Schumacher storms to European GP win

The German's fifth win at his local circuit came after he stayed out three laps longer than World Champion Fernando Alonso at the second round of pitstops, putting in three stunning laps to overhaul the Renault driver and win by 3.7 seconds.

In doing so, the seven-times drivers' World Champion cut Alonso's lead in the standings to 13 points.

Spaniard Alonso and Schumacher were never more than 1.5 seconds apart before making their first fuel and tyre stops on laps 17 and 18, from which the order remained unchanged.

But Schumacher's crucial second pitstop took just 6.8 seconds, two seconds less than Alonso's, and combined with his in-laps, gave the German a comfortable lead when he exited the pits and he went on to take his 86th win.

Alonso could not stay with Schumacher in the closing stages and slipped into the clutches of Schumacher's Brazilian teammate Felipe Massa, who stayed behind to take his first podium finish in third, and McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen, who took fourth.

Behind them, Brazilian Rubens Barrichello took his best finish since joining Honda in fifth ahead of Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella  and Williams' Nico Rosberg, who started last after an engine change yesterday.

Canada's Jacques Villeneuve completed the points in eighth for BMW Sauber.

A first-corner incident caused the retirement of Toro Rosso's Vitantonio Liuzzi on the first lap as he was hit by Toyota's Ralf Schumacher and then went into the side of David Coulthard's Red Bull.

The Italian sustained a broken nosecone and a right-rear puncture - putting him out when the tyre burst at turn 10 - and forcing the deployment of the safety car for one lap while the Toro Rosso was removed.

Coulthard pitted for a new nosecone but retired with accident damage on lap three.

Williams' Mark Webber completed a miserable weekend when he retired at the RTL Kurve on lap 13 following a hydraulic failure.

Jenson Button dropped out from fifth on lap 29 after a power failure in his Honda, while a rare Toyota engine blow-out cost Ralf Schumacher a certain sixth place with five laps to go.

McLaren's Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya also dropped out on the same lap as Schumacher with a mechanical problem.

PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS

The European Grand Prix
The Nurburgring, Europe;
60 laps; 308.863km;
Weather: Sunny.

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time
 1.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari              (B)  1h35:58.765
 2.  Alonso        Renault              (M)  +     3.751
 3.  Massa         Ferrari              (B)  +     4.447
 4.  Raikkonen     McLaren-Mercedes     (M)  +     4.879
 5.  Barrichello   Honda                (M)  +  1:12.856
 6.  Fisichella    Renault              (M)  +  1:14.116
 7.  Rosberg       Williams-Cosworth    (B)  +  1:14.565
 8.  Villeneuve    BMW-Sauber           (M)  +  1:29.364
 9.  Trulli        Toyota               (B)  +     1 lap
10.  Heidfeld      BMW-Sauber           (M)  +     1 lap
11.  Speed         Toro Rosso-Cosworth  (M)  +     1 lap
12.  Monteiro      MF1-Toyota           (B)  +     1 lap
13.  Albers        MF1-Toyota           (B)  +     1 lap

Fastest lap: M.Schumacher, 1:32.099

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                      On lap
R.Schumacher  Toyota               (B)    53
Montoya       McLaren-Mercedes     (M)    53
Sato          Super Aguri-Honda    (B)    46
Montagny      Super Aguri-Honda    (B)    30
Button        Honda                (M)    29
Klien         Red Bull-Ferrari     (M)    29
Webber        Williams-Cosworth    (B)    13
Coulthard     Red Bull-Ferrari     (M)    3
Liuzzi        Toro Rosso-Cosworth  (M)    1


World Championship standings, round 5:                

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  Alonso        44        1.  Renault               62
 2.  M.Schumacher  31        2.  Ferrari               46
 3.  Raikkonen     23        3.  McLaren-Mercedes      38
 4.  Fisichella    18        4.  Honda                 19
 5.  Montoya       15        5.  BMW-Sauber            11
 6.  Massa         15        6.  Williams-Cosworth     10
 7.  Button        13        7.  Toyota                 7
 8.  R.Schumacher   7        8.  Red Bull-Ferrari       2
 9.  Webber         6       
10.  Villeneuve     6       
11.  Barrichello    6       
12.  Heidfeld       5       
13.  Rosberg        4       
14.  Klien          1       
15.  Coulthard      1       
       
All timing unofficial