Fernando Alonso, Jarno Trulli, Rubens Barrichello, and most notably Kimi Raikkonen suffered from wing problems during Sunday's German Grand Prix. For Alonso it nearly meant losing a podium place, while for the rest meant the end of their hopes of a good result. Atlas F1's Richard Barnes reviews the effects of those problems as well the the weekend's main events

Every once in a while, a Grand Prix stands out because of a particular set of circumstances that mark it as extraordinary. We have seen 'accident' GP, as well as 'tyre', 'brake', and 'engine' races where the final result hinged on the circuit's particular demands on these key mechanical components. If anything, Sunday's German Grand Prix at the revised, shorter and slower Hockenheim circuit will be remembered as a 'wing' event, where front and rear wing problems had a profound impact on the race's development and result.

Modern F1 drivers are reluctant to isolate individual components as keys to success and failure, preferring the ubiquitously bland terminology of 'the package' instead. While their words are rooted in the truism that every mechanical component is important, a sudden rear wing fault remains the drivers' most feared mechanical failure, but one that is thankfully extremely rare.

It is a testament to current F1 safety standards that McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen walked away from Sunday's rear wing failure accident more annoyed at the car's continued unreliability than shaken or hurt from the high speed shunt.

Raikkonen's annoyance is understandable but ill-advised. The young Finn makes no secret of his irritation and impatience with his employer's inability to provide a car worthy of his considerable talents this season. Yet, especially for a driver who has only won one Grand Prix, he'd be better served by discretion than disgruntlement.

Raikkonen does not need to bemoan the fact that he could have challenged Ferrari's Michael Schumacher for the win on Sunday, had it not been for the catastrophic wing failure. That much was obvious from the timesheets and the close visual gap between the two on the track. Pouting and fuming is not going to undo the damage, nor provide Raikkonen with more reliable machinery in future. Instead, Raikkonen should be learning from Schumacher's example.

Alain Prost and Michael Schumacher both joined Ferrari as multiple World Champions. Prost chose a divisive and highly critical response to Ferrari's inability to provide race-winning machinery, and the relationship soured after little more than a year. By contrast, Schumacher opted for the conciliatory 'we must all work harder' approach to the frustrating underachievement of the late 1990s, and has been the lynchpin in building the closest and most supportive team unit in the sport's history.

As syrupy and contrived as the 'Team Schumacher' approach may seem to detractors, the bottom line is that it works. On Sunday, Schumacher celebrated his 50th consecutive GP (three years straight, give or take a week or two) without mechanical failure. It's a phenomenon that has rendered superlatives redundant, especially in a sport where an eighty percent reliability record would have been considered commendable until recently. To dismiss Schumacher's importance in the consistency of team effort would be churlish.

No doubt, there are times even today when Schumacher has harsh words with his engineers. But, in the interests of the team, Schumacher reserves those words for the privacy of the team factory. It's an approach that has earned him incomparable loyalty from those who serve him, the very level of loyalty and support that Raikkonen will need if he is to follow through on his potential and become WDC.

While Renault's wing problems were not as spectacular as Raikkonen's, they too found that sliver of carbon fibre to be an Achilles heel on Sunday. Jarno Trulli's race effort was effectively sabotaged by a chunk of Raikkonen's wing lodging under his own front wing, and Fernando Alonso also suffered from severe lack of front end grip for a number of laps, before hitting a kerb magically corrected the imbalance late in the race.

Although, compared to Jarno Trulli's pre-emptive announcement that he would be leaving the team at the end of 2004, Sunday's wing problems paled into insignificance for the French outfit. All season, Renault have exuded harmony, with possibly the best-balanced and most amicable driver pairing in the field. It was an environment in which Trulli blossomed, and his consistent performances have been largely responsible for Renault maintaining a tenuous hold on second place in the Constructors' Championship.

Trulli's bitter feud with team boss Flavio Briatore doesn't bode well for the team's prospects in the Championship. Fernando Alonso is fantastically quick and capable most of the time, but he and Trulli have essentially had to double-team Jenson Button all season to fend off BAR-Honda's challenge for 'best of the rest' honours behind Ferrari. A distracted and disgruntled Trulli may mark a return to the bad old days, when the Italian's raw speed and vast potential were only apparent in brief and inconsistent spurts.

The fourth victim of wing syndrome on Sunday was Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello, although 'driver error' would be more accurate than 'wing failure'. For all his insistence that he is a legitimate contender, Barrichello's primary role in F1 is to serve as the link and benchmark between Michael Schumacher and the rest of the field. When the red cars cross the line 1-2, it gets attributed to Ferrari dominance. When Schumacher wins and Barrichello underperforms, as happened on Sunday, the German's individual brilliance gets the plaudits.

Yet not even another soundly strategized and flawlessly executed Schumacher win could detract from Jenson Button's 'drive of the day' performance at Hockenheim. The Englishman's smooth and unflustered style is not conducive to jaw-droppingly spectacular performances. But on Sunday, he got everything just right.

The hallmark of a classic drive is when the driver exceeds what is deemed credible for the machinery underneath him. On Saturday afternoon, the overwhelming conclusion was that BAR had erred, fuelling Button ultra-light for qualifying and going for a 'symbolic pole' that would prove pointless, and indeed ruin his race chances, given his automatic ten-place demotion on the grid for an engine change.

The current qualifying system has many shortfalls, but it also delivers the odd sparkling surprise. Sunday's revelation, that Button had earned third place on the grid with a car fuelled much heavier than those around him, was one of those moments. The Englishman's qualifying performance and fight through the field to eventual second place would have been enough to earn unstinting praise. Button's classy duel with Fernando Alonso, and his 'true grit' helmet problems, provided extra icing.

Judging by his reaction in the post-race press conference, the loose helmet strap didn't seem to bother Button nearly as much as the commentators suggested. But it nevertheless added a Nigel Mansell-like 'against all odds' touch of heroism to Button's race performance.

However, the overtaking move on Alonso was pure class, and the defining moment of the weekend. Not so much by the act of overtaking itself, for Alonso was handicapped by wing and front end grip problems when it happened, but by the manner in which it was accomplished. For several laps, Button had been frustrated by the Renault's superior traction and acceleration out of the hairpin, the new circuit's premier passing spot. So often under these circumstances, one or both of the drivers will lose their nerve with inevitable contact as the net result.

To Alonso and Button's credit, they fought cleanly and fairly for the place and, when Button did finally make the pass, it was ample reward for his patient and sustained onslaught. In an era of shameless self-promotion and 'win at all costs' tactics, it was especially refreshing to see Button radiant in the post-race press conference, not just because he'd got past Alonso but because it was a clean, fair and enjoyable scrap.

It's been an exceptionally difficult year for drivers to impress. The competition for 2005's vacant spots has been fierce, and the field is essentially racing for second position behind Michael Schumacher. Button has impressed all year, but in unspectacular style with few memorable moments. Hockenheim provided those moments, and may turn out to be a watershed performance in the Englishman's career.

Button has supplanted Kimi Raikkonen as the most genuinely likeable Championship contender in the field. When it happens, his maiden GP victory will prove tremendously popular. If he can achieve it during one of the remaining six races on the 2004 calendar, the win may prove even more popular than Jarno Trulli's debut triumph at Monaco.

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