Preview: Tyres the key as Schumacher, Alonso seek psychological edge

By Elmar Dreher Jul 27, 2006, 13:54 GMT

Hockenheim, Germany - Tyres will be the key element when championship rivals Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso look to gain a psychological edge by winning this weekend's German Formula One Grand Prix.

Ferrari star Schumacher enters his home race on the back of two straight wins at the American and French GPs, cutting the deficit on Alonso from 25 to 17 points with seven races left in the season.

Alonso, his Renault team and tyre makers Michelin were surprised that Schumacher/Ferrari/Bridgestone did so well in France as the track was said to favour the French package.

But now they aim to bounce back on Schumacher's home turf in Germany, where Alonso won last year and Sunday's race comes the day after his 25th birthday.

'It is important to beat Michael in every race not just Hockenheim. But I think that a win in Germany could be worth more than 10 points because of the psychological aspect. I try to win all the races, but it would mean a lot to take the victory here,' he said.

The fifth-place finish in the US was Alonso's worst season result and he only barely managed to snatch second place from Ferrari driver Felipe Massa in France for some damage limitation.

But Alonso has pointed out on several occasions that he won four races in a row after Schumacher won two straight races earlier this season as well.

Schumacher, for his part, is determined to further ride his wave of success in order to deal Alonso another big blow.

'We want to leave Hockenheim as winners. A victory there could be worth more than 10 points from a psychological point of view. We are fully concentrated, we want to pressure (Alonso), to make up ground, to win again,' insisted Schumacher.

'It's no secret that we're going to go for the hat-trick. We've got our minds set on making red the colour of the championship and Hockenheim is meant to be the next step in our bid to catch up.'

Whoever gets the psychological advantage will depend on the quality of the rubbers supplied.

Bridgestone have been a major factor in Ferrari's comeback and Renault team boss Flavio Briatore has urged that 'Michelin must finally wake up' at Hockenheim, where practice on the 4.574- kilometres course is Friday, qualifying Saturday and the 67-lap race Sunday.

Renault technical director Pat Symonds said that 'tyres play a bigger role in total performance than any other factor' this season - with an additional factor being that the title rivals are racing on different rubbers.

'Last year, our rivals (McLaren) had a speed advantage and their Achilles heel was reliability. We were on the same tyres, which meant it would be hard to race them so we went conservative to benefit from their reliability problems.

'This year, Ferrari are on different tyres to us, so their performance is not in synch with ours. What's more, they have had bloody good reliability.

'As a team, we have improved our performance in every area, scored more points and finished more races. But that isn't enough this year, we have to develop aggressively and race aggressively too which is a much more fun way of going racing. In retrospect, 2005 seems almost boring in comparison,' he said.