Man of the match ..... Berger

The German GP had a dramatic start as Hill again failed to get off the line cleanly, this left Berger in the lead. Jean Alesi got away brilliantly and passed Schumacher and Hill to go into the first corner in second place.
Hill was third followed by Schumacher, Coulthard, Villeneuve Irvine and Hakkinen.

Berger, Alesi and Hill began to pull away, while Schumacher appeared to be holding up Coulthard. Villeneuve found himself sandwiched between two McLaren / Ferrari battles as behind him Hakkinen and Irvine were fighting for seventh.

By lap three Irvine was beginning to press Villeneuve, the long straights and almost identical top speeds making it difficult to pass.

By the tenth lap Berger, Alesi and Hill were almost 11 seconds clear of Schumacher, Coulthard was pressing Schumacher and behind them Hakkinen was pressing Irvine.

Lap 14 saw the first round of pit stops, Hakkinen was first in, but he failed to get away cleanly. He received a shove from his pit crew and rejoined the race only to retire before completing a lap with transmission problems. Irvine came in on lap 15, Coulthard on lap 16 followed by Hill on lap 20. This played havoc with the running order, on the track Berger was still leading from Alesi, Schumacher was now third, Villeneuve fourth, Hill fifth and Coulthard sixth.

On lap 22 Alesi, Villeneuve and Schumacher all pitted, Villeneuve and Schumacher came in and left nose to tail, and Villeneuve managed to pass Schumacher at the chicane.

Berger came in on lap 24 and rejoined second. The running order was Hill, Berger, Alesi, Coulthard, Villeneuve, Schumacher and Irvine. Hill Coulthard and Irvine were all on two stops, so they had to make the most of their light fuel load and fresh tyres.

Hill took up the challenge and from lap 23 to lap 34 he set a blistering pace lapping just over a second quicker than Berger. His fastest lap was 1.46.504 (the fastest lap of last year was 1.48.824) and he built up a lead of 16.337 seconds before his second pit stop.

Hill rejoined the race behind Berger and began to catch the Austrian almost straight away. By lap 37 the running order was Berger, Hill, Alesi, Villeneuve, Schumacher and Coulthard. Irvine had retired with smoke coming from the back of his car.
The running order stayed as it was despite Hill pressing Berger very hard for first. Further back Coulthard was giving Schumacher a rough time making the World champion work hard.

On lap 42 Berger suffered an engine failure, cruel luck for him and the Benetton team who have obviously improved their car of late. Berger's 10th win was not to be and Hill cruised to the finish line to take his 20th career win. With Villeneuve finishing third Hill has extended his lead to 21 points.

German GP Results