'Roller coaster' day for Schumacher.

Michael Schumacher was left cursing his inability to close the gap significantly on Fernando Alonso in the championship when he retired three laps from the end of the Hungarian Grand Prix, following an incident with Nick Heidfeld.

For Schumacher, the race had been a 'roller coaster' of events, with the state of his Bridgestone tyres largely determining the outcome of his race.

Indeed, Schumacher began the race exceptionally well, getting a tremendous start to avoid the first corner melee and move into fourth place from eleventh on the grid by the end of the first lap. However, it was from here that Schumacher's race began to unravel around him as he came under immense pressure from championship rival Fernando Alonso, the Spaniard also getting a superb start to hound him over the course of the next few laps.

It was a thrilling battle, with the clearly struggling Schumacher doing everything in his vast experience to keep Alonso behind him, only to see him slide round the outside of turn five and sprint away.

No sooner had he been dispersed by one Renault, then he had the second car of Giancarlo Fisichella crawling over the back of his Ferrari, the Italian taking a little longer to find a way past, but nonetheless putting an aggressive move on the German into the final turn. Undeterred, Schumacher attempted to pass back into the first corner, but instead clipped the back of the Renault, damaging the front wing and forcing an earlier than scheduled pit stop.

With his tyres seemingly struggling in the wet conditions compared to his myriad of Michelin rivals, it was in this second stint that Schumacher had the embarrassment of seeing Alonso pass him again , although the Spaniard was in fact passing him to put a lap on him.

Crucially though, when Kimi Raikkonen's crash produced the safety car, Schumacher, now running in seventh place, unlapped himself while Alonso was in the pit lane and coasted round to the back of the leading pack - a move that allowed to gain almost 40secs on his competitors.

With the circuit beginning to dry, Schumacher and his tyres began to move into their element, despite a small spin after the safety car returned to the pit lane, with the seven-time world champions scything through the pack, catching those ahead by a ferocious rate of knots.

By the time he had emerged from his second stop and Alonso had retired from the grand prix, Schumacher was up to second and seemingly on for a crucial eight points that would slash the Renault driver's lead to just three points.

However, Schumacher failed to add slick tyres to his car, a move that proved a significant mistake. Indeed, as his tyres overheated and shed their tread, Pedro de la Rosa swiftly caught up to the back of him, with Schumacher only having the Hungaroring's lack of overtaking places to thank for him not falling behind immediately.

The tussle came to a head though when de la Rosa dived down the inside of the chicane, with Schumacher choosing to cut the corner and, controversially, stay in front of the Spaniard. His efforts however were in vain when de la Rosa dived down the inside at the same corner a lap later.

By this point, Nick Heidfeld, with whom Schumacher had had a good fight with earlier in the race, was also upon his rear-wing and as he mirrored de la Rosa's move at the chicane, Schumacher turned in on the BMW, breaking his right-front track rod and forcing him into retirement, just three laps from the chequered flag.

Although he was classified in ninth place, it was still an agonising result for Schumacher, who remains eleven points behind Alonso. Indeed, he was frustrated not to have taken advantage of his rivals retirement, as well as not taken the chance to put slick tyres in the latter stages of the race, but consoled himself with the fact that the gap is no larger.

"Of course, I am very disappointed. We had a great opportunity but we did not take it. All weekend and especially the race was something of a roller coaster and in the end, we found ourselves back where we started, although with one less race to go. The track rod broke as Heidfeld went past.

"We touched, partly because the track was still a bit slippery. These things happen. Did we take a risk staying out on track with intermediate tyres and in the fight with my rivals? That's the way I am. I always want to fight for the top which is why I have won so often. There are still five races to go. Nothing is yet lost and I will give it my all in trying to win the title."

Just to add to Schumacher's up and down day, the disqualification of Robert Kubica after the race would see him move into a point's position in eighth place, despite the retirement [see separate story].

As a result, Schumacher has closed the gap down to Alonso after all, albeit by only one point, to ten points, or the equivelent of a race win and his rival retiring.