Sheer Brilliance !!! These are the words I can think of in describing what the Ferrari boys pulled off at Magny Cour, France this afternoon.

When then chips are down and the stakes are high, Ferrari ups the challenge to show all other teams in F1 that it takes more than a fast car and a determined driver to beat Ferrari. Especially Mr.Schumacher.

Having qualified second and tenth on the start grid by Michael and Rubens (respectively) everyone knew that it would come down to pit stop strategies if Michael was to win. Furthermore, not much was expected of Rubens.

But a sudden change in strategies saw Michael do a four stop, short fuel stints to get in front of the Renault of Alonso. Apart from this, Michael knew that Alonso may be fast, but not well experienced and thus pushed Alonso to go all out until he wore out his tires. The biggest mistake Alonso made was to stay out on track for too long before making his second pit stop. The tires were worn and he could not control the car through the corners. This gave Michael the advantage to build up a big enough lead and get in front of Alonso through the pits.

Rubens on the other hand worked hard to carve his way through and get within reach of the fight for third place between Button and Trulli. Button’s staggered take off from his third pit stop cost him one second which in turn gave Rubens the chance to get in front of Button to fourth position.

Thereafter it was fight for third with Trulli. Trulli almost had his third position finish until the final corner of the final lap when Rubens caught Trulli off guard and sneaked in front of the Renault to claim the final place on the podium.

This shows to any driver that the race is not won until the checkered flag has dropped and you have crossed the line. Trulli forgot the cardinal rule of not defending his race line to the end.

Whilst the drivers take the lime light, the team deserves as much recognition. At Ferrari today, it was the quick thinking of the strategists and also the quick flaw less performance of the pit crews that saw the two Ferraris home and dry.

As for the other teams, well Renault did well to take the fight to Ferrari. It is not easy to beat a team that so perfect in its performance as Ferrari. But never the less Renault, it seems, was the only team that was able to make the boys in red work for their win.

McLaren’s new improved car seems promising and though the two cars did not finish high up in the finish order, they did better than they have been performing in the recent past. Let us hope that McLaren has finally got their act together and that F1 fans can look forward to some close action from this team.

On the other hand Williams seems to have take several steps back wards with their almost 100% redone car. Montoya was struggling with the car from the very start and did not seem to make much of an impression at all.

Auther - Duncan Udawatta,
Gaborone, Botswana (Southern Africa)
[email protected]

Next Race – July 10th July 2004, Silverstone, Britain.