Despite a fantastic win at Imola last month where Schumi drove brilliantly to keep Alonso behind him and take victory, I still had reservations about the overall 2006 Ferrari package. At Imola he benefited greatly from the lack of genuine places where Alonso could pull off an overtaking move and when he combined that with exemplary defensive racecraft it was a terrific return to the winners enclosure for the team. At the 'ring' Ferrari looked capable of building on the Imola result as soon as the red start lights went out.

The modern day Nürburgring situated in Germany's Eifel hills is, of course, not the legendary 14 mile 'Nordeschliefe' track graced by the Grand Prix greats of yesteryear. That track has not been used for Grand Prix since Niki Lauda's horrific crash 30 years ago at the wheel of his then championship leading Ferrari. The new track lies adjacent to the old and provides a good mixture of long straights and overtaking places which most drivers relish.

Alonso had taken pole position with a fantastic qualifying lap that edged the Ferraris of Schumacher and Felipe Massa into second and third places respectively. When the last red light went out the Spanish champion once again showed the rest of the grid how launch control should work by confidently blasting his Renault into the first corner ahead of Schumacher while the eager looking Massa had to back off slightly to ensure his second driver status was not exceeded!! As is par for course these days, the Safety Car was deployed at the end of first lap as a result of the Scuderia Toro Rosso of Tonio Liuzzi awkwardly colliding with the sister Red Bull stable car of David Coulthard, thus leaving a razor sharp carbon fibre jigsaw puzzle all over the apex of turn one.

The McLarens of Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya both made good starts, jumping up a place or two following closely on the gearbox of our very own Jenson Button who had climbed to fourth as the Safety Car came out. When it peeled off, the race at the front of the pack settled as the two Ferraris shadowed Alonso's every move all the way to the first round of pit stops. Tellingly, Schumi posted the fastest first sector time just before he pitted to indicate that sooner or later he was going to put the hammer down.

The pitstops could not come soon enough for the Henman-esque Button, as once again his tyres were causing problems. He had already had to let Raikkonen through unchallenged, which must be infuriating for a driver and team who consistently topped the winter testing times, with probably the quickest straight line speed of all the 2006 cars. Still it could be worse for JB, as at least he managed to pull (buy) out of that Williams deal a year or two back, thereby avoiding joining Mark Webber on his third retirement of the season in the fast-but-fragile Cosworth-powered Williams, though team-mate Rosberg did bring his home seventh.

The pitstops for all the leading cars went as planned, apart from Massa who unluckily rejoined in traffic which temporarily meant he lost out in maintaining a close eye on the leading pair.

Ten laps later, on lap 28 of the 60 lap race, Button's Honda engine expired yet again thereby enabling him to get an early finish and a prime slot in the departing helicopter schedule! I sincerely hope his first win will come soon, though I don't agree with some observers that it is overdue. So what if he has started 100+ races? 'Attendance' is not a pre-requisite for success. His Honda team are not far away from the total package and perseverance will prevail to ensure Jenson does get his first of many victories [or not - Ed.]

In the following few laps Fernando Alonso and Schumacher started to trade fastest sector times and laps and it appeared that unlike Imola, Alonso was doing his best to fend off the charging 248F1 Ferrari of Schumi, who was a permanent fixture in his rear view mirror.

As the Renault of Alonso was summoned into the pits for stop number two on lap 37, Schumacher began the first of three flying laps to ensure he made up enough time to eventually pit and emerge ahead of him. Now, Schumacher is famous for turning on this evidently 110% pre-pitstop pace, but it never ceases to amaze me that no matter which circuit or whatever conditions he can always ring the last hundredth out of the car to make all the difference. He drove as though it was a new three lap consecutive qualifying format dreamed up by Bernie Ecclestone to ensure the grid positions of the next race.

This is genius that currently has no peer in F1 racing and so it proved again as the 'hundredths grew into an incredible five second lead that was never to be threatened for the rest of the race. It was those three laps that makes me think back to the 2004 season when Schumacher was almost untouchable.

In the last few laps of the race the chasing pack of Alonso, Massa and Raikkonen bunched up to promise some entertainment that didn't quite materialise, though it was both encouraging and pleasing to see Massa finish third behind his winning teammate and Alonso. It was the first time on the podium for Felipe, but it will not be his last this year as he and the 248 continue to improve race-on-race. His strong showing helped the Scuderia to leap-frog McLaren in the Constructors' title race.

The next Grand Prix is in Alonso's Barcelona backyard where he will have tremendous support from the passionate Catalans who will wave on their champion on with a sea of Renault blue flags. Despite a host of winter testing at Barcelona by the majority of the constructors bar Ferrari, I am hoping the race may see a Fiorano-tested Ferrari once again look strong, capable and all importantly, at the front of the grid to remind us all of the golden days of 2004!!!!

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