As we enter May, so the Formula One competition enters the fifth round of the season. Host for the European Grand Prix is the Nurburgring in the northwest of Germany, located just 100 km from TMG, the headquarters of Panasonic Toyota Racing. Blue skies greeted practice on Friday, the first day of the Grand Prix.

Panasonic Toyota Racing tried out the B specifications during testing at Paul Ricard the week between the two rounds; however the team decided to stay with the TF106s for the start of the weekend’s competition. During the morning’s practice, Ralf Schumacher marked ninth position. In the afternoon’s practice, he went on to record a time of 1’33”883 to secure a solid sixth, just 0.3 seconds behind Fernando Alonso at the top of the regular drivers.

The picture was not so positive for Jarno Trulli, however, after a vibration in the front end of his machine left him with limited time on the track. After the morning’s session saw him complete only the installation lap, he was hoping to make up for the loss during the afternoon. Trulli completed five laps without the problem being fixed, the session finishing after a series of pitting in and out.

Alexander Wurz (Williams) was the top runner at the end of day one with a time of 1’32”079 in the first practice session.

Ｗｅａｔｈｅｒ for the second day of the European continued fine, with both practice sessions held under blue skies.

Jarno Trulli, who had been plagued with an unexplainable vibration in the front end of his machine the day before, exchanged both the engine and gearbox with those from the T-car and spent the practice sessions working on his setup for qualifying. Ralf Schumacher continued in good form marking the third-fastest time to place him behind the two Ferraris heading into qualifying.

The first qualifying session commence to an air temperature of 21 degrees C and a track temperature of 38 degrees C. A seventh position by Ralf Schumacher and 13th by Jarno Trulli ensured both drivers continued on to the second session.

Trouble lay ahead, however, with Ralf spinning his machine in his first attack. Then, in the dying stages of the session he locked his brakes in the first corner, losing him valuable time. This incident saw him finish the session and qualifying in 11th position.

Jarno Trulli fared better, shaking of the previous day’s bad luck to finish the second session in seventh position, taking him through to the final qualifying session. In addition, an engine change by tenth-positioned Mark Webber (Williams) moved Ralf Schumacher up to tenth on the grid.

A time of 1’29”818 gave Fernando Alonso (Renault) his first pole for the season and tenth in total.

Competition continued for the second week in a row, with the European Grand Prix marking the first race of the European round and the fifth race of the year. The third day at Nurburgring was greeted once again by clear blue skies.

Representing Panasonic Toyota Racing, Jarno Trulli lined up at seventh and Ralf Schumacher at tenth on the starting grid. Unfortunately though, Ralf Schumacher became entangled in the confusion in the first corner immediately after the start, dropping back to 15th position as a result. Jarno Trulli was more fortunate, managing to not only avoid the pile-up but improve on his position by one to sixth.

All was not to go his way though, as he soon found himself struggling to gain pace and by the time he had completed his first pit stop in the 26th lap, he had dropped back to 12th. Once again fortunes were reversed, with team mate Rald Schumacher finding form to improve on his position to sixth after his first pit stop in the 28th lap. He then went on to put in a spirited tail-to-nose battle with fifth positioned Rubens Barrichello (Honda) in the 38th lap, raising the hopes and support of his home crowd.

Then in the 44th lap, he pitted at the same time as Barrichello, hoping to make it back on the track ahead of his rival; however he missed out only narrowly, with the two drivers continuing the heated battle until white smoke began to appear from Ralf Schumacher’s engine in the 53rd lap, thereby putting an end to the race for him.

This left the pressure on Jarno Trulli to pull something out of the bag for Panasonic Toyota Racing. With Jarno struggling from the start from a lack of pace, the team worked furiously every pit stop, making adjustments to the wings, tyre pressure and the like. These efforts were to avail, with Trulli finally managing to pick up speed in the final stages. Unfortunately, time was not on his side, seeing him finish just one position short of the points in ninth.

Victory eventually went to second-position starter, Michael Schumacher (Ferrari), who took the lead in the final stages. It was the second win in a row for Schumacher following his first of the season at the San Marino Grand Prix. His career total now stands at 86.