Maybe I'm just old, but I remember the days when the average Ferrari fan would pray for rain to give Michael Schumacher a chance for a win. Well, times seem to have changed and the effect of rain now levels the playing field for everyone.
The excitement on Saturday seemed to be more related to the marshals trying to dictate some of the outcome of the race by assessing penalties to both protagonists of this year's championship. Alonso and Schumacher (the elder, his brother only matters in the fantasy F1 leagues) had two seconds added to their qualifying times because of passing cars at inappropriate times. But when it came to Sunday, it seemed like none of that mattered.
Michael Schumacher
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The Ferrari fans started to get concerned when Massa spun on the way out to the grid. It looked like the dominance that Bridgestone put together had come unraveled. The McLaren faithful thought that the Iceman Version Two would be their hero and run away from the field. Well, that's not exactly what happened.
Kimi did lead for a while, but his day was cut short after an incident with Liuzzi's Toro Rosso ended the Finn's drive in a spectacular shower of carbon fiber bits. No spoiler-role from him this weekend.
Then it looked like Alonso had his act together and was going to make the title fight that much more difficult for Schumacher, but his day ended after switching to dry tires just a bit too soon.
Felipe Massa
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Ferrari fans started to cheer as Schumacher made his way to the head of the field with intermediate tires that seemed to be rapidly approaching slick status, but an incident with Heidfeld early in the race broke a steering component that finally had enough three laps from the end of the race. So, with the top three drivers in the championship out, it was time to let some of the also rans get some of the glory.
I for one will not eat crow. Jenson Button may have won his first race this weekend after 113 races, but he's still over rated, over paid, and will probably be a one hit wonder. We've seen a Jordan win in the rain, there is no reason to believe that the young Brit finally has his act together and will challenge for the title any time soon. With the conditions as screwed up as they were, I'm really surprised that Sato-san didn't finish in the points, but that would require more than planet alignment to happen in my lifetime.
Pedro de la Rosa got his first podium in his career by bringing the other McLaren home in second place. Those points probably meant more money to him than he's seen yet in his career and was a good finish for the Montoya replacement.
Felipe Massa and Rob Smedley
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Nick Heidfeld shrugged off his Schumacher incident and got his first podium, a much needed one for BMW's F1 effort. It would have been sweeter if they had finished ahead of all of the Mercedes, but beggars can't be choosers. His team mate did make a great entrance by finishing in seventh place in his F1 debut, but someone needs to tell Kubica to eat more Polish sausage after he was disqualified for being underweight at the end of the race.
Rubens Barichello added icing to Honda's cake by finishing in fourth place. Again, the jury is still out, and we'll need to see if Honda really is on a streak or if this was a one hit wonder. David Coulthard kept racking up points solidifying his role in the really sweet drink team.
Toyota bosses were still scratching their heads wondering where all the money went and why Ralf Schumacher was only in sixth. This spending without results can not go on forever.
Ross Brawn and Stefano Domenicali
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With the BMW disqualified, Massa redeemed himself and finished in seventh place which helped Ferrari in the constructors' championship. It also moved Schumacher into eight place which is better than nothing.
This week's race was a wet and wild run. And, with the performance of both tire manufacturers different depending on the conditions, it made it an interesting race to watch. A shame that the French are going to surrender, again, and leave it up to a single manufacturer. Oh well, one more aspect of F1 will go away for this generation of fans.
Getting down to the handful of races left, Schumacher is only ten points back of Alonso going into Turkey, and Ferrari is seven back in the constructors title. I can't wait to see which tire will work best in the heat. Don't change the channel yet, things have gotten interesting.
Race Results
