By Phil Huff (13/08/2003)
August 13 2003

We're sorry it's late, but the Bridgstone Motorsport review of the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim, round 12 of this years Formula One World Championship, is finally in... Round 12 this afternoon produced yet another thrilling race which saw Michael Schumacher battle his way up from his sixth place grid position to second place with fewer than ten laps to go. However, the reigning champion was cruelly robbed of his podium finish after picking up a puncture in the closing stages of the race. The World Champion had earlier performed a superb overtaking manoeuvre to steal second place from Renault's Jarno Trulli, who appeared to be struggling, but had to run wide in the process. However, Schumacher wasn't the only one to suffer today after a first lap crash took out several of the runners including teammate Rubens Barrichello and main title rivals Ralf Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen. Schumacher has retained his Drivers' Championship lead and heads the field by six points. Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro also retains the Constructors' Championship lead.

Lucky Strike BAR Honda's Jenson Button, meanwhile, collected another championship point for eighth place to push him up one spot in the overall championship standings. His teammate Jacques Villeneuve and Sauber Petronas driver Nick Heidfeld also finished in the top ten for Bridgestone.

Hisao Suganuma, Technical Manager at Bridgestone Motorsport, said "A very unlucky race for Ferrari today with first Rubens taken out in the first lap collision involving Kimi Raikkonen and Ralf Schumacher and then Michael getting a puncture just as he was on course for a fantastic second place finish. We have been examining his tyre and initial indications do clearly point towards a puncture. There was a great deal of debris out on that track today which could well have been the cause. It was just desperately unlucky for him because we were actually satisfied with the way his tyres were performing this afternoon, especially on a day when several of our rivals seemed to be struggling. We head in three weeks to Hungary where we hope to exact revenge."