No longer a clear blue sky, Red blur appears

When Michael Schumacher drove, everybody watched. That until last year was Formula One in a nutshell. With a wobbly start to the 2005 season...

When Michael Schumacher drove, everybody watched. That until last year was Formula One in a nutshell. With a wobbly start to the 2005 season the German’s reputation took a tailspin and that famous Ferrari reputation was dented — if not completely mangled.

But trust Schumi to take a tight U-turn. On Sunday he brought the F1 world to the edge of their seats with a drive that saw him narrow a 31.6 seconds lead — held by eventual winner Fernando Alonso — to 0.2 to finish second at the San Marino GP.

Despite the fact that Ferrari had won the last six races at Imola in front of the home fans, there were doubts if Schumi can even be on the podium this time.

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Well aware of the pressure, Schumi worked out a strategy that concentrated of three areas — utilising his fuel-load to the maximum, spending minimum time in the pits and, most importantly, never ever compromising on the speed.

But things didn’t go as planned in the initial part of the race. Third in provisional pole after first qualifying he went off the track at the Rivazza corner in second qualifying session to be placed at the 13th spot.

Despite these setbacks, Schumi stuck to his plan. When his teammate Reubens Barrichello pitted early Schumi didn’t panic, he took his scheduled spot on the 27th lap — the second last among the field. This saw him move to the 10th position. His second pit stop came in the 49th — a lap after he had passed Button — and emerged out 0.444s off Alonso.

The total time spent in the pits — 9.5s in the first and 6.1 in the second — was the least by any driver today. Add to this his faster laps than Alonso and the stage was set for a thrilling finish.

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In his quest to close in of the Renault driver, Schumi had a 1:21.858s run on Lap 48, which by far was the best of the day.

The last 12 laps saw some classic Formula 1 driving. Schumi on Lap 55 was inches behind Alonso’s gearbox as debutant Lussi found himself caught in this red hot chase. That was the closet Schumi could come to Alonso. Ultimately the aggressive attacker was given no leeway from the stone-walling leader till he saw the chequered flag.

Schumi despite finishing a close second proved that the new-Ferrari car has no match on the track this season. The German driver has already served a warning: ‘‘This time it was close, next time it will be different’’.