy 8 second lead over Ralf who is now suffering from the traffic problems that slowed Michael, the second round of pitstops are going to be crucial in deciding the outcome of this race. As his second stop looms Schumacher sets the fastest lap of the race so far as he appears to have much better use out of this set of tyres compared to his first set. Rubens Barrichello is still tailing Ralf but unable to get close enough to make any move, but the Brazilian will be hoping that his mechanics can give him a boost in the pitlane.

And it is Barrichello is once again in for his second stop first, but disaster for him as the fuel rig fails to engage and it is some 21 seconds before he is back on his way and his race is now up in the air. Michael is in the next lap and no problems for him and is back on his way after 8.5 seconds. Ralf is in shortly after and he does not change his tyres only taking on fuel. So after the second stops the racing order is M Schumacher, R Schumacher, JP Montoya and R Barrichello proving how costly that fuel rig problem was to the Brazilian and the Ferrari team.

15 laps remain and Michael has a comfortable 9-second lead as he begins to think about his first ever win for Ferrari at Hockenheim. Barrichello is 30 seconds behind the race leader and appears to have lost his desire for another race where luck has once again dealt him a poor hand. The closing laps of the race sees the retirement rate rise as the number of cars running drop down to 9 with Raikkonen and Fisichella the latest to retire. With 4 laps to go R Schumacher is back in the pits for what seems to be a technical problem and he rejoins in third place but maybe a chance for Barrichello to put the pressure on him once more. As Schumacher puts a lap on David Coulthard in the McLaren much to the delight of the Tifosi.

And Michael Schumacher crosses the line to take yet another victory and only his second ever at Hockenheim and his first in a Ferrari with a dominant victory, His ninth win of the season was greeted with great delight by the fans who wanted this victory more than anything. Rubens Barrichello had to settle for fourth place after another day of no luck at the races. Montoya took second with R Schumacher third, Coulthard and Heidfeld make up the final places in a race dominated by retirements.

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