World champion Michael Schumacher restored formula one to normal order in Germany on Sunday when he won the European Grand Prix at a canter as Ferrari claimed their fourth one-two of the season.
German Schumacher, who was beaten for the first time this season in last weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix, made the perfect comeback in his homeland as he led from his 60th career pole position to claim his sixth win in seven races.
His smooth and calculated performance blew away thoughts that Italian Jarno Trulli’s Monaco victory for Renault could herald a challenge to the world champion’s domination.
And Barrichello completed Ferrari’s return to form as he used a two-stop tactic, compared to most other drivers’ three-stop strategies, to climb from his seventh place on the grid to second by the end of the 60-lap race.
Behind the red rout, which saw Schumacher extend his championship lead over Barrichello to 14 points, Briton Jenson Button claimed his fifth podium finish in six races as he came home third for BAR-Honda.
His teammate Takuma Sato looked set to equal the best finish for a Japanese driver but a strong third place was ended with a desperate lunge on Barrichello and engine failure eventually forced him out late in the race.
Trulli finished fourth, ahead of his fifth-placed Spanish teammate Fernando Alonso for the fourth time this season, as Renault continued their impressive reliability with another double finish.
Italian Giancarlo Fisichella, who rolled his Sauber into the barriers in Monaco, finished sixth and Australian Mark Webber secured his second points finish of the season in seventh for Jaguar.
Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya claimed the final point after a terrible race saw him knock his Williams teammate Ralf Schumacher out of the race at the first corner.
Michael Schumacher got away cleanly from pole but further back Montoya locked his wheels as he tried to avoid Barrichello and crashed into the back of Ralf Schumacher’s car as he steered left to avoid a collision with the Ferrari.
Schumacher’s car spun around, knocked off Montoya’s front wing and blocked the track, leaving Toyota driver Cristiano da Matta with nowhere to go and forcing both of them out of the race.
Both Finn Kimi Raikkonen, of McLaren, and Alonso made it past Sato as Schumacher raced to a lead of 2,4 seconds on the opening lap. By lap five he had an 11,5-second lead as Raikkonen held up the field.
Schumacher, who had chosen to run light in qualifying, pitted on lap eight after setting the fastest lap of the race. He was stationary for 8,3 seconds and came out behind the lead train of cars in eighth.
Raikkonen briefly assumed the lead but relinquished it when he pitted on the following lap and then posted his fifth retirement of the year when he stopped at the side of the track with a smoking engine less than a minute later.
Sato took the lead and was one of the last of the front men to stop, pitting on lap 12 to leave Barrichello ahead for three laps before his first stop put Schumacher back to the front.
By lap 20, Schumacher held a lead of more than 15 seconds over Sato with Barrichello third and Button fourth, having moved ahead of Alonso during the first raft of pit stops.
Five laps later Schumacher survived a scare when Olivier Panis came out of the pits after his second stop in his Toyota and pushed him wide as the pair headed into the first corner.
The German was given some breathing space when Sato made his second stop at the end of lap 25 and was forced to wait for 8,2 seconds as his team filled the car up with fuel.
McLaren, who had shown promise this weekend, suffered a second embarrassing failure in the homeland of their partners Mercedes when David Coulthard retired from the race on lap 27 with a smoking engine.
Raikkonen, watching from the pit wall, immediately strolled dejectedly into the garage and Coulthard was left to wave at the crowd from a pick-up truck as his silver-grey car was taken back to the pits.
Schumacher pitted at the end of lap 28 and was stationary for exactly the same time as Sato. He came out ahead of Barrichello, who still had to make his second stop of the race.
Schumacher had a second scare as he headed past the pit exit on lap 32 and was sandwiched between Panis’s Toyota and the Jordan of Nick Heidfeld, which was exiting the pits after his second stop.
Barrichello pitted for his second and final stop on lap 38 and came out in third, ahead of Button but behind Sato, with both BAR drivers still to make their final stops.
Schumacher made his on lap 44 and Sato did the same but could not get out ahead of Barrichello after his 7,3-second stop and returned to the track in third place, just ahead of teammate Button.
But Sato threw all his good work away on lap 46 when he made a desperate lunge on Barrichello on the inside of turn one. The pair touched and he was forced to pit for a new front wing at the end of the lap.
He came out just ahead of sixth-placed Trulli but his race ended one lap later when the engine in his car spectacularly failed and he parked his smouldering machine at the side of the pit wall.
Button took up the challenge of chasing Ferrari and closed on Barrichello in the final laps but the Brazilian was simply playing it cool and the order remained the same to the chequered flag. — Sapa-AFP