ALAIN PROST WINS ACTION-PACKED EUROPEAN GRAND PRIXAlain Prost has won the European GP at the Nurburgring Circuit, Germany, with Jackie Stewart in second and Ayrton Senna third.
Michael Schumacher was one of several retirements in a hectic start to the race, but his championship lead did not suffer too much with Juan Manuel Fangio finishing 8th and Sebastian Vettel also retiring early on.
Fernando Alonso finished a superb 4th place after qualifying on the back row of the grid, while Jack Brabham was one of several relegation-battling drivers to score points and improve their chances of survival.
Brabham finished fifth, with team mate Niki Lauda 9th. Nino Farina also helped his survival hopes by scoring 6 points for 7th place.
The race started in chaotic style, despite everyone getting through the first chicane safely, as two separate incidents at the NGK-Schikane on the opening lap saw retirements for Damon Hill and Denny Hulme. Bizarrely, both retirements came as a result of them being hit by their own team mates, but that didn't matter to Hill who suffered his fourth crash of the season following accidents in Germany, South America and at the last round in Great Britain.
The action-packed opening lap saw Schumacher lead from pole, with Lewis Hamilton making up the ground he lost from his penalty for impeding in qualifying, the Brit moving up to 2nd place ahead of Nino Farina, who had a fantastic opening lap to move himself up to third.
There was barely time to breathe from the opening lap before Alberto Ascari lost control of his Ferrari on the approach to the Michael Schumacher-S chicane on lap 2. The Italian hit Farina going into the turn, ran off the track, and then crashed into Jim Clark when rejoining, forcing Clark to suffer his first retirement of the season. Ascari, as well as his own retirement, was handed a five-place grid penalty for the next race at Monza for causing both collisions.
But the action didn't stop there as Ferrari's race went from bad to over when Michael Schumacher's suspension failed at the end of the second lap. The German was forced to retire from the lead of the race, sacrificing his opportunity of winning a fifth Legends Trophy Grand Prix in a row, and retiring from a winning position in his home race for the second time this season.
Schumacher's loose wheel then ran across the track, and was collected by Sebastian Vettel, resulting in a huge crash for the Red Bull, colliding with the Mercedes of Juan Manuel Fangio. It's the second time Vettel has crashed into Schumacher's debris, after he also collided with a loose wheel following Schumacher's retirement in the tunnel in Monaco. Fangio was forced to pit for a new front wing, dropping him way down the field.
All the action at the start of the race promoted Lewis Hamilton to the lead, with Jackie Stewart just behind in second place, ahead of Prost, Graham Hill, and Mika Hakkinen, who had negotiated his way through the mess to rise to fifth.
But, and not for the first time this season, Hamilton's lead did not last long as his McLaren once again let him down when he was forced to retire with a gearbox problem on lap 8. This promoted Stewart to the lead, the first time the BRM had led a race, with Prost and Senna - who had overtaken Farina, Hakkinen and Hill - second and third.
At the front, the rest of the race was all about the strategy. Both Jackie Stewart and Ayrton Senna opted for a one-stop strategy, with the pit stops allowing Alain Prost to take the lead. Prost, on a no-stop strategy, then set about defending his lead for the remainder of the race from the faster BRM and McLaren cars.
Just like Schumacher did to Prost in the last race, Prost was able to successfully defend his lead and make his strategy work, despite a spin on lap 18 that cost him 14 seconds. The Frenchman becomes the first driver other than Schumacher to win more than one race this season.
Further back, Alonso had a strong race, and was able to overtake several cars after his pit stop to move himself up to fourth place - his best result of the season so far.
The other point of interest for the remaining laps was which of the drivers at the bottom of the Driver's Championship would be able to take the most advantage from all the retirements and score decent points for them and their team. Nino Farina's excellent start was neutralised by his incident with Ascari, but he still held on for a seventh place that moves him three points clear of the bottom five. Mika Hakkinen, however, was not able to convert his fast start into points, the Finn crashing out of the race with eight laps to go.
Michael Schumacher takes a 39 point lead into the next round at Monza, no doubt relieved that Fangio wasn't able to capitalise on his retirement, whilst Prost's victory moves him up to third in the table, one point ahead of Vettel, and mathematically still in with a sniff of the championship, being 60 points behind Schumacher with 125 points still on offer this season.
