With the Drivers' Championship already decided, Michael Schumacher aims to celebrate at his home Grand Prix with another win, but his rivals will be willing to spoil the German's party. Atlas F1's Will Gray previews the event and reviews the teams' options ahead of the race

The classic forested circuit of Hockenheim, home to motor racing legend and unforgettable stories of past races, is no more. Replaced with a modernised purpose-built track, which will fit in 40,000 more spectators than before, the old track has been placed in the history books and a new, modern, 21st Century Grand Prix arena has been born.

The track no longer runs along the long tree-lined straights, where in the past drivers would put the pedal to the metal and accelerate to their terminal velocity. But those forests will still be filled with fanatical German spectators, more passionate than ever and ready for a party in the name of Michael Schumacher.

It is, in a way, a shame for the German and his home fans that the title has already been won, secured with a last-gasp lead change which saw Schumacher pass Kimi Raikkonen in France last weekend. But in another, the beer-drinking fans who camp out among the trees for days to support their hero, will be delighted to party for all four days of the weekend, rather than just beginning after the result.

The green surroundings will be overcome by a sea of red as Schumacher fans flock to the track to cheer on the five-time World Champion and celebrate the final confirmation of his arrival towards the head of those former legends who have celebrated historic races on the former track.

But perhaps, for the German fans, Schumacher's success in France, although sure to kick the weekend off with a celebration filled with fire crackers and fuelled by passion for a racing genius, will lead to dampened celebrations on Sunday when Ferrari spoil the homecoming party.

The Italian team are not that fussed about over emotion. Austria has led them to understand a little more the importance of fans to the continuation of the sport, but, after all, Formula One is, for them, an important business and it's important to them that they are the best company in it.

Technical director Ross Brawn has already said that the team's focus will now be re-positioned on Brazilian number two Rubens Barrichello, who has been driving out of his skin in an effort to show he can beat his ultra-successful teammate and will not give up the chance.

Moreover, after his failure to start, let alone finish, in the French Grand Prix, Barrichello has lost his second place in the Championship table to Williams driver Juan Pablo Montoya and is currently third, two points behind the Colombian and level with the younger Schumacher, Ralf.

Ferrari want to end the season with a one-two in the Championship, and Barrichello needs to begin to claw away from the Williams pair and Briton David Coulthard, of McLaren, who is a further two points behind. This is where the focus of the Championship is now placed, with Schumacher an irrelevancy out in front as far as Williams, McLaren, and, probably, Ferrari are concerned. But not in the eyes of the German's home fans.

It is quite likely that Ferrari will work as hard as they can to ensure Barrichello beats Schumacher to victory, even though they are in their darling driver's home country. After all, they allowed Barrichello to stay in front of Schumacher and take his first win of the season at the Nurburgring - in Germany - earlier this year.

Both chasing teams, Williams and McLaren, will be hoping the consistency of their Michelin tyres will continue to improve, as will Renault, who have begun to stretch a gap from Sauber while failing to make advances on the teams in front. Both Ferrari and Sauber suppliers Bridgestone and their French rubber rivals Michelin will take new compounds to the Hockenheim circuit, and with no previous data of the track surface, neither know quite how their products will perform.

That, in fact, could be the key to the weekend and to whether Ferrari will romp to a dominant victory or be challenged for the win by their competitors on rival rubber - if Michelin pick it right, then McLaren and Williams could be in the fight. It has been a bit of a rush for the teams to get the cars ready for Hockenheim because it comes just one week after the French Grand Prix, leaving mechanics just four full days to prepare for Friday's practice session.

There is no time to rush the cars back to the factory to perform the usual ritual of stripping them down on the Tuesday, cleaning up the parts and replacing used items during the week and rebuilding the car on the Friday ready to put in the transporters to take to the next track the Sunday before the next race.

Instead, the mechanics will have worked on their cars in Magny-Cours on Sunday evening before packing up and travelling with the transporters on Monday, setting up at Hockenheim the following morning, and working on the car until scrutineering on Thursday evening.

The one-week gap has also left no time for testing and, although some teams will be putting new developments on their cars for the German race, there is likely to be few major improvements that will change anyone's performance dramatically for this race.

If the traditional rain is present at the circuit, however, then the Michelin teams could be struggling for grip as, despite boss Pierre Dupasquier's effervescent denials, the French manufacturers' products do not normally perform too well in wet conditions.

That could play into the hands of Jordan, Sauber and British American Racing as they push to catch Michelin-shod Renault for fourth place in the Championship, while leaving Jaguar, Minardi, Toyota and Arrows to fight for the scraps as normal.

