grandprix

The Formula One season moves to Germany for the European Grand Prix at the Nuerburgring this weekend where world champion Fernando Alonso regards McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen as a bigger threat than Michael Schumacher.

Fresh from his first win in 13 races, Ferrari's Schumacher can count on plenty of support from his home German fans at the circuit nestling among the forests of the Eifel hills.

It is also a home track for McLaren's engine partners Mercedes, who are hungry for the team's first win of the campaign in the fifth round of the 18-race season.

"I am expecting a big fight again," said 24-year-old Alonso, who has two wins and two second places in his Renault from the season's opening races and a 15-point advantage over seven times champion Schumacher.

"The level of competition is much closer than the championship standings suggest and there will be some big challengers."

McLaren have the same Michelin tyres as championship leaders Renault, who expect the French manufacturer to get the better of Ferrari's partners Bridgestone in what could be a cold and wet fifth race of the season.

"The Michelin tyres have performed very consistently at every circuit this year and they have done a great job," the Spaniard added.

"It will be the same in Germany, I am sure, so we will see a big push from McLaren-Mercedes at their home race, running on the same Michelin tyres as us."

TRIPLE FAILURE

Raikkonen, winner of seven races in 2005, has a record of three retirements in the last three years at the Nuerburgring but that does not tell the real story.

The Finn would have won last year, had he not flat-spotted a tyre and suffered suspension failure on the last lap while leading Alonso, and was in a race of his own in 2003 until his engine blew up. His engine also failed in 2004.

"I am hoping to have a less dramatic race this year," Raikkonen said.

Colombian team mate Juan Pablo Montoya also has a strong track record, being runner-up in 2001 and 2003 with Williams, and took his first podium of the year with third place at Imola.

Ferrari were strong at that San Marino Grand Prix two weeks ago but Alonso suggested the jury remained out on the Italian team.

"What we don't know at the moment is how consistent Ferrari will be. So far, they have been strong at the same tracks as in 2005, and not so good at others," said Alonso who will join McLaren next year.

"It is too early to say if it will be the same this year, so we can't write them off -- and Michael is racing in front of his people too."

The Spaniard will have a new 'B specification' RS26 engine after completing two races with the old one.

The Nuerburgring is also a home race for BMW and Nick Heidfeld as well as Williams' Nico Rosberg, who has German nationality despite being the son of Finland's 1982 world champion Keke.

Heidfeld started on pole last year for Williams and finished second.

Toyota, with their team based in nearby Cologne, will have a strong presence at the race with the entire factory workforce invited to attend.

Italian Jarno Trulli, who took the first podium finish of his career at the Nuerburgring with Prost in 1999, could use the support as he seeks his first point of the year.

Facts and figures for Sunday's European Formula One Grand Prix (round five of the 18-race championship):

Venue: Nuerburgring, Germany.

Race distance: 60 laps of 5.148 km (3.199 miles), total distance 308.863 km (191.938 miles).

Race lap record: Michael Schumacher (Germany) Ferrari, one minute 29.468 (207.144 kph/128.713 mph). 2004.

2005 pole: Nick Heidfeld (Germany) Williams 1:30.081

Past records of drivers at the Nuerburgring:

05 04 03 02 01 00 99 98 97 96 95 Fernando Alonso 1 5 4 - 14 - - - - - - Michael Schumacher 5 1 5 2 1 1 - 2 R 2 1 Kimi Raikkonen R R R 3 10 - - - - - - Giancarlo Fisichella 6 6 12 R 11 5 R 6 R 13 - Juan Pablo Montoya 7 8 2 R 2 - - - - - - Jenson Button 10 3 7 5 13 10 - - - - - Felipe Massa 14 9 - 6 - - - - - - - Ralf Schumacher R R 1 4 4 R 4 R R - - Mark Webber R 7 6 15 - - - - - - - Nick Heidfeld 2 10 8 7 R DQ - - - - - Jacques Villeneuve 13 - R 12 9 R 10 8 1 1 - Rubens Barrichello 3 2 3 1 5 4 3 11 R 5 4 David Coulthard 4 R 15 R 3 3 R 3 R 3 3 Christian Klien - 12 - - - - - - - - - Jarno Trulli 8 4 R 8 R R 2 R - - - Vitantonio Liuzzi 9 - - - - - - - - - - Christijan Albers 17 - - - - - - - - - - Takuma Sato 12 R - 16 - - - - - - - Tiago Monteiro 15 - - - - - - - - - -

R=retired, DQ=disqualified.

