Faulty fuel pump blamed for Schuey exit

In a rare lapse of reliability for the Maranello-based team, the Ferrari ace actually experienced two mechanical glitches during the race at Hockenheim - it was a gear change malfunction on his F1-2001 that led to Luciano Burti smashing into the back of Schumacher at the start of the race.

But it was a fuel pump failure that caused the three-time world champion - who had taken the re-start in the spare car - to grind to a halt at the exit of the first chicane after his pit stop on lap 23.

"The fuel pump just broke," Brawn told Autosport.com. "We'll have to take all the pieces back and see what happened. It shouldn't be fragile, but it appears to be. So we've got to get on top of it and make sure it doesn't let us down again.

"We've got to understand what has happened. My first reaction was that we hadn't put any fuel in the car, but the guys confirmed that the fuel had gone in OK."

Team principle Jean Todt said the failure was similar to that suffered by Schumacher before the start of the European Grand Prix, when, again in the T-car, Schumacher stopped out on the track.

"After the second start he did have a fuel pump failure," confirmed the Frenchman. "This was probably the same problem that he had before the start at the Nurburgring."

Ferrari's cast-iron reliability has been one of the key factors in the team's success this season. Before the German Grand Prix, Schumacher had just one mechanical failure this year, when gearbox problems forced him to retire from the San Marino Grand Prix, and the team has shown remarkable consistency over the past two years, with at least one Ferrari driver finishing on the podium in the last 31 Grands Prix.

For full Ross Brawn Q&A click here.