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The Season So Far - Part 4  
Michael Schumacher and Ferrari - World Champions  
Great Britain - Germany - Hungary - Belgium  

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Michael Schumacher and Ferrari won both Titles with 4 races to spare. They may have not dominated every race but they have been by far the most reliable and most consistent team of the top 3. While McLaren and Williams have shown signs of brilliance at a number of races, they have also shown more signs of unreliability and inconsistency and that is why Ferrari have won both Titles so early this season - Congratulations to them.

The focus now switches to the lower ranks in both Championships. McLaren will be trying to stay ahead of Williams while Sauber, BAR and Jordan are fighting for 4th with Benetton not too far behind.
Rubens Barrichello and Ralf Schumacher will be trying to take second place in the Driver's Championship from David Coulthard so there are a few interesting fights to watch.

There were more driver movements over the last 4 races with Heinz Harald Frentzen sacked by Jordan and then swapping with Jean Alesi at Prost. Ricardo Zonta drove for Jordan at the German Grand Prix but didn't impress enough to keep the seat. Tarso Marques drove his last race for Minardi at Spa and Alex Yoong will take his place and Luciano Burti will most likely miss the Italian GP (and possibly the rest of the season) following his high speed crash at Spa but Prost have not announced a replacement yet.

The standings in both Championships as of the Belgian GP:
Constructors' - Ferrari (152) - McLaren (81) - Williams (59) - Sauber (20) - BAR (16) - Jordan (16) - Benetton (10).
Drivers' - M Schumacher (104) - Coulthard (57) - Barrichello (48) - R Schumacher (44) - Hakkinen (24) - Montoya (15) - Villeneuve (11) - Heidfeld (11).

Great Britain - GP Page

With a 31 point gap to Michael Schumacher, David Coulthard knew that his chances were getting slimmer and he knew that Silverstone was his best chance to close that huge gap. He qualified in 3rd behind Michael Schumacher and Mika Hakkinen but at the start he struggled and with Trulli having a better start they touched on the first corner causing enough damage for Coulthard to spin out of the race a few laps later making his chances look very remote.

The Ferrari was not very strong at Silverstone and Mika Hakkinen on a different pit stop strategy than Michael overtook Michael with ease and built a big enough gap to pit again and stay in the lead. It was the first win for Hakkinen this season but he won convincingly proving that if he has a competitive car he'll deliver.
Michael Schumacher came second ahead of his team-mate Rubens Barrichello who managed to keep Juan Pablo Montoya behind him. Juan Pablo Montoya on a 2 stop strategy was stuck behind his team-mate Ralf Schumacher on a single stop for a number of laps preventing him from making up time against Rubens. Ralf Schumacher retired later with engine problems.
Sauber continued to impress this late in the season with Raikkonen and Heidfeld again finishing in the points and ahead of the Jordan's and BAR's. 
Only the top 4 finished on the same lap while 16 cars were classified as finishers. 

The Drivers' Championship: Michael Schumacher leads David Coulthard by 37 points - 84 to 47 points
The Constructors' Championship: Ferrari lead McLaren - 118 to 66 points

Germany - GP Page

Everyone was waiting for Hockenheim to see how dominant will the Williams BMW be and they were certainly in a class of their own from a performance point of view. Juan Pablo Montoya managed to grab his first Pole position of his career ahead of his team-mate Ralf Schumacher. Mika Hakkinen was 3rd on the grid just under 0.7 seconds off the pace of Montoya.
Michael Schumacher continued to struggle at Hockenheim qualifying in 4th making this track one of the few that he has yet to start from Pole on.

At the start Michael Schumacher had a problem with the gearbox and his car slowed, Luciano Burti just hit the back of his car and became airborne. After bringing out the Safety car they decided to stop the race just in time for everyone to be able to restart.
At the restart, the 2 Williams' again disappeared in the distance with Michael Schumacher managing to get ahead of Mika Hakkinen at the start.
Unfortunately for Montoya, his has refuelling problems in the pits delaying him and causing his engine to overheat. He retired as a result a few laps following his pit stop. Ralf Schumacher went on to win the race with a 46 second gap to Barrichello and a surprise Villeneuve. The 2 Benetton's of Fisichella and Button finished 4th and 5th while Jean Alesi in the Prost finished in 6th.
Several of the top drivers suffered mechanical problems with both Hakkinen and Coulthard retiring with engine problems while Michael Schumacher stopped with a fuel pressure problem. 
Only 10 cars were classified as finishers with Sauber, McLaren, Jaguar and Jordan all failing to finish either of their cars. The top 7 cars finished on the same lap.

