Ralf wins at home

A DREAM come true for one Schumacher nearly turned into a nightmare for the other in the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim yesterday.

Ralf Schumacher drove to victory in his Williams-BMW, but championship leading brother Michael was involved in a startline crash in his Ferrari and then later had to retire after the re-start when his spare car failed.

However, the elder Schumacher's main championship rival, David Coulthard, also retired his McLaren-Mercedes soon after, leaving the gap between them at 37 points with five races and 50 points still to be won.

Rubens Barrichello upheld Ferrari honour with second place while Jacques Villeneuve was a surprise third in a BAR-Honda.

The Benetton-Renault pair of Giancarlo Fisichella and Jenson Button and the Prost of Jean Alesi rounded out the top six, emphasising what a race of attrition this was, with just 10 finishers.

Pole qualifier Juan-Pablo Montoya's chances were snuffed out by a jammed fuel hose in his pit stop after he led the opening 21 laps. He retired on lap 25 when his engine blew.

Ralf Schumacher, who qualified second fastest, took over from Montoya and was never headed.

"It has been an unbelieveable day and I am very, very happy," Ralf said.

"It is just great for a German driver, with a German engine to win the German Grand Prix." Michael Schumacher, who qualified fourth, had gear change problems at the green light and he pulled over into the middle of the track to avoid cars behind him. But Prost driver Luciano Burti, coming through from the eighth row, smashed into the back of the Ferrari, and backflipped on to the top of Enrique Bernoldi's Arrows before returning back to its wheels and slamming into the first corner tyrewall. Amazingly, Burti was unharmed.

"I am not too disappointed as the situation in the championship remains the same and there is one less race to go," Michael Schumacher said.

"Of course I'm very happy for Ralf as this is our home race and it was good to see him win here." British GP winner Mika Hakkinen, who qualified third, was the first of the front runners to fall by the wayside, as the left-side radiator of his McLaren spewed its contents on to the track on lap 15.

* Australian Mark Webber's F3000 championship hopes suffered a blow in the ninth race of the year at Hockenheim yesterday, when he was forced to retire after his car sustained excessive damage in a first corner incident.

The Super Nova Lola driver remains second in the drivers' standings, 10 points behind leader Justin Wilson, but with 3 races to go and 30 points on offer he is still a chance to take out the title.

RACE RESULTS
1 Ralf Schumacher (Williams-BMW) 1:18.17.873
2 R Barrichello (Ferrari) +46.117
3 J Villeneuve (BAR-Honda) +62.806
4 G Fisichella (Benetton-Renault) +63.477
5 J Button (Benetton-Renault) +65.454
6 J Alesi (Prost-Ferrari) +65.950
7 O Panis (BAR-Honda) +77.527
8 E Bernoldi (Arrows-Asiatech) +1 lap
9 J Verstappen (Arrows-Asiatech) + 1 lap
10 F Alonso (Minardi-Ford) +1 lap DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP
1 M Schumacher (GER) 84
2 D Coulthard (SCO) 47
3 R Schumacher (GER) 41
4 Barrichello (BRA) 40
5 M Hakkinen (FIN) 19
6 J-P Montoya (COL) 15
7 Villeneuve (CAN) 11
8 N Heidfeld (UK) 10
=9 Trulli (ITA) 9
=9 Raikkonen (FIN) 9 CONSTRUCTORS' CHAMPIONSHIP
1 Ferrari 124
2 McLaren-Mercedes 66
3 BMW Williams 56
4 Sauber Petronas 19
5 BAR Honda 16
6 Jordan Honda 15
7 Benetton Renault 6
8 Jaguar 5
9 Prost Acer 4
10 Arrows Asiatech 1 Next round: Hungarian Grand Prix, Hungaroring, August 19