Thank God, the fight is back

NUERBURGRING: Formula One has a real battle of champions on its hands at last after Michael Schumacher’s second successive victory in the European Grand Prix on Sunday. That win at the German’s home track proved that Ferrari’s success at Imola was no flash in the pan and that even at 37, the seven-time champion remains as formidable a rival as ever.

 

With Renault’s champion Fernando Alonso also on top form, the sport can look forward to the generational battle it was denied when Brazilian Ayrton Senna died in 1994 just as Schumacher was emerging. “Michael didn’t look too bad did he? For an old man, he was alright,” declared Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn at the Nuerburgring. “It was another great performance from Michael, but of a different type. Imola was a very defensive race and with problems and he managed to win that. Here we had the ingredients to attack and he did that as well.”

 

With 13 races to go, Formula One fans can expect a season-long duel between ageing warrior Schumacher, the most successful driver in the history of the sport with 86 wins, and 24-year-old Alonso, the youngest of champions.  That did not happen last season when Schumacher’s five-year reign petered out limply as Ferrari lost their way. Renault won the first three races of the season and Ferrari have now taken the last two.

 

“It’s no surprise to expect Renault up at the front and they shouldn’t be surprised to see us at the front either,” Schumacher said.

 

McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen, Alonso’s main rival last year when he won seven races, will surely also come into the mix soon.

 

“Don’t write Kimi off,” warned Renault’s master tactician Pat Symonds. “He wasn’t far behind today, they’re still looking reasonably strong. It is more a Michael-Fernando battle, more a Renault-Ferrari battle, more a Michelin-Bridgestone battle. But there might be others who come along to the party.”

 

McLaren managing director Martin Whitmarsh regarded it as a three-way battle, even if his team were still hurting at not having won any races yet. “Ferrari are a good team and Michael is an outstanding driver. Great champions are like that, when they get a sniff of success, they can step up a gear or two,” he said.

 

“Michael will score more wins probably, so will Alonso and I believe we will too. If you look at Kimi, the next car was over a minute behind, so there are three teams fighting for this.”