We are told that there were cheers in the Press Office and hoots of delight from the boats in the harbour when our Michael emerged from the tunnel in Monaco on three wheels. I might even have felt sorry for Montoya but he is to public relations what speed cameras are to road safety! We got a podium though with Rubens, through such a modest performance (car or driver – or both) that it was almost embarrassing. It’s not Schumi’s fault that he makes every one else look average of course but F1 could do with his retirement about now, but is not going to get it. Endless tinkering with the regulations is unlikely to assist much and could bring some really dumbed down cars if they are not careful.

So - to Germany and Schumi’s revenge. There was clear intention to dominate and Michael secured pole position by a large margin on, as it turned out, a lighter than was required fuel load. BAR in the meantime had a really good car to play with. Button’s expectation was indeed pole. On the day however it was his team mate Sato who got closest and became the first ever Japanese driver to sit on the front row of an F1 grid. Button disappointed with 5th fastest. McLaren are still in a mess but somehow managed to pull together some pace in Germany. In an interview with ITV, Ron Dennis mentioned taking risks to move forward which perhaps is related to engine performance - might as well blow up on lap ten as lap twenty. The drivers must be so frustrated – particularly Coulthard who is not being given the chance to show that he still deserves a top drive. Raikkonen qualified 4th; just behind Jarno Trulli in the excellent Renault. Coulthard elected to start form the back after a car and therefore engine change. Rubens was 7th with a heavier than normal fuel load. The Williams pairing (can’t really call them team mates) were 8th & 9th.

The start looked like it would be Schumi defending from Sato and Trulli who was expected to be the fastest starter. As it turned out there was little defending to be done and Michael was off – like gone, cheerio, see you in the bar! In fact it was Sato & Trulli that were doing their best to slow each other up in the first few corners which left a grateful Raikkonen in P2. This promotion led to a train forming which allowed Michael to gain further ground.

What else was happening? Well, Coulthard was really enjoying himself and was up to 8th, by any standards a great few laps. Oh, and the Williams boys managed to hit each other. Well to be fair it seemed that Montoya went for an inside lunge into corner 1 and was never really going to make it. It was hard to put any blame on Ralf even though once hit he then managed to trip over Cristiano Da Matta's Toyota and put them both out.

Michael had his first and very early pit stop on lap 9 and rejoined behind the leading gaggle of cars. No rush, no need to race, just wait for the others to pit. And pit most of them did in the next few laps which indicated that many had started pretty light. About time for a McLaren “failure” - yup there goes - Raikkonen in a cloud of smoke after his car did not seem to like the extra heat of a pit stop.

On lap thirteen Sato pitted from an excellent stint and rejoined with no problems. This left us with Michael leading again, clearly in a class of his own. Rubens two-stop strategy was now looking pretty good and it would be a close thing between him and Sato for 2nd place. Lap 21 then and the order was Schumi from Sato, Rubens and Jenson Button. After his 2nd stop Sato rejoined just behind Rubens but was marginally quicker over a lap. In fact on the very next lap Sato had a lunge up the inside which resulted in a damaged front wing for him although Rubens seemed to be able to continue with no ill effects. Some time later we lost Sato to an engine failure. It is hard to see how he can be harder on the car than Button in this age of electronics, but nevertheless it always seems to be his engine that lets go. Button was now in a secure third podium position as Coulthard’s engine had also had enough. Fourth was Fisichella in the Sauber and fifth went to Mark Webber, both on two stop strategies. Final point went to Montoya.

This is the Ferrari Owners Club web site after all and we should rejoice in another 1 –2 result, and perhaps we do. However, true lovers of racing will recognise this as a rather poor period in the life of Formula One. A combination of modern circuit design, technical and other regulations seem to conspire to prevent the very element of the sport that everyone wants, i.e. close racing. Until such time as this changes we will just look forward to the next ‘bike GP, now there is real racing!

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