Cooper Straight

After the race of his life Jenson was seriously pumped up, buoyed by the result, the battles he had along the way, and by the way he overcame a frustrating distraction that made it even harder to focus on the job at hand.

Since his second place at Imola several of his podium finishes have been influenced by problems for others, and indeed had Kimi Raikkonen not crashed, this might have been a third place. But given his starting position the guy deserves full credit. Jenson himself admits that Hockenheim was special.

"The best. Some have come close, but that was the best drive I've ever had. I had some really good racing, it wasn't all done in the pit stops. I had to overtake a few guys out there, and I had a fantastic race. To finish eight seconds behind Michael when he started on pole and I started 13th is not bad at all. It's a little bit disappointing, obviously, because if we started where we qualified we would have had a very good chance of winning. But forget that, and even so it's been a fantastic weekend..."

It really is a case of what might have been. Could he have beaten Michael had he started third, rather than the penalised 13th? Who knows, but at least it was a lot better than even he expected after that annoying engine change.

"You always think the worst. I thought I'd qualify 16th or 17th, and I might get up into the points. But feeling the car yesterday, it felt very good, and also our qualifying performance was staggering considering how much fuel I had on board. I knew I'd have an exciting race, but even so I didn't expect to finish second. Fifth really would have been achievable, I thought, but second is fantastic. It gives me more confidence in the whole team and also in myself.'

It's well worth having a look at what the first pitstops revealed about Jenson's qualifying performance:



M Schumacher: 10 laps
K Raikkonen: 11
J Button: 14
D Coulthard: 10
F Alonso: 9
J Trulli: 10
R Barrichello: (unknown - topped up on first lap)
T Sato: 10
O Panis: 11
A Pizzonia: 9



You might think that Jenson was helped up the field by a stunning first lap. In fact the only gains he made were from other people's problems, and he was actually overtaken by a Toyota!

"I had a terrible start. I got held up on the first corner and locked up into Turn 3, and it just made it all a bit messy. I think I ended up 13th [actually 12th] after the first lap, but from then on the car was fantastic..."

Note that the following tables record Jenson's position as he crossed the finish line - in some cases he passed rivals as they were heading down the pitlane, and in others after they had stopped, and were thus technically already on their next lap.

Grid: 13th
Lap 1: 12th (Panis starts at back, Barrichello pits, passed by da Matta)
Lap 2: 11th (re-passes Da Matta)
Lap 4: 10th (passes Klien)
Lap 9: 9th (Pizzonia pits)
Lap 10: 7th (Alonso and Sato pit)
Lap 11: 4th (Schumacher, Trulli and Coulthard pit)
Lap 12: 1st (Raikkonen, Montoya and Webber pit)
Lap 14: Jenson Pits (Raikkonen crashes)
Lap 15: 5th

Having been ninth before the stops started, he emerged in fifth place. This was his true position, as there were no two-stopping stragglers in the way. Not counting the unfortunate Raikkonen, he had in effect gained four places purely by stopping later and putting in some great laps when it mattered most - full marks to BAR for smart strategy.

Lap 15: 5th
Lap 21: 4th (passes Montoya)
Lap 28: 3rd (Coulthard pits)
Lap 29: 2nd (Schumacher pits)
Lap 30: 1st (Alonso pits)
Lap 34: Jenson pits
Lap 35: 3rd

Jenson lost a lot of ground behind Montoya, but nevertheless made more progress with this late second stop, getting himself safely ahead of Coulthard. Alonso was now his next target, but he faced an unexpected problem with his helmet, although it wasn't immediately picked up by the on-board TV camera.

"It was after the second pitstop. I must have knocked it or something, and it came a little bit loose around the neck. My helmet was lifting up, and really choking me. It made it very difficult to breathe, so I just had to take a little bit easier and hold my helmet down so I could breathe a little bit. There's a little thing on it that you pull and it opens the strap up. Obviously we'll be looking at it, and it won't happen again."

Nevertheless, he was soon embroiled in a fantastic dice with Alonso.

"We really enjoyed it. I'm sure I enjoyed it more than him, because I overtook him! The first battle was really exciting, and while I was battling I had the problem with the helmet, so I backed off. When you're under that much pressure, and your heartbeat is pumping, it makes it difficult, it makes you very anxious! I had a lot of arm ache after the race, but it was all worth it."

Lap 35: 3rd
Lap 47: 2nd (Alonso pits)
Lap 48: 1st (Schumacher pits)
Lap 50: Jenson pits
Lap 51: 3rd

Just before this last stop Jenson came across Jarno Trulli, and he lost a few vital seconds behind the Renault. Just enough in fact to ensure that he came out of the pits just behind the sister Renault of Alonso. Button wasn't too impressed:

"It was very disappointing. The blue flags here have been atrocious, but when Fernando pitted, I found myself behind another Renault, who I was lapping, which was Jarno. There were no blue flags for two laps, so it was a job well done by Renault, if it was on purpose. He held me up just enough so that Fernando was in front of me after the stops. That way round it was very exciting, because I was able to overtake him on the circuit..."

In fact it didn't take him long, although the helmet problem continued to be a hindrance:

"I didn't think I was going to be able to get past Fernando. It slowed me up because I wasn't concentrating so much, but I was able to get past him."

Lap 51: 3rd
Lap 52: 2nd (passes Alonso)

Jenson was now 10.2 secs behind Schumacher, with 14 laps to go. It was close enough to keep the Ferrari driver on his toes, but Jenson had his hands full, literally, with his loose helmet. The progress of the gap between the pair makes for fascinating reading, as Michael responded with metronomic precision to whatever Jenson managed, and did just enough to keep a comfortable margin:



Lap 52: 10.272s
Lap 53: 9.742s
Lap 54: 10.186s
Lap 55: 10.529s
Lap 56: 10.309s
Lap 57: 9.940s
Lap 58: 9.707s
Lap 59: 9.473s
Lap 60: 9.104s
Lap 61: 9.410s
Lap 62: 9.683s
Lap 63: 9.461s
Lap 64: 9.902s
Lap 65: 9.888s
Lap 66: 8.388s (Finish)

A fascinating postscript to all this is that at the end of the first lap, Jenson was 9.362s behind Michael. So in effect he ran the rest of the race at exactly the same speed as the winner, despite often being behind other cars.

In fact he lost time stuck behind people in that first stint, and at one point the gap doubled. Between lap 4 and 9 he was caught behind one particular driver who ensured that margin from the leader to Jenson went from 13.309s to 19.475s. Once in clear air, Jenson flew.

And the name of the culprit? Takuma Sato...



Jenson had every reason to be pleased with himself afterwards.

"It was a great race, fantastic. To start 13th and finish second, especially with how bad the start was... We expected to be quick here, but we also expected to be quick at Silverstone, and we weren't really. We've got to be positive. We have some new parts to try in Hungary, and there's no reason why we can't challenge for a win. I think Ferrari - like around this circuit - will suffer slightly because I think the Michelins are a better tyre there.

"This is the way it should be, this is what we've all worked for. I think this car should have won the race here, but we haven't got it together yet completely, like Ferrari, We had the problem on Friday and had to go back 10 places. Our time will come..."

Back in 1993 a certain Damon Hill kept coming close to scoring his maiden victory for Williams. It finally came in Hungary. Will history repeat itself?