Schumacher’s pit-stop strategy pays dividends

MICHAEL SCHUMACHER showed that Ferrari’s Imola win was no fluke at the Nurburgring yesterday as he capitalised on a perfect pit-stop strategy to win the European Grand Prix in front of his home crowd.

The German’s fifth win at his local circuit came after he stayed out three laps longer than world champion Fernando Alonso at the second round of pit stops and put in three stunning laps to overhaul the Renault driver and win by 3.7 seconds.

In doing so, the seven-times drivers’ world champion cut Alonso’s lead in the standings to 13 points.

Alonso, 24, and 37-year-old Schumacher were never more than 1.5 seconds apart before making their first fuel and tyre stops on laps 17 and 18, from which the order remained unchanged.

“I think I could have done it at the first pit stops, but I made a mistake in the middle of my in-lap that time and so I had to do it at the second stops,” Alonso said.

“It was really interesting for me to see if I could get out of the pit lane and still be in front,” he added.

Schumacher said the race was tight and competitive with Alonso and he also commented that the windy conditions made conditions more capricious than they appeared to be.

“It made things a bit less predictable,” Schumacher said. “I spent a while behind Fernando — longer then I expected because I wanted to pass him at the first pit stop, but we did pass him later.

“On the car side and engine side, it was completely perfect for me today.”

Ferrari’s good result meant they closed the gap on Renault in the constructors’ championship. Renault lead with 62 points to Ferrari’s 46.

Schumacher’s crucial second pit stop took just 6.8 seconds, two seconds less than Alonso’s, and combined with his in-laps, gave the German a comfortable lead when he exited the pits. He went on to take his 86th win.

Alonso said: “I was controlling the pace in the start and had new tyres at the first pit stop. When I stopped a few laps earlier than planned at the second stop I had a clear track and no traffic, but his laps before his pit stops were very fast and he overtook me. Then I eased off because I need to save the engine for Barcelona.”

Alonso could not stay with Schumacher in the closing stages and slipped into the clutches of Schumacher’s Brazilian teammate Felipe Massa, who stayed behind to take his first podium finish in third, and McLaren’s Finn Kimi Raikkonen who took fourth. Massa said: “My car was very consistent and I could keep up with Michael in the early stages, but then him and Fernando went away and I could just keep third quite well.”

Behind them, Rubens Barrichello took his best finish since joining Honda in fifth, ahead of Alonso’s Italian Renault teammate Giancarlo Fisichella and Williams’ German Nico Rosberg who started last.

Jacques Villeneuve completed the points in eighth for BMW Sauber. A first-corner incident caused the retirement of Toro Rosso’s Vitantonio Liuzzi on the first lap as he was hit by Ralf Schumacher and hit David Coulthard’s Red Bull.

Liuzzi, 24, sustained a broken nosecone and a right-rear puncture — putting him out when the tyre burst at turn 10 — and forcing the deployment of the safety car for one lap while the Toro Rosso was removed.

Coulthard retired with accident damage on lap three. Williams’ Mark Webber retired on lap 13 with hydraulic failure.

Briton Jenson Button dropped out on lap 29 after a power failure, while a rare Toyota engine blow-out cost Ralf Schumacher a certain sixth place with five laps to go. McLaren’s Juan Pablo Montoya dropped out on the same lap with mechanical problems.