Raikkonen profits from Schumacher slip

Kimi Raikkonen hared off into the lead as championship pacesetter Michael Schumacher suffered an immediate setback at the start of the European Grand Prix in Germany today.

Raikkonen, who scorched to his maiden pole yesterday, hung on to his hard-won advantage at the Nurburgring as Schumacher lost out to his brother, Ralf, in the race to the first corner.

Schumacher had feared the dirty side of the track would be his undoing as so it proved as his Ferrari was outpaced by the Williams-BMW of Ralf.

Raikkonen, who lost the lead in the championship at the last race in Canada when he finished sixth in his McLaren, had opened up a lead of 4.8secs at the end of the fifth lap of the 60-lap race.

Ralf Schumacher led his brother by just half a second with Rubens Barrichello, who had threatened his Ferrari team-mate at the start, in fourth place.

Britain’s David Coulthard was ninth in the other McLaren with Jenson Button two places further back for BAR-Honda while Ralph Firman (Jordan) was 13th with Justin Wilson (Minardi) in 18th spot.

Jacques Villeneuve's miserable season continued when he slid off the track on lap eight just after overtaking Minardi's Jos Verstappen for 17th.

The former world champion managed to keep control as his BAR took to the dirt but returned to the track having slipped to 20th and last.

Raikkonen, meanwhile, had extended his lead to over six seconds after 10 laps when Firman – running a lighter fuel load in qualifying – came in for his first pit stop.