When Michael Schumacher walked into the media conference after his victory in Sunday's rain-soaked European Grand Prix at the Nurburgring, he was in untypically light-hearted humour.

It was far removed from the usual distant image projected by Ferrari's number one driver, reflecting, perhaps, a mounting confidence that he is close to overcoming Mika Hakkinen's bid to win a third consecutive world title.

Hakkinen appeared preoccupied for much of the weekend. After Saturday's qualifying, he was extremely upset that he had only managed third when his team-mate David Coulthard qualified in pole position. Ron Dennis, the McLaren chairman, blamed slower cars for some of the Finn's eventual 13.82-second deficit. "We had a good adaptive race strategy," he said, "which, save for the inconsistency of other drivers' reactions to blue-warning flags would have improved our result."

But it is difficult to see precisely how. Even in the wettest sector of the race, where Hakkinen was trading fastest laps with Schumacher, he never made sufficient ground to have a chance of leading after his second refuelling stop. Yet McLaren and Mercedes remain defiant, closing ranks to protect their man.