Ferrari Completely Dominate With 1-2 In Hockenheim

By Dale Calkins
July 31 2006

Michael Schumacher and Felipe Massa completely dominated Sunday's German Grand Prix, coming in the 1st and 2nd places respectively. Ferrari was simply untouchable at Hockenheim, despite McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen starting from pole position.

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Ferrari Completely Dominate With 1-2 At Hockenheim
Michael Schumacher FP 2: Victory After Kimi Raikkonen pulled into the pits extremely early and then suffered a long pit stop due to tyre changing difficulties, Michael Schumacher was in complete control of the remainder of the Grand Prix. Schumacher was never under threat from any driver, with the exception of his team mate Felipe Massa, who of course was never going to attempt to pass Schumacher. This is what Schumacher had to say about his fantastic race at his home Grand prix: "Superb! I can’t begin to find the right adjectives to describe the car-engine-Bridgestone tyre package and the performance of the whole team. We worked hard at last week’s Paul Ricard test and I am very happy that today that work bore fruit. I want to congratulate Felipe, who drove a great race. It was very important to have made up several points over our main rivals at the key moment of the season. I had no problems whatsoever all weekend and I have to say that winning here in front of my fans makes it a really special victory. Already, during this morning’s Driver Parade I got a great feeling seeing all the support I had in the crowd and I am happy to have been able to pay them back with this win. The fight for both titles is now very open. There are still six races to go and there is still room to push and put those in front of us under more pressure. I am confident and keen to get back on with the next few races." Felipe Massa FP 2: 2nd + 0'00.720 Felipe Massa certainly enjoyed his race today in Germany, equalling his career best result of 2nd. Felipe, like Schumacher was never under threat and played his team role perfectly to maximize Ferrari's points haul. Massa had this to say after his race at Hockenheim: "We did an even better job than expected. I saw yesterday morning that we had a really good pace for the race; especially my speed on old tyres was very surprising. I was therefore convinced we would have an even stronger car for the race. That is how it turned out. After a good start and good first pit stop I saw that I had a big gap to the following cars and from then on I concentrated on looking after the car and bringing it home. I drove an intelligent race in what was an important one for the team at this stage of the season, given our targets in both championships. Now it will be important for us to continue moving forward with this same momentum and concentration to the end of the championship. I hope that, in the short term, we can repeat this performance in seven days in Budapest." Ross Brawn Technical Director Ferrari Technical Director Ross Brawn, was extremely pleased with today's race and looks forward to a continued domination: "It would be hard to ask for a better result! The cars were perfect, as were the Bridgestone tyres and the engine: everything worked to perfection. When I saw Kimi go in for his first pit stop, it confirmed what we had been expecting and from then to the end of the race it was a case of looking after the car and the tyres which we did without any problems. In the last few races, we have introduced some new components on the 248 F1 and this result is down to all the hard work carried out by the Scuderia. Michael and Felipe were perfect and today we have made significant progress in both championships. There is every reason to be optimistic for the rest of the season, although we know we must stay calm and concentrate."
	July 31, 2006

Ferrari Completely
Dominate With 1-2
At Hockenheim

Michael Schumacher
FP 2: Victory

After Kimi Raikkonen pulled into the pits extremely early and then suffered a long pit stop due to tyre changing difficulties, Michael Schumacher was in complete control of the remainder of the Grand Prix. Schumacher was never under threat from any driver, with the exception of his team mate Felipe Massa, who of course was never going to attempt to pass Schumacher. This is what Schumacher had to say about his fantastic race at his home Grand prix:

"Superb! I can’t begin to find the right adjectives to describe the car-engine-Bridgestone tyre package and the performance of the whole team. We worked hard at last week’s Paul Ricard test and I am very happy that today that work bore fruit. I want to congratulate Felipe, who drove a great race. It was very important to have made up several points over our main rivals at the key moment of the season. I had no problems whatsoever all weekend and I have to say that winning here in front of my fans makes it a really special victory. Already, during this morning’s Driver Parade I got a great feeling seeing all the support I had in the crowd and I am happy to have been able to pay them back with this win. The fight for both titles is now very open. There are still six races to go and there is still room to push and put those in front of us under more pressure. I am confident and keen to get back on with the next few races."

Felipe Massa
FP 2: 2nd + 0'00.720

Felipe Massa certainly enjoyed his race today in Germany, equalling his career best result of 2nd. Felipe, like Schumacher was never under threat and played his team role perfectly to maximize Ferrari's points haul. Massa had this to say after his race at Hockenheim:

"We did an even better job than expected. I saw yesterday morning that we had a really good pace for the race; especially my speed on old tyres was very surprising. I was therefore convinced we would have an even stronger car for the race. That is how it turned out. After a good start and good first pit stop I saw that I had a big gap to the following cars and from then on I concentrated on looking after the car and bringing it home. I drove an intelligent race in what was an important one for the team at this stage of the season, given our targets in both championships. Now it will be important for us to continue moving forward with this same momentum and concentration to the end of the championship. I hope that, in the short term, we can repeat this performance in seven days in Budapest."

Ross Brawn
Technical Director

Ferrari Technical Director Ross Brawn, was extremely pleased with today's race and looks forward to a continued domination:

"It would be hard to ask for a better result! The cars were perfect, as were the Bridgestone tyres and the engine: everything worked to perfection. When I saw Kimi go in for his first pit stop, it confirmed what we had been expecting and from then to the end of the race it was a case of looking after the car and the tyres which we did without any problems. In the last few races, we have introduced some new components on the 248 F1 and this result is down to all the hard work carried out by the Scuderia. Michael and Felipe were perfect and today we have made significant progress in both championships. There is every reason to be optimistic for the rest of the season, although we know we must stay calm and concentrate."

July 31, 2006