NOTE: 1997 and 1998 races were as Luxembourg Grand Prix.

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Last five winners at the Nuerburgring:

2005 - Fernando Alonso (Spain) Renault

Alonso won after Raikkonen suffered suspension failure on the last lap while leading. Heidfeld, starting on pole position for the first time, was second for Williams. BAR returned after a two-race ban.

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2004 - Michael Schumacher (Germany) Ferrari

Schumacher won for the sixth time in seven races but left the champagne unsprayed in respect to FIAT chairman Umberto Agnelli, who had died on the Thursday. Barrichello made it a Ferrari one-two with BAR's Jenson Button third. Both McLarens retired with engine failure. BAR's Takuma Sato became the first Japanese to start from the front row.

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2003 - Ralf Schumacher (Germany) Williams

A one-two finish for Williams, Ralf triumphant after 23 races without a win. Montoya collided with Michael Schumacher, who spun off and finished fifth after being pushed out of the gravel by marshals. Raikkonen led from his first career pole until his Mercedes engine blew.

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2002 - Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Ferrari

Second win of Barrichello's career, with Schumacher second, after moving over for the German in Austria.

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2001 - Michael Schumacher (Germany) Ferrari

The Schumacher brothers lined up on the front row with Michael on pole. The Ferrari veered across the track at the start, forcing Ralf to back off. He was fourth for Williams.

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Ferrari wins at Nuerburgring (old and new circuit since 1950): 13 (1951, 1952, 1953, 1956, 1963, 1964, 1972, 1974, 1985, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004).

Williams: Three (1996, 1997, 2003)

McLaren: Three (1976, 1984, 1998).

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Circuit details:

Nestling in the wooded Eifel mountains south of Cologne, the old track was regarded as the most challenging in the world until it was taken off the calendar in 1976 following Austrian Niki Lauda's near-fatal crash.

Lauda suffered severe burns and was saved by four fellow drivers who dragged him from his blazing car.

A shorter track opened again in 1982 and Formula One returned for the 1984 and 1985 seasons. The track was modified again in 2002 with a new stadium section after cutting across the infield.

The weather is often damp and cloudy, and has played a decisive part in previous races.

Formula One will switch to a three-phase knockout qualifying system next season after a meeting of the Formula One Commission on Monday (October 24).

Five cars will drop out after a first 15-minute session and another five after a second stint. The remaining 10 will then fight for pole in a 20-minute final session.

The changes were agreed at a London hotel during a meeting of the commission which is composed of members of all teams together with sponsors, tire companies and other interested groups and is convened by the governing International Automobile Federation (FIA).

Qualifying has been a subject of debate since the single-lap format was introduced at the end of 2002 to replace the previous free-for-all session.

The current system, with each car running alone against the clock, has been much criticized by teams and broadcasters.

Sunday qualifying was introduced this year and then abandoned after six races following protests.

Tire changes are also making a return despite objections from some teams. A FIA proposal for a radical new rear wing concept, designed to facilitate overtaking, also won the support of teams for 2007 subject to further input from their technical directors.

The Centreline Downwash Generating (CDG) Wing, formulated with the help of the FIA's technology partner AMD, would eliminate the current single rear wing and replace it with two box-like wings, one behind each rear wheel.

FIA president Max Mosley said "The changes for 2007 are to enable the cars to overtake. At the moment you need more or less a two second advantage in order to overtake and we feel that that is too big and we would rather have cars that are able to overtake almost at will. That will be the case with these new regulations."

