Tyres work as fireworks greet Schumacher home win.

Local hero Michael Schumacher gave a perfect performance in front of his home fans, leading a enthralling European Grand Prix from start to finish, adding another victory to the Bridgestone tally.

The Ferrari driver, who had a worrying moment before the race when his T-car broke down on the first lap out of the pits, stayed ahead of his brother Ralf and second placed Juan Pablo Montoya to record his fourth win at the Nurburgring. David Coulthard, who was on a one-stop strategy in his West McLaren Mercedes, was third, followed by Ralf Schumacher, who was given a stop-go penalty for crossing the white line at the exit of the pit lane. Rubens Barrichello was fifth for Ferrari and Mika Hakkinen was sixth, giving Bridgestone four of the top six finishers in the 67-lap race.

"A thrilling race with lots of action," reported Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn, "Michael was as relaxed as he could be despite Ralf pushing him for the first part of the race. It was a tense race and, if Ralf had not had to take the ten-second stop-go penalty, it would have been even more tense. Michael's second and third sets of tyres were very good after we changed the balance of the car by adjusting it in the pits."

"Today proved that our tyres perform just as well in hotter conditions as they do in cooler weather," commented Hisao Suganuma, Bridgestone's technical manager, "They gave a winning performance with Michael, but also showed that, even when the cars are on a one-stop strategy, our wear rate is within the regulations and good enough to bring a podium place. We are aiming for a strong performance at Magny-Cours for the next race where the temperatures may also be higher. However, there are still improvements to be made."

Adrian Newey, technical director at the West McLaren Mercedes team said that he could not fault the tyres, but had other things to investigate after seeing his two drivers, Coulthard and Hakkinen, well beaten, not only by Ferrari, but also by Williams.

"The result is about all we could expect in what has not been a very good weekend for us. With our grid positions, a one-stop strategy was our only option. Our drivers went as quickly as they needed to to maintain their positions. The tyres were fine, we just did not get the balance of the car right."

The French Grand Prix is next weekend, at Magny-Cours.