Brawn Plots Schumacher to Historic Win

Michael Schumacher made a point of thanking Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn on Sunday after winning the Formula One title.

Briton Brawn deserved the praise.

A tall, heavily-built and studious man, Brawn wears spectacles and is as unsuited to his fireproof overalls as the athletic and slim Schumacher appears born to them.

But it was Brawn's quick-thinking which again enabled Schumacher and Ferrari to regain the initiative and win a race that appeared to be going away from them.

The outcome was Schumacher's third drivers' world championship and Ferrari's first in 21 years, a great reward to both men for the tough times they have shared together in the last four years at Ferrari.

"We've had four really tough years at Ferrari and today's hard-fought victory is a dream come true," said Brawn after the race as he attempted to absorb the events of the day.

"When I came to Ferrari, this was my ambition and to achieve this championship title is the end to that ambition at last.

"The critical point in the race was McLaren's second pit-stop and it was that which allowed us to get past Mika (Hakkinen) and into the lead.

"The conditions were tricky at the time and we were fortunate that in that respect, Mika was struggling with the rain as it increased.

"Michael, of course, just did his normal brilliant job and managed to stay in touch with Mika through the middle stint of the race. He then made everything count at the end of that second stint and the beginning of the third."

Modestly, Brawn deflected praise for his part in Schumacher's win to the team and the driver, but it was his decision to keep Schumacher out on the track for three laps, when it was wet, before a second stop that was critical.

That decision gave Schumacher a substantial lead as he drove on a clear track -- with no car ahead of him to chase and pass -- while Hakkinen was recovering on cold tyres and trying to fight his way past the back-markers.

And when the Ferrari crew did perform, at Schumacher's second stop, they added to the advantage by doing their tyres-and-fuel work in exactly six seconds compared with Hakkinen's time of 7.4 seconds three laps earlier.

"The second pit stop for Mika and McLaren was the deciding factor in the fight for the world championship," conceded McLaren technical director Adrian Newey.

"We weren't quick enough in the damp sections at the time of the pitstops."

After that, on a damp circuit, it was Schumacher's sheer artistry in the conditions which enabled him to control a cushion of five seconds on his way to win by 1.8 seconds.

"We were getting very concerned towards the end," admitted Brawn. "The rain played its part because it was making the track greasier towards the end."

He pledged that Ferrari would now work harder than ever to seal up the 'double' of drivers and constructors' titles by winning the final race in Malaysia. "It would be a nice way to round off an historic year," he grinned.