Herbert Picks Up The Pieces.

Johnny Herbert finally banished the bad luck that has dogged his season to bring Stewart its first grand prix victory at the Nurburgring this afternoon.


Four years on from his last triumph, the English driver succeeded when many others failed. in keeping his car both on the road and out of mechanical problems. Four other drivers had had a shot at leading the rain-interrupted race - which had started in dramatic fashion with an horrific accident for Pedro Diniz - but none would be there to take the laurels when it mattered.


Memories of Gonzalo Rodriguez's fatal Champcar crash came flooding back as Diniz's Sauber was pitched into a series of rolls after contact with the Benetton of Alex Wurz. The Austrian had been forced to jink right by the slowing Jordan of Damon Hill, and was unsighted by the two Ferraris as they too made their escape. The incident was made all the more worrying, however, by the apparent failure of the Sauber's roll hoop, leaving Diniz upside down with little protection for either head or neck.


Remarkably, he was seen to move in the inverted cockpit and, the car having been righted, managed to signal to the crowd as he was extracted, still cocooned in the newly-implemented safety seat. Early reports, courtesy of Sauber's physiotherapist, suggest that the driver escaped relatively unharmed.

Herbert started a lowly 14th, but made his way through the field as those around him fell by the wayside, and eventually took the chequer some 22 seconds ahead of second-placed Jarno Trulli. Maintaining his slicks through the first, brief, shower, and then coming into the pits just as the second, longer, spell of rain played right into the Stewart driver's hands, and he was in the ideal position to take over at the front when both Ralf Schumacher and Giancarlo Fisichella hit problems.


The timing of his tyre changes was the luck that Herbert had been seeking all season, but the pit-stops did not pan out so well for any the championship challengers.


Mika Hakkinen opted to stop for full wet tyres almost as soon as the first shower started, and quickly found himself on the wrong rubber when it dried out again. His only solace came when the Ferrari team performed a comedy of errors in attempting to change Eddie Irvine's grooved slicks for more of the same. The Irishman beat the cockpit surround in frustration as, unbelievably, a mechanic was despatched back into the garage for a fourth wheel, the team having only brought three into pit-lane.


With the two co-leaders in the standings having surrendered positions in the top ten, the scene was set for a battle between title outsiders Heinz-Harald Frentzen and David Coulthard. The German had led right from the first, aborted, start, and through the Safety Car period brought about by Diniz's accident, but had his Jordan cut out immediately after leaving the pits on lap 33. The retirement, with an undiagnosed ignition problem, was poor reward for both driver and team which could have expected so much more from another impressive showing.


Frentzen's misfortune left Coulthard with a commanding advantage, but the Scot opted to stay out on slicks when the second shower came and, despite holding on for some time, eventually lost both control and the lead five laps later. The slip - which saw him slide gently into the barriers, engine dead - allowed the remarkable Schumacher to hit the front, the German having hung onto the coat tails of the top three throughout the opening laps, and brazenly deprived Coulthard of third having challenged on more than one occasion. His stay at the top was brief, however, as a scheduled pit-stop dropped the Williams to third on the road behind Fisichella and the steady Herbert.


The Italian had also consistently featured in the top five, and had valiantly held off a charging Irvine in the early stages, allowing the leading quartet to open up an eight-second gap as a consequence. The Ferrari's late braking ability finally forced Fisichella into a mistake which saw him run wide and let Irvine through, but the errors of others eventually allowed the Italian back into the frame.


Sadly, his run wasn't to last, and having had a number of smaller scares in the unpredictable conditions, the Benetton finally lost traction, spun and ended up parked neatly in front of the barriers at turn seven. Schumacher, having rejoined in third and passed the still wet-shod Herbert in short order, re-inherited the lead but, once again, his luck wasn't to hold, and a punctured right rear scuppered any realistic hopes he had of a home win. A long haul back to the pits dropped him down to fifth, and it was all he could do to finish fourth after a storming recovery.


Herbert now took over, having just made the switch back onto slicks - becoming the fifth leader in just over half a race - and holding a comfortable advantage over the pursuing pair of Trulli and Rubens Barrichello. The Brazilian had been ahead of his Stewart team-mate for much of the race, but was not as lucky with his pit-stop timings, and conceded ground to both Herbert and Trulli in a crucial couple of laps.


With first place all but impossible barring more bizarre fortune, the chasers proceeded to engage in possibly the best battle of the afternoon. It was clear that the Brazilian had the faster car but, try as he might, could not find a way past the well-driven Prost ahead of him. More than once, the Stewart appeared around the outside of Trulli heading into the chicane, but was constantly rebuffed by the determined Italian. At the flag, the gap was a mere couple of tenths, as both drivers did enough to convince next year's managers that they had made the right choice.


Schumacher recovered sufficiently to take a well-deserved fourth, as attention switched to the scrap happening in his wake. The late demise of both Luca Badoer and Jacques Villeneuve from point scoring positions left Marc Gene in the unenviable position of having to fend off the rapidly closing Hakkinen and Irvine, as the race for the championship lead came down to the last few laps of the race.


The Finn appeared disinterested for much of the middle part of the race, as if his pit-lane misfortunes had sapped him of any strength or fighting spirit. Only the renewed scent of points seemed to awaken him from his slough, and a late charge was eventually enough to overhaul Irvine - as the Irishman locked up into the chicane - and secure a share of the spoils. Indeed, Hakkinen's late burst also carried him past the remaining Minardi, leaving Gene at the apparent mercy of Irvine, but the Irishman was never close enough to deprive the tiny team of a rare celebration.


Of the rest, Alex Zanardi, Ricardo Zonta and Tora Takagi all had eventful afternoons, all being involved in an early skirmish at the final corner which eliminated the Italian, having already run off the road avoiding Diniz's shunt. Zonta then proceeded to spin on more than one further occasion before taking an eventual eighth, while Takagi took himself out of the reckoning with a wheel-removing accident of his own.


Villeneuve looked to be on for BAR's first points, but was robbed by a late mechanical failure and sat, disbelieving in his car for some time afterwards. Badoer, too, couldn't believe his misfortune, and repeated Hakkinen's Monza tears.


There were tears on the podium, as well, but, for once, they were tears of joy. Somewhat fittingly in the land of Grimm's fairy tales, Herbert looked as though he couldn't quite believe how he had made it back to the top step, while team boss Paul Stewart wept openly as a dream came true.