JULY 24, 2005

Race incidents from Hockenheim

With a shower of rain 45 minutes before the start of the race, there were some worries about the conditions but as the grid formed up the weather was dry again, even if the skies were overcast.

* Lap 1: At the start of the race Kimi Raikkonen went into the lead with Fernando Alonso jumping ahead of Jenson Button at the first corner. Button was then overtaken by Michael Schumacher as well, while Mark Webber was in trouble and disappeared down the order and Nick Heidfeld jumped up to fifth place. There was a lot of action behind them as Mark Webber and Takuma Sato collided and Jarno Trulli went off in avoidance. Rubens Barrichello and Jacques Villeneuve also brushed and both went wide. Sato then ran into the back of Trulli, which led to both men pitting at the end of the lap and Webber too came around slowly and then had a long pit stop to have his rear suspension repaired before rejoining 10 laps down. The big winners in all of this were David Coulthard, who went from 11th on the grid to sixth and Felipe Massa (up from 13th to seventh). Giancarlo Fisichella on the other hand dropped from fourth to eighth with Christian Klien and Ralf Schumacher behind him. At the end of the lap Raikkonen had a lead of 1.3secs over Alonso, Michael Schumacher, Button, Heidfeld and the rest. Juan Pablo Montoya made a good start jumping from 20th on the grid to 11th at the end of the lap.

* Lap 2: Raikkonen set the fastest lap and increased his lead to 1.7secs. Alonso was a second ahead of Michael Schumacher. Further back Montoya passed Ralf Schumacher to take 10th. Behind them Rubens Barrichello overtook Christijan Albers to take 12th.

* Lap 3: As Raikkonen increased his lead to two seconds, Montoya overtook Christian Klien to take ninth position.

* Lap 4: Raikkonen's lead went up to 2.5secs. Down at the back Jacques Villeneuve and Robert Doornbos collided as they fought for 14th place. Both men headed to the pits for repairs.

* Lap 14: The order remained stable for a long time with Raikkonen edging away at the front to build a lead of 6.3secs over Alonso. He in turn was seven seconds ahead of Schumacher's Ferrari, who had Button, Heidfeld, Coulthard and Massa behind him. The first scheduled pit stop went to Tiago Monteiro, who dropped from 15th to 17th.

* Lap 15: Heidfeld pitted, revealing that the Williams was running light in qualifying. The German dropped from fifth place to 12th.

* Lap 16: Narain Karthikeyan had his first stop and dropped from 14th to 17th.

* Lap 17: Doornbos was given a drive-through penalty for having changed a tyre and fuel at the same time after his incident with Villeneuve.

* Lap 19: Raikkonen increased his lead to 8.6secs as the major stops began. Sixth-placed Massa stopped and dropped back to 11th. Klien also stopped and dropped from eighth to 12th. Also pitting was Christijan Albers, who dropped from 13th to 17th.

* Lap 20: Button and Coulthard both pitted and dropped from fourth to seventh and fifth to ninth respectively.

* Lap 21: Doornbos pitted for his penalty.

* Lap 22: Alonso and Michael Schumacher both pitted. Fernando remained second while Michael fell behind Fisichella, Montoya and Ralf Schumacher. Further back Klien goes off but manages to hold on to his 12th place. Villeneuve passes Albers for 17th.

* Lap 23: Fisichella stopped and fell back from fourth to eighth.

* Lap 24: Raikkonen was still out with a lead of half a minute. Further back Villeneuve passed Karthikeyan for 17th.

* Lap 25: Raikkonen pitted and stayed in the lead, remaining 11secs ahead of Alonso. Also pitting was fourth-placed Ralf Schumacher who dropped back to ninth position.

* Lap 26: Barrichello was up to sixth after a very long first stint and he dropped back down to 11th place. Further back the delayed Trulli and Doornbos both had stops.

* Lap 27: Montoya was up to third, the last man not to stop. He dropped back to fifth place. At the same time Villeneuve and Monteiro collided and both had to pit for repairs. They rejoined in 18th and 19th with only Webber 10 laps behind them.

* Lap 30: The order was finally set after the first stops with Raikkonen 10secs ahead of Alonso with Michael Schumacher 20secs behind the Renault. Behind the Ferrari was a frustrated Button, Montoya, Fisichella, Coulthard and Ralf Schumacher. Takuma Sato had a moment and was overtaken for 13th place by Trulli.

* Lap 35: Heidfeld pitted again and was obviously on a three-stop strategy. He dropped from ninth to 11th.

* Lap 36: Raikkonen's McLaren slows and stops with a mechanical problem. Alonso goes into a comfortable lead.

* Lap 39: Klien passed Barrichello for ninth position.

* Lap 45: After a series of laps trying to pass Michael Schumacher, Jenson Button swept past Michael to take second place. Michael was immediately attacked by Montoya, who had been able to catch the two men ahead of him.

* Lap 46: The major second stops began with Button pitting and falling from second to seventh. Massa and Klien also stopped and both fell behind Barrichello.

* Lap 47: Alonso stopped but was still 15secs in the lead when he rejoined. Coulthard also stopped and dropped from fifth to seventh.

* Lap 49: Michael Schumacher stopped but when he came out of the pits he was back to sixth and behind Button. Barrichello managed to stop on the same lap and fell from eighth to 10th.

* Lap 50: Fisichella and Ralf both stopped and dropped from third and fourth to fifth and sixth. Button was back to third and Michael to fourth. Montoya stayed second but still had to pit.

* Lap 56: Montoya finally stopped and had a big enough advantage to get out ahead of Button to remain in second place. Further back Karthikeyan had a big spin.

* Lap 58: Michael Schumacher was under attack for fourth place with Fisichella and Ralf behind him. So slow was the pace that Coulthard was able to join the queue.

* Lap 66: Fisichella finally managed to grab fourth from Schumacher, who immediately came under attack from Ralf and Coulthard. Further back Trulli stopped while running 14th.

* Lap 67: Alonso won his sixth victory of the year.