Alonso Makes it Six
German Grand Prix

By Erik Nielsen
Photos courtesy and copyright Ferrari Media

Kimi Räikkönen couldn't convert the pole into a win this weekend, as Fernando Alonso left everyone in the dust once the Finn's McClunken gave up its fight with what seemed to be a hydraulic failure. The Spaniard extended his lead in the championship to 36 points, making it look like Flavio's team has put together the winning package for 2005. Juan Pablo Montoya finished second after starting last because of an off in qualifying, showing that his car is quicker than the rest, but it still needs to be reliable to win. With the gap that has developed at this point in the season, it looks like there will be smiles in France and glum faces in Germany and England this year.

Jenson Button didn't make the most of his front row start and finished in third place. The Brit was fast during the race, but not fast enough. BAR was just happy to finish ahead of Toyota.

Giancarlo Fisichella finished in fourth place, showing that yes, the Renault is fast but that he's not as good as his team mate.

Michael Schumacher got everyone's hopes up by running in third and as high as second place, but the reigning world champion chose the softer of the two compound Bridgestone tires and just started slipping back in the timing charts during the second half of the race. He would eventually finish the race in fifth place, much to the disappointment of the tifosi. Any shot at a good finish in the championship is over for the scuderia. They just couldn't build a fast enough car based on this year's rules. Barichello finished a lap down in tenth place and just couldn't seem to do anything with the car.

Even with a "bad" car, Michael still finished ahead of his younger brother in the Toyota. There have been some rumors coming out of the huge budget Japanese team that they may not be in the sport for the long haul. If they are lucky enough to win a few races and say that they can compete at the highest level, the marketing folks will be able to say that the job is done and let's move on to something else. The German finished in sixth and did much better than his team mate who could do no better than fourteenth.

The last two points paying positions went to David Coulthard who showed again that he's an also-ran regardless of the quality of the car he's driving, and Massa in the Sauber, who is quick, but just waiting for the right top tiered ride.

Williams is still smarting from the falling out with BMW. The team's best result was a lowly eleventh. But look on the bright side; they did finish better than Villeneuve. As for everyone else, no one except the media agents that are paid to see how much airtime each driver got were paying attention.

The season is starting to get into the home stretch and it looks like the images in the crystal ball are starting to come into focus. Renault is the team to beat and as long as there are no major hiccups, Fernando Alonso should add "world champion" to his name and Flabio will probably get to bed a few more supermodels out of the exposure. McLaren are the closest in the fight, but they need to find reliability and a bit more speed, and quickly. Everyone else, barring a miracle breakthrough by one of the engineers, is sadly just an also-ran at this point.

The season continues in Hungary next week.