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 To visit the 2003 archive click the link at the end of the page |
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Ralf said he is looking forward to leading the championship at the right time next season - at the very end. "I had the opportunity to win the world championship for a short period during the season". Back-to-back victories at Nurburgring and Magny-Cours put him for a while, at the head of the drivers' title table. The next BMW-powered car will get its first run on January 5 at the Valencia circuit in southern Spain. "Now I am preparing to grasp at our chance next year" Ralf continued. "I'm confident because we had [this year] managed to come up with a car really capable of winning the title for the first time"
Ralf is particularly looking forward to one race scheduled in the 2004 F1 calendar: "Bahrain will set new standards. A first-class facility with an extremely demanding circuit" he reported after a recent visit to Bahrain to inspect progress. And what are the special characteristics of the Bahrain circuit for which the drivers must prepare themselves? "The downhill sections of the track, which might obscure driver visibility creating blind apexes, and sand that might be on the track" Ralf believes Williams are well on track to end brother Michael’s domination of Formula One. “My impressions of the first test drives are very positive. I can say that we’ll come up with a car that will be competitive from the very first race of the new season. I think that 2004 will be far more difficult because the top-class cars will be even more evenly matched than before” Next season will be the first under new rules which stipulate F1 engines must last longer than before but Ralf has no worries on that count. “BMW has been doing a fantastic job over the last few years. I don’t know why different regulations should change that. However, I don’t know enough about technical matters to predict the effects the new rules might have” Ralf has made his usual end-of-season promise, vowing to beat his brother Michael to next year’s Drivers’ title. "I'm younger than Michael and I cannot help it or change it, but I sure won't be making things easy for him next year. I still have a long way to go to catch up with Michael but I'm still learning. I hope to achieve the World Championship one day" Ralf hailed Bahrain's new F1 circuit as the best yet after becoming the first driver to complete a lap of the facility, albeit as a passenger. "It's the best, most modern, I have seen" he said after being shown around the track by circuit officials. "It is complete. They are doing an amazing job". Bahrain is due to host a Grand Prix, the first country in the Middle East to do so, on April 4. It will be the third round of the championship. Ralf became the first Grand Prix driver to complete a lap of the new Bahrain International Circuit. Ralf was given a tour of the facilities at the new circuit and was able to experience the new track at first hand. Commenting on his visit to the circuit: This was the first time I have been to a racetrack at this stage of construction and I found the experience extremely interesting. There is clearly a lot of work being done and I think the Bahrainis are building a very exciting track. From my drive around this circuit it is obvious that it will be fast, challenging and very demanding. It has a combination of slow and very fast corners with a very, very long straight. The most important thing in Formula One is overtaking and today I have seen three opportunities for that, so this will be great fun for us, the drivers but also for the fans to watch. My only concern is sand getting onto the track, but the circuit officials have promised to build a high grip surface to avoid such problems. Ralf before his trip to Bahrain: I think it is brilliant that Formula One is spreading its wings to different parts of the world. Everything I have heard leads me to believe that the Bahrain facilities will be fantastic when they are finished and this trip gives me an opportunity to assess progress for myself. I'm really looking forward to it. Ralf repeated his support for one-lap qualifying: You have one chance and that makes it exciting. But as soon as you are not happy with the car, then you are not happy with the rule. |
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"There are a few contract details that I can not discuss. I am not totally satisfied and that is why the talks are still ongoing. Money is not really the issue. You can not believe everything you read in the newspapers" German newspaper Bild quoted a source saying Sir Frank Williams' "patience is at an end" with Ralf. "My goal for 2005 is to have a better contract than the current one" said Ralf. "I am happy with the BMW Williams F1 team, however there are other strong teams too" |
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| Ralf has warned Williams to get their pre-season testing right or risk losing next year’s world championship before a wheel is turned in anger. Ralf has pinpointed pre-season preparations as the cause for Williams’ failure last season – and called for an improvement this time around. He told German newspaper Express: “The testing before Christmas is extremely important because the course towards a successful season is already being determined. We missed the start of last season, that’s why we didn’t secure the world championship title. At the end of the season, we were even a bit better than Ferrari. So, if we put in good work in winter we should be able to fight for the world championship title – that is, of course, what I want” |
