Schumacher thanks Raikkonen for helping hand

Michael Schumacher claimed much of the credit for his European Grand Prix victory today should go to Kimi Raikkonen, who inadvertently helped the world champion streak ahead.

Schumacher eased to his 76th grands prix win on home ground at the Nurburgring after a blistering start put him 17 seconds clear after only seven laps.

He eventually won by 17.9seconds from Ferrari team-mate Rubens Barrichello, with Jenson Button third for BAR.

Schumacher claimed he may not have had things all his own way had Raikkonen not held up many of the German’s rivals.

Raikkonen sneaked into second place on lap one when Takuma Sato and Jarno Trulli ran wide, but the deficiencies of his McLaren were soon apparent as he lagged well off Schumacher’s pace.

Raikkonen valiantly held a clutch of faster cars behind but in doing so allowed Schumacher to pull clear by over two seconds a lap.

That gave Schumacher the break he needed to make his strategy work, nipping in for an early fuel stop and then rejoining with his main rivals in sight.

Schumacher said: “It was fantastic to see how much I was able to pull away. I was greatly helped by Kimi being second and not being able to be passed by whoever was behind.

“I felt his pace compared to Takuma and the Renaults was different. This gave me the edge I needed.

“I was pretty confident because I knew strategy-wise what it meant coming out straight behind the other guys at the first pit stop and that gave me the confidence.

“I don’t think it was very easy in reality. Due to Kimi being in second that created a huge gap and that gap stayed for the rest of the race – there were times I could have been quicker but not that much.

“We started a little bit lighter but if you see how much lighter we were it doesn’t justify the gap we had in qualifying.

“Everything worked fantastic for us, I worked hard to get a gap and just drove it home safely.”

Jenson Button took a fortunate third after a quiet race. BAR team-mate Sato ruined a fine drive by barging into Barrichello late on, damaging his front wing. That allowed Button into third but Sato’s mistake was immaterial when his engine blew soon after.

Button felt his chances had been scuppered by a combination of a slow start and traffic.

The Englishman was unlucky to emerge behind slower cars after his pit stops, with David Coulthard in particular costing him time.

Button said: “You can see the car was difficult to drive, David was having lots of problems keeping it in the right place on the circuit, that’s the only reason I could get past. I don’t think I could have got past if he didn’t make a mistake.

“If Taku was still in the race I don’t think I would have had a chance [of a podium] because he was in front of us. It is very difficult to overtake here especially if you are driving the same car.

“The car wasn’t too bad but we were stuck in a train behind Kimi which I’m sure helped Rubens as well because the front cars weren’t able to pull away at all.

“As soon as we pitted the car felt very good, the problem was after my first two pit stops I came out in traffic that were doing two stops and I wasn’t able to get past them.

“My start wasn’t that good – I was surprised to see Rubens come out in front of me. My line for the first corner was to go wide but it was a bit hard when Rubens was in the way.

“The car felt good at the end but I was trying to conserve the engine as well as pushing which was difficult. When I got to the last lap I backed off as I wasn’t able to catch Rubens.”

Button’s six points leave him 22 down on Schumacher, who holds a 14-point lead over Barrichello in the championship.

Monaco winner Jarno Trulli was fourth with Renault team-mate Fernando Alonso a place behind.

Giancarlo Fisichella was sixth place for Sauber while Jaguar’s Mark Webber claimed his best result of 2004 with seventh and Juan Pablo Montoya, driving a Williams, was eighth.

FIA Formula 1 European Grand Prix Race, Nurburgring, Germany

60 laps: 1 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari 1hr 32mins 35.101secs, 2 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Ferrari 1:32:53.090, 3 Jenson Button (Gbr) BAR Honda 1:32:57.634, 4 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Renault 1:33:28.774, 5 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 1:33:36.088, 6 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Sauber Petronas 1:33:48.549, 7 Mark Webber (Aus) Jaguar 1:33:51.307, 8 Juan Montoya (Col) Williams BMW 59 laps, 9 Felipe Massa (Bra) Sauber Petronas 59 laps, 10 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) Jordan Cosworth 59 laps, 11 Olivier Panis (Fra) Toyota 59 laps, 12 Christian Klien (Aut) Jaguar 59 laps, 13 Giorgio Pantano (Ita) Jordan Cosworth 58 laps, 14 Gianmaria Bruni (Ita) Minardi Cosworth 57 laps, 15 Zsolt Baumgartner (Hun) Minardi Cosworth 57 laps

Not classified: 16 Takuma Sato (Jpn) BAR Honda 47 laps completed, 17 David Coulthard (Gbr) McLaren Mercedes 25 laps completed, 18 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) McLaren Mercedes 9 laps completed, 19 Cristiano Da Matta (Bra) Toyota 0 laps completed, 20 Ralf Schumacher (Ger) Williams BMW 0 laps completed

Fastest Lap: Michael Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari 1min 29.468secs on lap 7

World Championship Standings

Drivers’ Championship: 1 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari 60, 2 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Ferrari 46, 3 Jenson Button (Gbr) BAR Honda 38, 4 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Renault 36, 5 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 25, 6 Juan Montoya (Col) Williams BMW 24, 7 Ralf Schumacher (Ger) Williams BMW 12, 8 Takuma Sato (Jpn) BAR Honda 8, 9 Felipe Massa (Bra) Sauber Petronas 5, 10 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Sauber Petronas 5, 11 David Coulthard (Gbr) McLaren Mercedes 4, 12 Cristiano Da Matta (Bra) Toyota 3, 13 Mark Webber (Aus) Jaguar 3, 14 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) Jordan Cosworth 2, 15 Olivier Panis (Fra) Toyota Toyota 1, 16 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) McLaren Mercedes 1

Manufacturers’ Championship: 1 Ferrari 106, 2 Renault 61, 3 BAR Honda 46, 4 Williams BMW 36, 5 Sauber Petronas 10, 6 McLaren Mercedes 5, 7 Toyota 4, 8 Jaguar 3, 9 Jordan Cosworth 2