In the Constructor's Championship, Ferrari's double retirement ended up only costing their lead over McLaren 15 points, they now have a 65 point cushion with five races to go. BRM, meanwhile, have moved themselves clear of the relegation battle - which is now a three-way fight between Cooper, Brabham and Benetton - thanks to Jackie Stewart's well-driven second place.
FULL RACE RESULTGermany - Nurburgring
(34 Laps)
Pos Driver Time/Speed
1st alain prost 45m 27.145s
renault-renault
2nd jackie stewart +3.221s
BRM-BRM
3rd ayrton senna +6.235s
mclaren-mercedes
4th fernando alonso +18.442s
renault-renault
5th jack brabham +25.649s
brabham-ford
6th graham hill +33.071s
lotus-cosworth
7th nino farina +38.423s
benetton-renault
8th juan-manuel fangio +39.277s
mercedes-AMG
9th niki lauda +48.125s
brabham-ford
10th nelson piquet +56.004s
williams-renault
11th jody scheckter +1m 00.287s
benetton-renault
12th mike hawthorn +1m 08.902s
BRM-BRM
13th emerson fittipaldi +1m 09.104s
red bull-renault
14th kimi raikkonen +1m 11.914s
cooper-cosworth
15th mika hakkinen Didn't Finish
mercedes-AMG
16th lewis hamilton Transmission
mclaren-mercedes
17th sebastien vettel Didn't Finish
red bull-renault
18th michael schumacher Suspension
ferrari-ferrari
19th jim clark Didn't Finish
lotus-cosworth
20th alberto ascari Didn't Finish
ferrari-ferrari
21st denny hulme Didn't Finish
cooper-cosworth
22nd damon hill Didn't Finish
williams-renault
DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP1) Michael SCHUMACHER (Ferrari) 176
2) Juan Manuel FANGIO (Mercedes) 137
3) Alain PROST (Renault) 116
4) Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull) 115
5) Ayrton SENNA (McLaren) 112
6) Alberto ASCARI (Ferrari) 83
7) Lewis HAMILTON (McLaren) 82
8) Damon HILL (Williams) 58
9) Graham HILL (Lotus) 56
10) Fernando ALONSO (Renault) 48
11) Jim CLARK (Lotus) 46
12) Jackie STEWART (BRM) 37
13) Emerson FITTIPALDI (Red Bull) 26
14) Nelson PIQUET (Williams) 26
15) Kimi RAIKKONEN (Cooper) 17
16) Nino FARINA (Benetton) 16
17) Niki LAUDA (Brabham) 14
----
18) Jack BRABHAM (Brabham) 13
19) Denny HULME (Cooper) 10
20) Mike HAWTHORN (BRM) 10
21) Mika HAKKINEN (Mercedes) 8
22) Jody SCHECKTER (Benetton) 6
CONSTRUCTOR'S CHAMPIONSHIP1) FERRARI 259
2) MCLAREN 194
3) RENAULT 164
4) MERCEDES 145
5) RED BULL 141
6) LOTUS 102
7) WILLIAMS 84
8) BRM 47
9) COOPER 27
----
10) BRABHAM 27
11) BENETTON 22
Schumacher and Hamilton both had quick starts off the line.
After overtaking Prost on the opening lap, Nino Farina found himself in the unfamiliar place of third position.
Carnage at the back as Damon Hill is shunted off the track by his own team mate.
Several cars had to take avoiding action as Ascari's car and debris littered the track following his crash.
Michael Schumacher suffers his first mechanical failure of the season...
...which resulted in a huge crash when Vettel hit the Ferrari's ailing tyre...
...an incident which also compromised Fangio's race when he was unable to avoid the spinning Red Bull.
Lewis Hamilton's hopes of victory lasted only a few laps after he took the lead, thanks to a gearbox issue.
All the chaos in the opening laps resulted in Jackie Stewart leading his first ever Legend's Trophy Grand Prix laps.
The drivers on a one-stop strategy decided to make their pit stops early in the race.
Fangio's eventful race continued when he went off the track at turn 1 trying to avoid Mike Hawthorn, who had just emerged from the pits.
Prost re-ignited his form in the opening rounds of the season when he spun off the track, but it did not cost him the lead.
Senna had a strong race, overtaking several cars on his way to third.
Hakkinen missed an opportunity to score points when he crashed, and is now 21st in the driver standings.
Alonso drove one of the best races in the field to rise from 21st on the grid to a fourth place finish.
Hawthorn and Lauda provide some late-race entertainment as they battled for 7th.
Alain Prost says he's still in contention for the Driver's Championship after his win, but is 60 points behind with only five races to go.