It was an action packed start to this afternoon's German Grand Prix with the Minardi of Fernando Alonso catching fire on the grid before the formation lap. The Spaniard, who celebrated his birthday here yesterday, ran back to the pits to take to the spare as the team quickly doused the flames. Track temperature was at 34 degrees and although the predicted heat was ever-present, grey clouds filled the sky overhead. Tarso Marques is gesturing in pitlane with only minutes until the start of the formation lap, and unless the team can get them back onto the track quickly, they will not be participating in this event.

The formation lap gets underway and all drivers get away cleanly. Juan Pablo Montoya leads the field back around to the start/finish line as they await the start of the race. Minardi have both drivers lined up to start from pitlane, the lights go out and they're off! Instant chaos as Michael Schumacher has a coming together with the Prost of Luciano Burti, a massive accident that brings out the red flag as there was debris all over the circuit from where Burti ran into the back of the Ferrari after it slowed on the start. The Prost actually went airborne and rolled over the Arrows of Enrique Bernoldi, a lucky escape for all concerned. Schumacher checked that Burti was uninjured before running back to the pits to get into the spare car so that he can take part in the restart.

Burti and Schumacher make it back onto the grid for the restart and both Minardi drivers take up their original positions at the back of the field. A Jaguar crewmember is taken away by ambulance, however at this stage the reason why is unknown. It's go again at Hockenheim and Montoya gets off to a nice start once again, followed closely by teammate Ralf Schumacher. David Coulthard is alongside Michael Schumacher, the Scot desperate to get in front of his championship rival, but there is another accident, this time involving the Jaguar of Pedro de la Rosa and the Sauber of Nick Heidfeld, the two having a coming together at the first chicane. Michael is now up into third place, taking the position away from Mika Hakkinen. David Coulthard is fifth with Rubens Barrichello in sixth.

"I think anyone who saw it on the TV saw that it was not my fault," Heidfeld said of the incident. "But anyway I am out of the race. We have been very strong all weekend. The really bad thing is that this is the third or even the fourth time that I've been hit in a race."

Juan Pablo Montoya has pulled out over a second's lead on his teammate on the first lap as Rubens Barrichello gets past Coulthard through the Motodrom, knocking the Scot back to sixth place. The Brazilian then lines up Mika Hakkinen and takes fourth away from the Finn on the outside of the straight.

Lap three and Montoya has increased the lead to two and a half seconds, the gap back to sixth placed Coulthard now just under ten seconds. Olivier Panis passes Button for thirteenth place. Eddie Irvine is all over the back of seventh placed Kimi Raikkonen, the Michelin tyres are really working well here this afternoon. Enrique Bernoldi goes straight at the second chicane while Jarno Trulli does a similar manoeuvre at the third chicane.

Lap seven and Ricardo Zonta pits his Jordan for a new front wing after running into the back of Bernoldi as Rubens Barrichello takes third from his teammate, the Brazilian rapidly pulling away from the German. Zonta comes back into the pits and retires, leaving Jarno Trulli in ninth place as the sole hope for the Jordan team to score points here today. Olivier Panis attempts to take the place away from his Honda rival, however he fails to make the move stick.

Lap twelve and Panis finally makes it past Trulli for ninth place. The Italian driver attempts to reclaim the position but spins and loses several places, falling to seventeenth place overall. What a disastrous weekend for Jordan. Eddie Irvine comes in for his first stop as Montoya stretches his lead to eight seconds. The McLarens are really off the pace here this afternoon, with David Coulthard lapping considerably slower than the leaders. Mika Hakkinen begins to slow, the Finn experiencing mechanical problems. He pulls off onto the grass and retires from the event, allowing Coulthard through to slot into fifth, one place behind Michael Schumacher.

"Disappointing obviously - we were going well," Hakkinen said. "We were running, fifth or sixth, but I was very confident with the car that we could make a good result. I was looking for a podium, maybe third or even second, you never know. A lot of vibrations, a lot of smoke and I lost the drive. The engine just stopped."

Lap 16 and Rubens Barrichello pits, the Brazilian obviously on a two- stop strategy. Kimi Raikkonen is in on the following lap, along with the BAR of Olivier Panis. Raikkonen was slowing before he came into the pits and the Finn retires, ending Saubers day here. Eddie Irvine comes back in to the pits and retires. Now both Jaguars are out as well.

Rubens Barrichello is trying to get past David Coulthard and while David gallantly holds him off, the Brazilian finally gets past at Agip Kurve. Lap 23 and Montoya pits from the lead. The Colombian has a disastrous stop as the fuel hose fails to go on. Thirty seconds later and he retakes the track in fourth place, almost 40 seconds behind his teammate who now leads the German Grand Prix. Michael Schumacher is in on the next lap, no problems for the Ferrari driver and he is out after 10.7 seconds, but the Ferrari is slowing and Michael Schumacher retires from the German Grand Prix!

Luciano Burti is the next to retire, the Prost driver going off the circuit and into the gravel at turn one. Juan Pablo Montoya is out of the race as well, the Colombian pulling over to the side of the circuit, smoke visible from the back of his BMW powered Williams. Lap 28 and the McLaren mechanics are getting ready for David Coulthard. Only 13 drivers remain in the race at this stage, make that twelve as David Coulthard retires shortly after his stop, smoke pouring from his Mercedes engine! It seems as if pitstops are cursed here this afternoon with the majority of the top contenders retiring shortly after rejoining the track after their stop.

"Very disappointed, wasn't particularly quick in the race anyway - too much understeer - I had enough for the whole grid," David remarked. "I tried to keep the car on the island and obviously tried hard to battle with Rubens for the first half of the lap and then again later on, but just wasn't on the pace today."

Tarso Marques retires, (in the pits!) bringing the field down to eleven. 16 laps remaining and Ralf is leading, followed by Rubens Barrichello, Jacques Villeneuve, Giancarlo Fisichella, Olivier Panis and Jenson Button! Jean Alesi is seventh, followed by Trulli, Bernoldi, Verstappen and Alonso.

Lap 33 and Rubens Barrichello comes in for his second stop. Problems for the Brazilian as the Ferrari crew have trouble with the fuel hose. A 19.5 second stop, however due to his massive lead over third placed Villeneuve, Rubens retains second place. With eleven laps remaining, Ralf's lead is now up to 47 seconds and the Williams driver is looking good for third victory. The two Benetton's are now fourth and fifth with Jean Alesi in sixth.

Jarno Trulli retires the sole remaining Jordan, capping off a disastrous weekend for the Jordan team. With five laps remaining, Ralf Schumacher is show a pit board stating ‘oil pump' however the Williams driver has a 50 second lead over the second placed Ferrari of Rubens Barrichello. Jean Alesi closes in on Jenson Button after the Benetton driver makes a small mistake. The two Arrows almost come to grief as Verstappen attempts to pass Bernoldi. Giancarlo Fisichella has a slight off track excursion, however he continues on without losing a position. The laps tick down and Ralf Schumacher crosses the line to win the German Grand Prix!

The top six from today's German Grand Prix were Ralf Schumacher, Rubens Barrichello, Jacques Villeneuve, Giancarlo Fisichella, Jenson Button and Jean Alesi.