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Getting good results during races can only come after a lot of efficient preparation work, in the form of private testing. That's Ralf's opinion, who is eagerly waiting for the new BMW Williams FW26. “You should always look ahead. Currently we are in a promising position and I want it to stay like this. Successful testing in the coming four or five weeks will be a key factor concerning the development of our new WilliamsF1 BMW FW26. Next year we want to be able to fight for top positions right from the start, so we need to be already in January or February at a level of competitiveness we had reached only in the middle of the 2003 season”. This season's FW25 was slightly below expectations at the beginning of the year, which probably cost Williams the title. “With hindsight it has been an extraordinary season. At the beginning we were lucky that there were several teams suffering from a poor start. Ferrari made many mistakes and McLaren – who were really strong – made also mistakes”. |
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Motor racing's quickest and most famous brothers, Ralf and Michael Schumacher, don't talk about F1. Ralf: 'Well, since I've been with Williams we've stopped that. It came automatically'. Because they drive for two of the title-charging 'big-three' outfits in F1, racing secrets are thicker than the blood of racing brothers, it seems. Ralf: 'At the end of the day, he obviously likes to win as much as I do. But if he wins, I'm happy, as he is for me when I do'. Ralf likes to overtake Michael - who used to tune his go-karts when he was hardly a teenager - on the grand prix track. 'Yeah, of course I like to beat him, and overtake him. But that doesn't mean our relationship has changed. Not at all'. When Ralf first started in F1, age 21 in 1997, the brothers used to talk about the sport. 'We talked about the tracks, and Michael would give me hints about how to get advantage by taking a better line - stuff like that'. But never about racing cars. And the same restraint still exists, where the brothers' multi-million dollar salaried jobs are to beat each other on track. 'We talk about everything else' Ralf insists. 'Mostly children, family'. What about F1 tyres, the explosive issue that got rival Ferrari and Williams chiefs up each others' noses prior to this year's Italian Grand Prix at Monza? 'No, not even that. But I understood Ferrari's [and Bridgestone's] position. They tried to take something away [from us] but I respect it'. |
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Ralf reckons he did a better job than team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya in 2003, even if he dropped out of the F1 title chase earlier. He says he 'can't remember many races' this season when Montoya had driven better than him. 'This year in qualifying, which was a problem [for me] last year, it has worked out a lot better for me'. But in the races, Ralf has been mostly unlucky, according to the German who won at Nurburgring and then again at the French Grand Prix of Magny-Cours. He says that in Austria, a bargeboard fell off. At Silverstone, the diff broke. And at Hockenheim, he was wiped out in a notorious first-corner shunt. 'That's why he ended up going for the championship' he continued in reference to Juan Pablo. 'But I'm already thinking about next year. Things are looking good and I want to keep it that way'. Ralf Schumacher says it's essential, for the early track development of the BMW-powered FW26 contender, that the next few tests are as 'good as possible... Juan Pablo is a different person. He's a good driver and I respect him, but we sometimes don't see eye to eye. I don't mind'. |
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| Ralf has given his stamp of approval to the new rules. “I like the idea of having only practice sessions on Friday. This offers us the chance of working longer to find a good set-up. And it’s a great move for the fans and spectators as well, as Saturdays will be more interesting for them”. F1 will also run 18 Grands Prix for the first time in 2004. Ralf: “The more races the better. Racing is much more fun than testing” |
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| Not only did Michael Schumacher prove he was drunk, he also proved he was human when he trashed a hospitality suite at the Suzuka F1 circuit. Former Irish F1 star John Watson told Revved Up that he was 'surprised' to see those now-famous photographs of Michael and brother Ralf tearing up Japan. The pair, also with Toyota ace Olivier Panis, smashed bottles, broke windows and threw televisions, chairs and fridges in a season-ending rampage. All that, after Schumacher broke Juan Manuel Fangio's all-time record for world titles by driving home eighth for his sixth drivers' world championship. But Watson insists: 'Schumacher is no playboy. On the track he is everything but off it he is no rebel. That was not like him'. He said Schumacher is 'so much of a family man' that his Suzuka antics showed he needed to 'let off some steam'. He said: 'Even so, I'm sure he will be feeling very sorry about it now' |
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| Ralf hinted at some consternation with changes to the format for qualifying in 2004, which will condense the session to 90-minutes on Saturday. 'I liked the rule changes' he said of the single-lap system brought in for 2003. 'I had great fun in qualifying, but I don't know if it was the same for the spectators. They are to change it for next year' |
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Ralf visited Shanghai on Monday October 13th to attend a series of promotional activities for the China GP to be held in Shanghai next year. During his stay he visited the Shanghai F1 racing course and toured the Circuit Headquarters. He only stayed in Shanghai for several hours. He also visited the Shanghai Shenhua Soccer Club, and played a 3 on 3 soccer game. Ralf reckoned the combination of 'slow and fast' bends should give him the chance to overtake next September: "The circuit looks extremely interesting". Ralf had a virtual drive on the near-completed Shanghai track using a simulator at a press call. |
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