Old foe looms in Alonso's mirror

Motor Sport/Formula One Championship: Three races ago, in Canada, the 2006 Formula One season was a foregone conclusion. Fernando Alonso marched to his sixth win of the year. A couple of seconds later, Michael Schumacher's Ferrari crossed the line, never having troubled Alonso. The Renault machine rolled on, "unbeatable", in the words of team boss Flavio Briatore.

Such hubris with, then, eight races left in the championship was always worthy of punishment. Ferrari have been only too happy to deliver the sentence.

Yesterday on home soil, Schumacher thundered to an easy win, his third in a row. Behind him, team-mate Felipe Massa wrapped up a one-two which left Briatore, Alonso, Renault and tyre supplier Michelin reeling. Their defending champion bumbled home in fifth, out of sorts, often off the track and miles off the pace.

Since Canada, Renault's form has collapsed. In the US, as Michelin played safe with their tyres after a calamity last year, Alonso limped home in fifth, some 28 seconds adrift of a victorious Schumacher. Two weeks ago in France, he scrambled home in second, 10 seconds behind Schumacher. And yesterday he was again a distant fifth, 28 seconds off Schumacher's blistering pace.

The result was in the bag for Ferrari within 10 laps of the start of yesterday's German Grand Prix. Pole positions had been taken by McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen, but the pace of the Mercedes-powered car has been laggardly all season and the Finn's car was fuelled light to boost its pace in front of thousands of Mercedes workers at the Hockenheimring, heading for the pitlane for fuel nine laps in. Schumacher, who had been bottled behind the McLaren, stretched his legs, worked his superior Bridgestone tyres and ground out a commanding lead. Raikkonen would do a more than creditable job, gambling on three pit stops but still managing, with a stunning late-race surge to pass Williams's Mark Webber and Honda's Jenson Button, to claim third.

Alonso, though, was nowhere. Renault had, in the run-up to the race, replaced a controversial damper system with more conventional equipment as confusion reigned over the mass dampers' legality. It seemed to unsettle the Renault and in fifth place - claimed after an excellent start from seventh - the Spaniard wrestled with his car all afternoon, frequently losing control and running wide, losing valuable time, all the time.

Afterwards he said the removal of the damper system hadn't upset him unduly. There are, after all, many more things that are likely to be upsetting Alonso at the moment.

Renault have appeared to stall. After defeat on home tarmac in France, Briatore called on Michelin, who are departing the sport at the end of the season, to "wake up" as Bridgestone grabbed the high ground in the tyre war. But the problems seem to run deeper, with Renault's car no longer looking as sprightly, their champion driver, who is also departing at the end of the season, for McLaren, looking and sounding as unsettled as his car and the team themselves looking as if they no longer have faith in the young man from Oviedo who last year inspired such devotion.

Schumacher has never lacked for faith at Ferrari and the Italian team that began this year picking up the pieces of a disastrous 2005 have suddenly glued them all together once more into a title- contending package.

Schumacher, dead and buried in Montreal, has been resurrected. After yesterday's win, he is just 11 points behind Alonso. There are six rounds to go.

Those six rounds will now also be looked forward to by Honda. The Japanese manufacturer has endured a desperate season so far, failing, in spectacular fashion, to deliver on the promise of a car that looked so good in pre-season. Senior staff have been ousted, new directions have been pursued and yesterday Button put in a solid and, crucially, reliable show to claim fourth. Team-mate Rubens Barrichello exited the race after just 18 laps, something appearing to fail on his car as the Brazilian was pitched into a violent spin when all seemed under control.

Button's fourth left the next two spots to Renault, Alonso and Giancarlo Fisichella anonymously pounding out the laps until the chequered flag.

Almost half a minute ahead, Schumacher was angling his car to the Italian flags fluttering over Ferrari's space on the pitwall. As he crossed the line, his radio crackled into life as his crew congratulated him. "Well done, Michael, great race. The championship is really back in our hands now." So it seems.

German Grand Prix

Hockenheim, Germany, 67 Laps

1 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari 1hr 27mins 51.693secs

2 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1:27:52.413

3 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) McLaren 1:28:04.899

4 Jenson Button (Brit) Honda 1:28:10.591

5 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 1:28:15.400

6 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Renault 1:28:16.507

7 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 1:28:18.243

8 Christian Klien (Aut) Red Bull 1:28:39.803

9 Ralf Schumacher (Ger) Toyota 1:28:52.023

10 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Scuderia Toro Rosso at 1 lap

Also: 11 D Coulthard (Brit) Red Bull at 1 lap, 12 S Speed (USA) Scuderia Toro Rosso at 1 lap, 13 C Albers (Ned) Midland at 1 lap, 14 T Monteiro (Por) Midland at 2 laps.

Not classified: 15 M Webber (Aus) Williams 59 laps completed, 16 T Sato (Jpn) Super Aguri 38 laps completed, 17 J Villeneuve (Can) BMW Sauber 30 laps completed, 18 R Barrichello (Bra) Honda 19 laps completed, 19 N Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 9 laps completed, 20 P de la Rosa (Spa) McLaren 2 laps completed, 21 S Yamamoto (Jpn) Super Aguri 1 lap completed, 22 N Rosberg (Ger) Williams no laps completed.

Fastest lap: M Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari 1min 16.357secs on lap 17.

World Championship Standings

Drivers' championship: 1 F Alonso (Spa) Renault 100pts, 2 M Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari 89, 3 F Massa (Bra) Ferrari 50, 4 K Raikkonen (Fin) McLaren 49, 5 G Fisichella (Ita) Renault 49, 6 J Montoya (Col) McLaren 26, 7 J Button (Brit) Honda 21, 8 R Barrichello (Bra) Honda 16, 9 N Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 13, 10 R Schumacher (Ger) Toyota 13, 11 J Trulli (Ita) Toyota 10, 12 D Coulthard (Brit) Red Bull 10, 13 J Villeneuve (Can) BMW Sauber 7, 14 M Webber (Aus) Williams 6, 15 N Rosberg (Ger) Williams 4, 16 C Klien (Aut) Red Bull 2, 17 P de la Rosa (Spa) McLaren 2, 18 V Liuzzi (Ita) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1.

Manufacturers' championship: 1 Renault 149pts, 2 Ferrari 139, 3 McLaren 77, 4 Honda 37, 5 Toyota 23, 6 BMW Sauber 20, 7 Red Bull 12, 8 Williams 10, 9 Scuderia Toro Rosso 1.