A recent survey commissioned by the FIA found that 94 percent of the viewing public wanted to see more overtaking.

"It is intended that the CDG wing, together with wider wheels and slick tires, will form part of the 2008 FIA Formula One technical regulations," the FIA said in a statement.

"With the support and collaboration of the teams it may be possible to introduce these changes as early as 2007."

The idea is to allow cars to run closer together without performance loss, with the wings creating a wake that gives a following car more downforce and reduced drag.

But outgoing principal of the Minardi team Paul Stoddart was unsure if the change would be ratified by 2007.

"It has to go through the process of gaining eight votes out of 10 in the technical working group, I'm not so convinced it's going to go through for 2007," he said.

The much speculated Honda-backed formula one team is to be confirmed in Tokyo and will be run by the former driver Aguri Suzuki, who became the first Japanese to score a podium finish in a world championship round when he was third in his home grand prix at Suzuka in 1990.

Suzuki's own specialist racing team is to be expanded to field the cars that will benefit from a supply of Honda V8 engines identical to those that will power the works BAR-Honda challengers of Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello. However, it is not yet clear whether Suzuki, who may choose the former BAR test driver Anthony Davidson to complete his driver line-up alongside Takuma Sato, will be ready to compete in 2006 or be forced through lack of preparation time to defer his world championship entry until the following year.

It is believed that arrangements have been completed for Suzuki to operate the team from Leafield technical centre, the facility near Chipping Norton that formerly housed Tom Walkinshaw's TWR organisation and the Arrows formula one squad before they went out of business in 2002.

Suzuki's name had been linked with plans for a second Honda-backed team ever since the news that Sato was being replaced by Barrichello next season caused an outcry among his many fans in the run-up to last month's Japanese grand prix. Honda immediately announced that it would do everything to keep Sato in formula one, and though the decision to back a second team was seen by some observers as extremely impulsive, it quickly became clear that the idea of an 11th team on the starting grid had attracted the support of Bernie Ecclestone, the sport's commercial rights holder.

In order to compete in next year's world championship Suzuki's team must lodge their entry with the sport's governing body, the FIA, together with the $48m bond that is a requirement for all new teams. The regulations state that this money is paid back monthly with interest over the team's first season in formula one.

It remains to be seen precisely what cars the Suzuki team will actually run in formula one, as the regulations require them to design and build their own machine. It had been speculated that they might field customer versions of next year's BAR 008 chassis, but it is understood that the Concorde agreement does not permit this.

"You must have the intellectual property rights to your car, and the parts must not be designed or manufactured by another constructor," said Max Mosley, the FIA president. "They can be by an independent, non-competing third party like Lola, but not a constructor. You can't just buy a car."

The Suzuki team nevertheless is hoping to rely on BAR-Honda for assistance, advice and technical guidance, although the BAR team principal Nick Fry agreed that it would be a difficult challenge for the new team to make the grid for the start of the 2006 season.

Max Mosley, the FIA president, will unveil his vision for the formula one car of the future when he reveals a radical new aerodynamic concept to a meeting of team principals in London. A dramatic rear-wing treatment and the re-introduction of slick tyres will make this new generation of cars look very different to the current crop of machines.

Mosley's proposals, designed to promote overtaking by reducing the trailing turbulence which makes it difficult for a car to get close enough to try to pass another, is scheduled to be incorporated from 2008 but he is hoping to persuade the teams to sanction them for the 2007 season.

The joint efforts of the FIA and its technology partner AMD have produced the "centreline downwash generating wing". This innovation creates a wake that allows a trailing car to create more downforce with which to overtake. "By introducing the CDG wing," said Mosley, "we can give motor sport fans exactly what they have asked for: wheel-to-wheel racing with much more overtaking."

Wider wheels and slick tyres, outlawed in 2007, will also form part of the 2008 regulations. The FIA has agreed to their return as they feel the reduction in power from the new generation of 2.4-litre V8 engines makes the ban unnecessary. The use of spare cars and the issue of whether tyre changes during races should be revived for 2006.