[Sun Jul-28 16h10 CET] - Damon Hill watched as the car he had been shadowing for the last 8 laps blows its Renault engine
and retires on to the grass. Thus ended a great race by Gerhard Berger just 3 laps from the end. Hill
continued on to his 20th win with Alesi second and Villeneuve third.
At the start Hill lost his pole advantage before the first corner as Berger came past followed quickly by Alesi (from 5th on the grid !!). This trio quickly pulled away from the next group of Schumacher, Coulthard, Villeneuve, Irvine and Hakkinen. Disaster struck for Hakkinen on lap 13 when his gearbox failed after a pit stop.
The only Ferrari failure came on lap 34 when a smoking Irvine pulled onto the grass. Schumacher hung on to finish fourth but was never really in the race.
After a round of pit stops Hill was in the lead and trying to pull away from Berger, not far enough though as Berger crept back into the lead during Hills final stop. Hill quickly caught Berger but could not find a way past - and then the engine blew and there was no more Berger.
[Sun Jul-28 10h10 CET] - For the second race in a row Mika Hakkinen set the pace at the pre race warm up session.
In fact his McLaren team dominated the session with team mate David Coulthard holding fastest time for
nearly 20 of the 30 minutes.
Schumacher (6th), Diniz (12th) and Panis (11th) all took trips through the gravel at the difficult first chicane. Problems caused Jos Verstappen to retired early in the session and left him with the 17th fastest time.
Once again Heinz Harold Frentzen was sporting a new design on his crash helmet. The design came from a Schools competition to increase the use of cycle helmets. After the race the helmet will be auctioned for charity.
Story of the top time: 10m 1m 48.485s Hill 11m 1m 47.687s Coulthard 15m 1m 46.822s Coulthard 25m 1m 46.031s Coulthard 28m 1m 45.983s Hakkinen 30m 1m 45.905s Hakkinen
Notes from Qualifying:
- David Coulthard was fastest through the speed traps at 341.7kph
- Minardi put in a protest against Damon Hill breaking a rule in the pits. The judges
cleared Hill. If Hill had been found guilty his pole time would be disallowed and
Lavaggi (for Minardi) would be within the 107% rule and could race.
- For a time Tyrrell ran front tires on the back in an attempt to reduce the
aerodynamic drag. Using this configuration Katayama set his fastest lap.
[Sat Jul-27 14h10 CET] - In the last minute of qualifying Damon Hill smashed Micheal Schumachers dream of pole in Germany by over half
a second. Seconds later Gerhard Berger pushes Schumacher back to 3rd on the grid.
Having completely dominated qualifying Schumacher pulled into the pits a few minutes before the end of the session with no laps left. Hill had already run a faster lap through the mid lap time check points but lost out with a mistake in the last few corners. His final fast lap started just before the session end and this time he made no mistakes.
Team mate Jacques Villeneuve will be sixth on the grid after a disappointing first ever qualifying session at Hockenheim. His problems were compounded by losing half of the mornings free session time due to a blown engine.
Both McLaren drivers gave good performances during the day, Hakkinen was fastest in the morning sessions and ended the qualifying fourth on the grid. During qualfying David Coulthard ran a blinder of a lap and was on provisional pole at the last split time only to lose his pace in the final few corners. He starts seventh on the grid.
The Forti team although at the circuit did not run today and so will not compete the Grand Prix. Forti are reported to have split from their main sponsor Shannon.
[Fri Jul-26 14h10 CET] - Austrian Gerhard Berger lead an unusual top 6 after the first days practice sessions for the German Grand Prix.
David Coulthard was second fastest with Eddie Irvine third.
Mika Hakkinen was fastest after the morning sessions followed by Berger, Alesi and Hill. Michael Schumacher was 6th fastest.
These times stood until halfway through the second session when Jean Alesi moved up into 2nd place. 5 minutes later David Coulthard took fastest time by 0.2s from his team mate. 37 minutes into the session saw Irvine move from 7th to 5th. Englishman Martin Brundle then came up from 10th to 4th..
In the last 10 minutes Berger set the last fastest time and Irvine moved into 3rd. Schumacher ended the session in 7th with Hill in 8th and Villeneuve in 11th.
Image of the day came 5 minutes before the end - Lavaggi (who has replaced Fisichella in the Minardi) pulls onto the grass with engine problems. He slowly removes the steering wheel and leisurely gets out of the car, behind his head flames are sprouting from the vent hole, by the time he stands up the back of his car is really on fire - the first indication he has of any trouble is when marshalls start with the fire extinguishers.
Once again the Forti Team did not drive on the first day.