The Drivers' Championship: Michael Schumacher leads David Coulthard by 37 points - 84 to 47 points.
The Constructors' Championship: Ferrari lead McLaren - 124 to 66 points

Hungary - GP Page

Following the 3 week break in the Formula 1 calendar, the teams headed to Hungary and it was the first time that Ferrari could wrap up both Titles. And they did it in style finishing 1-2 securing both Titles.

Michael Schumacher completely dominated qualifying setting a Pole time that was over 0.8 seconds faster than Coulthard's in second place.
In the race Michael Schumacher led from start to finish (bar a few laps during the pit stops) and was under no threat especially after Coulthard started badly and ended up behind Barrichello. It was just a matter of Michael staying away from trouble and he did. Barrichello managed to finish ahead of Coulthard making it a Ferrari double win.
Coulthard was 3rd ahead of Ralf Schumacher, Mika Hakkinen and Nick Heidfeld.

The race was processional with very few overtaking as the track is too tight and slow. 12 cars finished the race with 5 on the same lap. Benetton, Minardi and Prost failed to finish either of their cars.

The Drivers' Championship: Michael Schumacher wins the Title. He leads David Coulthard by 43 points - 94 to 51 points.
The Constructors' Championship: Ferrari win the Title. They lead McLaren - 140 to 70 points. 

Belgium - GP Page

With both Titles decided, the focus moved to the fight for second place in both the Constructors' (McLaren - Williams) and the Drivers' (Coulthard - Barrichello - R Schumacher). 
As usual, the weather plays a role at Spa with a wet second practice on Friday, a cancelled practice session on Saturday and a wet Qualifying drying in the final minutes.
Michael Schumacher looked dominant in the dry but in mixed conditions it was Williams and their Michelin tyres who had an advantage. In qualifying and with mixed conditions, Montoya grabbed his second Pole this season ahead of his team-mate Ralf Schumacher while Michael only managed 3rd. There were a few surprises with Frentzen in the Prost a surprise 4th, Villeneuve in 6th and Fisichella in 8th. 

In the race, even more surprises with Frentzen stalling on the formation grid then Montoya stalling at the start of the second formation lap. 
When the race eventually started Ralf Schumacher led from Michael and Rubens with Fisichella moving from 8th on the grid to 4th!. Michael was superior in the dry and he easily overtook his brother and took the lead.
On lap 6 Burti trying to pass Irvine touch causing Burti to lose his font wing and go straight into the tyre wall at a very high speed. Luckily he escaped serious injury but the race was stopped for the medical cars to take Burti.
At the formation lap for the second start, Ralf Schumacher (who was 2nd) had a problem and failed to get away relegating him to the back of the grid. At the second start, Michael kept the lead and another amazing start from Fisichella moved him from 4th to second. Fisichella managed to remain in second holding off Coulthard and giving Michael the gap he needs. A few laps from the end David Coulthard passes Giancarlo Fisichella for second but Michael was too far ahead to catch.
14 cars finished the race with 8 on the same lap. Sauber and Jaguar failed to finished either of their cars.

The Drivers' Championship: Michael Schumacher - World Champion. David Coulthard in 2nd leads Rubens Barrichello by 9 points - 57 to 48 points. Ralf Schumacher is 4th 4 points behind Barrichello.
The Constructors' Championship: Ferrari - World Champions. McLaren in 2nd lead Williams by 22 points - 81 to 59 points. Sauber is 4th with 20 points ahead of BAR and Jordan with 16 points each while Benetton in 7th has 10 points.

The final three races of the season are Italy, US and Japan and we are set to see the fight for 2nd place in both championships intensify.

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