It was not easy, claims Ferrari

That is the claim of the team's technical director, Ross Brawn, who said that tyre problems and the strength of Williams-BMW made the world champion's life difficult at the new-look Hockenheim last Sunday.

"During the first stint, Michael had some problems with the [Bridgestone] tyres," said Brawn. "But then after the first stop things began to work the way they should.

"It was one of the toughest races of the year, because the Williams were very strong. Given the high temperatures, we tried to look after the tyres."

Given the nature of Schumacher's dominant victory, Brawn's claim of how tough the race was may be met with a certain degree of scepticism within F1. But his words are supported by the view of Williams' chief operations engineer Sam Michael, who reckons that Ralf Schumacher could have beaten his brother had he not been delayed by his various incidents - and enjoyed a bit of good fortune (see link below).

Ferrari now heads into the mid-summer break, but Brawn stayed true to the usual line that the team never stops working.

"The guys in the team will take a few days off, but the rest of the group is working on the new car," he said.