Fernando Alonso dominated Sunday’s 67 lap German Grand Prix at Hockenheim once Kimi Raikkonen retired with a loss of hydraulic pressure on lap 35. The Renault driver finished 22.5s ahead of Juan Pablo Montoya, who charged through from the back of the grid to second place, just 1.8s ahead of Jenson Button who scored his first podium of the year.

Giancarlo Fisichella pinched fourth place off Michael Schumacher on the penultimate lap, the Ferrari driver complaining of a lack of grip and a brief fuel feed hiccup which cost him the fourth place. Rubens Barrichello finished a distant tenth of the 18 finishers.

Raikkonen took off from pole position into an immediate lead from Alonso who moved into second followed by Michael Schumacher who pushed Jenson Button back to fourth. Nick Heidfeld moved up two places to fifth, David Coulthard moved up five places to sixth, as there were several midfield collisions which delayed Jacques Villeneuve, Mark Webber, Takuma Sato and Jarno Trulli. In the opening laps, Raikkonen pulled away at a rapid rate, having a gap of 4.1s by lap seven. Alonso gave chase and in turn pulled away from Michael Schumacher, the gap being ten seconds by lap 19, but the Ferrari was shadowed all the way by Button. Heidfeld made the first of his three stops on lap 15, which promoted Coulthard to fifth place from Massa and Fisichella.

The two stoppers began to pit on lap 19 with Massa coming in first, Button and Coulthard pitted on lap 20, the latter coming out ahead of Heidfeld. Alonso pitted on lap 22, as did Michael Schumacher, with Fisichella coming in a lap later. Raikkonen pitted on lap 25 and emerged with an eleven second lead over Alonso. Montoya pitted on lap 27 from third place and came out in fifth. So on lap 28, Raikkonen still led Alonso by 11s, but Alonso now had an 18s margin over Michael Schumacher in third. Button was close behind in fourth and getting closer, while Montoya was six or seven second behind the BAR driver.

But as Michael Schumacher struggled with lack of grip, so Button closed on him, and by lap 35, was right on his tail. They all moved up a place a lap later when Raikkonen suddenly retired, but Michael managed to hold Button at bay until lap 45 when the Englishman squeezed past at the hairpin, only to pit a lap later.

Alonso came in on lap 47 as did Coulthard from fifth place but it wasn’t until lap 49 that Michael Schumacher pitted. Fisichella came in on lap 50 and Ralf Schumacher pitted on the same lap, coming out ahead of Coulthard. Montoya pitted for the final time on lap 56 and came out just ahead of Button in second place, in spite of having been held up by backmarkers four laps earlier. As Alonso cruised to his sixth win of the season, over 20s ahead of Montoya, Button completed the top three on the podium. Behind them, however, Michael Schumacher was caught by Fisichella ten laps from home and brought Ralf Schumacher with him.
 

For lap after lap, the trio slowly closed up and on the penultimate lap, Fisichella got past Michael Schumacher at the hairpin to take fourth place, but Michael managed to hold off his brother for fifth. Coulthard and Massa completed the points scorers.

Jean Todt: “It was a very difficult race. Michael had to fight really hard for his fifth place, while Rubens finished outside the points. Up to the first pit stop Michael was comfortably able to maintain the third place he won at the start, but after the stop, he progressively and significantly began to lose grip. Losing third place, Michael then tried to fight off the attentions of his pursuers, but with two laps remaining, a sudden drop in fuel pressure saw him lose fourth place as well. Rubens, who had gone for a more conservative tyre choice than his team-mate, never had enough grip to attack and so he was unable to move on from the position he acquired during the hectic period after the start. This is a very tough year for us, the most difficult period we have experienced in a long time. We have to keep concentrating and try and extricate ourselves from this situation by working with our friends at Bridgestone.”

Michael Schumacher: “In the end, I guess you could say this was an interesting race, although I would have preferred to be fighting for a podium finish rather than the lower places. I struggled a lot with my tyres today, which is why I could not hold off Jenson. Later, Giancarlo got past me as I had a fuel feed problem. Fifth place is okay in that I did not lose any positions from where I started, but of course I was hoping to do something better for the fans, who were incredible all through the weekend. I am proud to have such support.”

Rubens Barrichello: “The race started well for me and I even managed to move up a few places. Then, just after the start, another car came up the inside of me and I had no option but to move to the outside of the corner, which is how I collided with Villeneuve. After that, I spent the rest of the race fighting a lack of grip from the tyres. The grip I was expecting to improve in the race compared to the way it was in qualifying did not in fact do so. The choice I made yesterday did not pay off.”

Ross Brawn: “It turned out to be a very frustrating race, after we had started well. But our performance faded as the race progressed. This got worse in the final stages and we were very vulnerable to attack from the cars behind us. Michael had a little problem with the car and had to let Fisichella pass, which is a shame.”

German Grand Prix Result: Michael Schumacher: 5th +51.690 67 laps chassis 245; Rubens Barrichello: 10th +1 lap 66 laps chassis 246; Temperatures: air 20/23 °C, track 24/27 °C