Rubens Barrichello finally got the win he richly deserved this season as he scored his first victory in almost 23 months at the European Grand Prix in Germany today.
Barrichello triumphed by just seconds as Ferrari decided against ordering the Brazilian to move over for Michael Schumacher and thus repeat the controversial collusion of Austria.
Schumacher saw his hopes of a third successive triumph in front of his adoring home fans at the Nurburgring wrecked after he committed a rare mistake and briefly spun off the track 23 laps into the 60-lap race.
But he still extended his lead in the drivers' championship to 46 points over the Williams-BMW of his brother Ralf who finished fourth behind McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen, who was over 46 seconds behind Barrichello.
Colombia's Juan Pablo Montoya in the other Williams and McLaren's David Coulthard fell further adrift after they collided at the first corner while battling for third place midway through the race.
Jenson Button provided the perfect riposte to claims that he will lose his seat at Renault next year with a fine fifth place to get among the points for the first time in five races. Sauber's Felipe Massa was sixth.
Toyota's Allan McNish was 14th while Eddie Irvine will head for Barcelona this week looking for the expected radical improvement to the R3 after retiring his Jaguar car.
The Jordans failed to score today with Takuma Sato finishing in 16th position. Giancarlo Fisichella retired early in the race.
The 140,000 crowd and the watching millions were left on tenterhooks in the final laps wondering whether Ferrari would impose team orders and gift Schumacher another victory as they had in Austria just seven weeks ago.
Ferrari still have to account for their actions on the A1-Ring when they face the World Council of the sport's world governing body, FIA, in Paris on Wednesday.
But justice was done as Barrichello was allowed to claim only the second win of his 155-race career - the other triumph was also on German soil at Hockenheim in July 2000 - having snatched the lead on the first lap despite starting fourth.
Ferrari would surely have had the rule book thrown at them if they had fixed the outcome of another race in Schumacher's favour but the drivers effectively held station in the closing laps with Raikkonen so far behind.
Schumacher junior's fourth spot ensured he is in outright second in the championship but with just eight races left a fifth drivers' crown is even more assured for his elder brother now unless there is a sensational outcome in Paris.
PA