Astonishingly, the German Grand Prix marks the anniversary of the last time Schumacher failed to finish a race and so far this season, no matter what type of track they are on, Ferrari have been up in front.

So unless bad luck strikes twice in a row at Hockenheim for Schumacher and if Barrichello manages to push aside the bad luck to show a clean pair of grooves to his teammate early on, it looks like another Ferrari one-two with, like the football world cup last month, Brazil spoiling a German party once again.

Set-up and layout

Hockenheim has been re-designed to fit the mould of a modern Grand Prix circuit - short and safe, but ultimately conformed and characterless. It is a shame that the old circuit has been decimated to make way for a modern facility, but, in a way, it could be a blessing in disguise.

The man charged with creating the new face of Hockenheim was circuit designer Hermann Tilke, who has designed Sepang, in Malaysia, and successfully modified the A1-Ring in Austria for this season - a change which was hailed as a great success.

Tilke's pedigree goes before him and, although no driver has yet experienced the new circuit from the driving seat, there is little doubt that he will have achieved his task of updating the old spectator-unfriendly Hockenheim while retaining its tradition as a high-speed circuit.

The main focus of that development has been the introduction of a long, curved straight, the new 'Parabolica', which can be taken flat as it heads into a first-gear hairpin where there should be some overtaking moves as the cars dice under braking.

Added to that is an extra section of corners after the hairpin which consist of a fast right-hander followed by a tight left and a medium right that turns back onto a straight which then heads back into the old stadium complex. That complex, however, will be much faster than before because the new circuit is a medium downforce track, like many others, so teams will no longer run the virtually wingless cars seen previously on the high-speed track.

The popularity of the track with the drivers will only be discovered on Friday, but it is sure to be a hit with spectators, who will see 68 laps of racing on Sunday, fifty percent more than before.

A lap of Hockenheim with Jenson Button

"Obviously we have to regard Hockenheim as a new circuit and therefore, as I describe a lap of it, it is very much on the information I have gone through with the engineers and their computer simulations of the circuit.

"The data shows I shall be approaching the first corner at something like 285 km/h in fifth gear and in turn one I will drop down to fourth gear. I am expecting to take it at around 195 km/h, maybe a little bit faster because we will be running higher downforce this year. This leads me onto what is now a much shorter straight, where I will get up to a very similar speed of around 280 km/h, again probably just holding fifth gear as I approach turn two.

"This is the start of quite a slow complex of turns two, three and four. The first of these is a right-hand corner which looks very slow and I am sure it will be a first gear corner, probably around 95 km/h at the apex. As I come out of here the corner opens out a little bit and for turn three I should be able to shift into second gear and probably get to around 110 km/h.

"Turn four is a left-hander and although our simulations show it is not quite flat, it should be quite a quick third gear corner taken at around 135 km/h.

"This leads me onto the back straight which although we call it a straight is actually a long very large radius curve and I will easily be flat-out all the way along it. At around 960m, it is similar in length to the straight at Barcelona so, depending on the level of downforce we finally end up on, I would expect to reach the end of this straight in top gear at somewhere between 300 km/h and 310 km/h.

"At the end of this I have to really brake hard because turn six is a very tight first gear hairpin where we expect to be down to around 65 km/h. On exiting that, turn seven doesn't look to be too much of a problem and, in fact, I am hoping we can take it flat, probably at 280 km/h in fifth gear.

"If that is the case, I should approach turn eight at around 290 km/h in top gear, and once again there is very hard braking because this corner is a very tight 90-degree left-hand corner. Looking at the corner radius, I believe it will be another first gear corner, this time with a speed probably just over 70 km/h.

"Turn nine is a relatively gentle left-hand corner and as I accelerate out of turn eight I will probably only be taking this at around 115 km/h in second gear. I should get into third gear and probably around 215 km/h before taking turn ten, where I have only got to drop my speed slightly to around 185 km/h and I expect to hold third all the way through.

"I now head back into something a bit more familiar, because the next turn is the old right-hander that leads back into the stadium. But this year it will be totally different, because the extra drag and the lower exit speed from the previous corner will mean I will approach it at around 280 km/h, rather than the 330 km/h of last year.

"The corner itself will be a lot quicker thanks to the extra downforce, and I expect to take it in fourth at around 220 km/h, some 40 km/h more than in previous years. Now back in the stadium section, I will be approaching turn 13, the Sachs Curve, at a slightly higher speed than last year to the higher exit speed from the previous corner. It will be a 265 km/h, sixth gear approach, and I will be able to carry a bit more speed around this long left-hander. I will probably be taking it at around 115 km/h but it will remain a second gear corner.

