Ferrari – Michael Schumacher (#5), Felipe Massa (#6): It was a race of up and downs for Ferrari in the Hungarian Grand Prix, following a myriad of factors that contributed to a disappointing, yet significant, seventh and eighth place finish.
Although recent form would not put Ferrari in those positions, lacklustre wet weather tyres, coupled to a penalty in qualifying meant Michael Schumacher had it all to do in the race, but, as has been the case with the German over the years, he fought back gallantly to move into second place in the closing stages, benefiting from Alonso’s mishap and almost certainly putting an eighth title within reach.
However, a collision with
Nick Heidfeld three laps from the finish would see him classified in ninth place, a position that became eighth when
Robert Kubica was later disqualified. Indeed, it was a missed opportunity for Schumacher to put yet more pressure on Alonso, but while he was frustrated to close the gap, he was content that the margin had not increased.
"Five chances to change the current situation and win the title", he said. "The positive news from the Hungary weekend was that I can still win by concentrating only on what I do. The challenge goes on and our chances are undimmed. We should not make the mistake of thinking that our chances dipped after Hungary. Instead we ought to look ahead; we could have found ourselves in a much worse position at this stage of the season. Our desire is exactly the same and Istanbul is a very important stage on the road to the title".
Coming to Turkey having endured an awful introduction to the circuit last year, struggling with an difficult Ferrari and disappointing tyres, Schumacher is nonetheless confident that he can prove competitive on one of the few tracks that doesn’t have his name in the winners circle - yet.
