MICHAEL SCHUMACHER said he didn't quite know what had happened to his younger brother Ralf. All he knew was that the 21 year old Jordan driver was running fourth in the opening stages of yesterday's San Marino Grand Prix, right on the tail of eventual winner Heinz Harald Frentzen's Williams.
"But if Ralf had finished, there might have been three of us up here on the rostrum," he said. "But it is only a matter of time." He was referring to the reawakening of Germany's interest in top class motor sport on a day when its drivers finished first and second in a round of the Formula One championship for the first time in its 47 year history.
Now that Michael Schumacher has been joined by Frentzen as a proven front line F1 contender, Germany's race fans are revelling in the pay off from the Mercedes Benz investment in the early careers of these two talented drivers.
Both were originally recruited as members of the celebrated `Mercedes junior' team in the late 1980s, cutting their competitive teeth at the wheel of the German car maker's sports cars in long distance endurance events. In those days, most insiders regarded Frentzen as every bit as quick if not quicker than Schumacher.
Thereafter Frentzen's career took something of an unfortunate, unprofitable detour into Formula 3000 while Schumacher aimed for a fast track graduation into Grand Prix racing. Frentzen clearly regards his victory yesterday as decisively underlining that his early optimism was not misplaced.
Nationalistic involvement in Grand Prix racing has ebbed and flowed throughout that time. British technology and engineering may have provided a consistent thread and Ferrari has always been there carrying Italy's colours - but Germany's participation has been intermittent.
Back in 1954 and 55, Mercedes Benz ran its own works F1 team but thereafter withdrew from the sport completely and it was not until 1982, when BMW appeared on the scene as engine supplier to the Bernie Ecclestone owned.
Brabhain team, that the country's interest in the sport's senior category showed signs of revival.
Nelson Piquet drove a Brabham BMW turbo to victory in the 1983 world championship but the company withdrew from F1 after another four seasons. Meanwhile, Mercedes, whilst investing in home grown driving talent, eventually took the plunge and entered F1 in 1994 with the Sauber team, where Frentzen was finally given his F1 chance.
In the quest for improved performance, Mercedes switched its engine supply contract to McLaren from the start of 1995 - when they fleetingly became involved in a disastrous partnership with Nigel Mansell - and were finally rewarded when David Coulthard won this year's Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne.
Yesterday, Coulthard was running fourth, chipping away at the leaders, when his engine over heated and he was forced to pull up. Yet Mercedes is confident that it and the McLaren team can raise the standard of their game to become consistent winners at the front of the field.
Either way, they may have to look to their laurels over the next couple of seasons. With the withdrawal of Renault's factory support from the Williams team at the end of this year, BMW is set to foot the reputed £13 million bill for the British team to continue unbadged Renault engines in 1998 and 1999 in preparation for a full factory effort of their own at the turn of the century.
BMW have looked enviously at the way in which Mercedes has raised its sporting image over the past three seasons. It has now clearly decided that it cannot afford to do without its own slice of the massive global television coverage commanded by the Fl world championship.
The prospect of Heinz Harald Frentzen in a Williams BMW may be a long shot with the German company's first engine at least two years away from completion.
But with Ralf Schumacher showing such obviously promising form in only his fourth Grand Prix, the prospect of a German driver winning the world championship in a car powered by a German engine - be it Mercedes or BMW - must now be regarded as a very realistic prospect for the future.