"Turns 14 and 15 have always been quite a tricky little kink and this year I hope they are going to be a little bit easier with the extra downforce. I will be taking the first one at somewhere between 200 km/h and 210 km/h in third gear and the second at around 235 km/h in fourth.

"I will head into the penultimate corner still in fourth gear, probably at around 240 km/h, before dropping down to third for turn 16. That will again be a much faster corner than last year because of the extra downforce and I hope to be able to take this at something around 170 km/h in third.

"The final corner is very similar to the penultimate one, and again it will be around 170 km/h in third but a good exit after those two corners will be important as I head back onto the start/finish straight."

Team by Team

Ferrari

World Champions in July - that says it all. The team have dominated all season on all types of tracks and with the F2002 finishing in all but two of its outings a one-two bet is favourite again.

The focus will now move from World Champion Michael Schumacher to teammate Rubens Barrichello and the manufacturers' title, and team orders are sure to be on the cards again if required.

Williams

A reduction in the influence of out-and-out power on the Hockenheim circuit will hurt the team, whose engine is acknowledged to be one of the best on the grid, with just 60 percent of the circuit now flat-out rather than 68 percent on the old track.

Much of the circuit is made up now of slower speed corners, which do not suit the car as much, and the Michelin tyres will also struggle if the conditions are cooler, as they normally are at Hockenheim.

McLaren

An impressive performance in the French Grand Prix, where Kimi Raikkonen and David Coulthard finished second and third, will have boosted the team's hopes for the rest of the season.

The fact that Hockenheim is no longer a high-speed circuit will play into the hands of the Mercedes-powered team, which have been down on power for most of the season but has a good chassis to cope with the slower corners.

Renault

The impressive traction of the Renault chassis, developed through good mechanical grip and clever electronics, will give the team a real chance to claim their first podium since their return to the Formula One fray.

Jenson Button, it seems, is no less committed to the team after the announcement of his departure, and after scoring another point for the team in France, he will be looking to prove to them why they should not have let him go.

Sauber

This is an important race for Nick Heidfeld, perhaps the most underrated German on the grid, as the team attempt to stop Renault from running away with their fourth place in the Constructors' Championship.

Brazilian Felipe Massa also has a lot to prove after making a fool of himself by spinning off constantly at Silverstone and then continuing the feat during practice in France.

Jordan

Jordan have repaired the chassis in which Giancarlo Fisichella had his heavy crash in France, but it is still touch and go whether he will be allowed to return to the cockpit this weekend. The team, however, have already lined up a replacement if he is not allowed to race.

Takuma Sato ran the latest spec Honda engine in the last race, at Magny-Cours, where it made its debut in qualifying and ran 23 laps in the race before the Japanese driver spun out.

BAR

Another disappointing double failure to finish in France has not helped the team but the positive talk from boss David Richards after revealing his coup of signing Briton Jenson Button for 2003 has given them a boost.

Olivier Panis, however, looked downcast after failing to finish in his home Grand Prix and then being told of Button's imminent arrival, and will need a strong performance to boost his future hopes.

Jaguar

An impressive performance from the newly-modified car in France has shown that the team are moving up the field, but the performance of the Michelin tyres pushed them into an inflated position in the running order.

The cooler conditions expected at Hockenheim are likely to make an about turn in the tyres' influence, and the team could find themselves back down the order again as they continue to work out their new aerodynamic package.

Arrows

After running just four laps in the entire French Grand Prix weekend, the Leafield-based team must put in a better effort to qualify this time around.

Team boss Tom Walkinshaw is still in discussions with shareholders over a takeover deal, and he is trying to save as much money as he can in the meantime by doing little running.

Toyota

This, for the Cologne-based team, is a home race, and it will be important for them to get back on the scoreboard after a disappointing mid-season run which has seen them fail to win points since the third race, in Brazil.

The pressure is on for Scot Allan McNish, who has been outqualified by teammate Mika Salo in all 11 races and is yet to score a point. The team have denied suggestions that he will be replaced after Germany, but he still needs to improve his performance to stay next year.

Minardi

After getting both cars to the finish for the fourth time this season in France, the cash-strapped team will be keen to continue their form in Germany.

Mark Webber's impressive drive at Magny-Cours will have given the team a boost as he outpaced teams he should not have been competing with, and with other teams unable to make developments Minardi could shine again.