Motor Sports: Title chase turns upside down in Germany

The typical American race fan's reaction to Formula One has the following complaints: the racing isn't close enough, the rich teams dominate, and most importantly, one guy usually runs away with the world championship.

Those same race fans have obviously not been paying any attention to F1 this season.

After a 2002 season that put many fans to sleep during races, it was crucial for Formula One's management to make changes that would put excitement back into the racing, but also to keep the prestige that makes Formula One the pinnacle of all motor racing.

Some of the most important changes that were made were a one-lap qualifying format, and to start races with the same setup as the car a driver qualified with.

The season got off to a thrilling start down under in Melbourne and has not disappointed since the Australian Grand Prix in early March, and really nothing has been confirmed in the drivers' and constructors' championships as of yet, with only 4 races remaining.

Last year after the German Grand Prix, Michael Schumacher had his fifth title already clinched, and Ferrari could have put a car put from 10 years ago and still won the team constructors' championship.

This year, Michael Schumacher leads the points, but Juan Pablo Montoya and Kimi Raikonnen are breathing right down the 5-time world champion's back. Schumacher's Ferrari team is still leading the constructors' title, but the race is essentially tied, with the Williams team only two points back.

These razor-thin margins are due to a crazy German Grand Prix that saw wrecks, failures and even a good amount of overtaking on a tight, slow circuit like Hockenheim.

On Lap 1, only about 300 metres after the start of the race, a spectacular, albeit idiotic, wreck took place, which altered the course of the race and the world championship.

The wreck was 100% the fault of Williams' Ralf Schumacher after the junior Schumacher pulled to the left side of the track to get in position for the first corner, a right hander. However, the wreck made Ruben Barrichello the meat in a Kimi Raikonnen-Barrichello-Schumacher sandwich.

Barrichello's front suspension was annihilated in the mishap, knocking his Ferrari out of the race. Kimi Raikonnen subsequently spun into the left side pod of Ralf Schumacher, on the way to a massive shunt into the tire wall for the McLaren. Behind the main wreck, Heinz Harald-Frentzen, braking to avoid the collision got plowed by the nose of Ralph Firman's Jordan. Justin Wilson, in his first race with Jaguar was collected in the mess as well.

Juan Pablo Montoya, the polesitter, would go on to win easily by over a minute on David Coulthard, despite making an extra pit stop. While there would be no action for the lead all race, much action took place late in the race for the remaining podium positions. Michael Schumacher, who was fourth after the big wreck, got up into third after Fernando Alonso went off for a few seconds. Schumacher got around the second-place Jarno Trulli, after a spectacular move on lap 59.

Schumacher had the outside line, a definite disadvantage on the slow track of Hockenheim. Therefore, the cars were side-by-side going into turn 6, the slowest on the track. Trulli, holding the inside line, made Schumacher go onto the tarmac runoff area, forcing a drag race as Schumacher hit a small patch of gravel. The risky, hard-nosed move would come at a cost for Schumacher's dreams of a sixth title.

Four laps later, Schumacher came up lame, with a cut left rear Bridgestone Potenza. While the engineers are investigating the incident, it is pretty obvious that a piece of gravel picked up on the overtaking move was to blame.

In hindsight, Schumacher should not have overtaken Trulli, in order to get his points for a third place finish. However, these incidents separate the real racers from the guys who sit back and try to make passes via pit stops.

If you ask me, I'd much rather have a guy like Michael or Juan Pablo Montoya driving for me than a Ralf Schumacher or Jenson Button, who don't ever take risks.

As a result of this race, the championship is more exciting than ever, and for the first time in four years there may not be a world champion named Michael Schumacher.

Even if Michael Schumacher does not win this year's championship, the last thing he should do is kick him self for this mistake.