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Ralf Schumacher has tried to shatter the myth behind his brother, the all-conquering World Champion Michael Schumacher, by saying that several drivers could win the world title. The Williams driver believes he is one of four or five other drivers who, in the right car, could win the title. But though he thinks his brother has the best car in F1, he insists there is no secret formula behind Schumacher's success. And the German believes his brother's achievements are "outstanding", Ralf Schumacher's comments will give heart to the Ferrari driver's rivals. "Some people who try to identify what he is doing don't really know what he is doing. I pretend to be one of the ones who is really close and there is no magic about it. There are four or five drivers in Formula One who are able to win the championship with the right package. F1 these days is so complex, how should one individual do the job which we need 600 people to do. It's impossible. At the end of the day to always blame the driver and say we need a Michael Schumacher to win is an easy excuse. What Michael has achieved in his career is outstanding. It's not luck that he has achieved it, it was great patience, great work but also with a great team" |
Schumacher is confident he can emulate his brother's achievements at Ferrari and restore Williams to the summit of the world championship, but admits he needs more time. "I believe I can do it here [Williams BMW] That's why I signed to come here at the end of 1998. I am sure we are going in the right direction. It's our fourth year with BMW and Michael took five seasons to get his first championship title with Ferrari. Look at Mika Hakkinen. He stepped into the McLaren when it was down there even behind Jordan and he made it into a winning team and won two titles so it's possible but it takes time" Schumacher admits only Ferrari themselves can stop his brother claiming a record sixth drivers' crown given the advantage they established over their rivals last year when they won 15 of the 17 races. "After the gap we had last year it would be stupid to say now that we can challenge for the title. I hope - and I think - that definitely we will be able to win more races and put Ferrari under a bit more pressure. If we achieve that then the goal is achieved for this year. But looking at last year it is only Ferrari that can beat themselves with an unreliable engine or package. But it might all be different after the first race, we will have to see" |
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| Like last year, the Williams-BMW team will give its drivers equal treatment and will not issue team orders, except in rare circumstances. “We will just let them race” Williams said. One standing team order at Williams is that the drivers should not knock each other off the track. “We shouldn’t repeat the Indianapolis scenario” said Schumacher, referring to last year’s U.S. Grand Prix at Indianapolis, where he and Montoya collided in the early stages of the race. |
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Count Ralf Schumacher among the handful of people who don't believe his older brother, Michael, is the world's greatest driver. Ralf admits his brother is a great driver. It's just that he believes other drivers, including himself, could have the same success, given the same situation. “There are four drivers in Formula One at present that could do a similar job” said Ralf, who drives for Team Williams and gives the elite Ferrari team much credit for his sibling's success. “Michael is in a good environment. He's lost races in the past because he didn't have a good car. On certain days, he has one or two tenths (of a second) on other drivers. When he gets under pressure, he makes mistakes like everybody else” Juan Montoya: “I'm not going to say he's not a great driver, but I don't think the guy's unbeatable. His success has a lot to do with the car” Frank Williams, owner of the BMW-powered cars driven by Ralf Schumacher and Montoya, sounded as if he might be in the camp that thinks Michael Schumacher is the best when he said: “Michael is also a major contributor. The only other great contributor to a team to equal him would have been Ayrton (Senna)” |
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BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen: "You don't often see a driver starting from 17th place and almost making it to the front. Ralf really did the very best he could. Ralf was accordingly "absolutely happy" with the result. "This race was as demanding as 56 laps of qualifying. Driving at the front as I did last year was obviously much easier" His teammate Juan Pablo Montoya: "No doubt my race was decided in the first lap. I was hit in the rear by Pizzonia's Jaguar and lost most of the rear wing, which forced me to pit. My drink bottle stopped working after a dozen laps, which made the rest of the race very, very hard" Ralf Schumacher benefited from the turbulent start of the race. Four laps on he had already moved up ten places into seventh place. |
By lap 23 he was in fourth and sustained this position even after his first pit stop, which was completed in 8.6 seconds. Ralf pitted for a second time on lap 40. Again everything went smoothly and he rejoined the race after precisely eight seconds, going on to finish fourth. With a total of six World Championship points, he occupies eighth place in the Drivers' Championship. On two things the team's drivers were agreed. Firstly, they were still dissatisfied with the balance of their FW25, and secondly, they were nevertheless confident about the race. After all, they knew what the competition would have liked to have been privy to as well, namely that during qualifying they both had enough fuel for at least 22 laps and thus anticipated strategic advantages thanks to relatively late pit stops. |
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"In view of my seventeenth starting point I am absolutely happy with fourth place. I think, the new rules work satisfactorily. They mix the field up completely beautifully" That was my translation but here's an official one from eurosport.de "I am happy that I achieved fourth position after I started 17th. The new rules are proving positive. They mix up the field so much that a lot goes on in the race" |
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Ralf rates Sepang as a favourite circuit. "I'm really looking forward to Malaysia. I love the country, I love the track and even the extreme weather conditions don't matter to me. I'm well prepared and I think that this track will work perfectly with our tyres and our car. I have good memories of last year's race and I hope I can repeat the experience" Neither Ralf nor Montoya have so far expressed overwhelming enthusiasm for the new car, with Ralf saying it was clear the team still had a lot of work to do. "Unless we come up with a big step forward on the aerodynamics package, basically more downforce, then we're done" said Montoya. "But if you look at the car, it's a huge step forward on last year's... Ferrari are still so far ahead but this car could be the base of a really good car" |
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Ralf on Michael: "We are very relaxed, although it's difficult to answer as to how the relationship works. Yes, we'll always be brothers. Yes, we're very close but we are very competitive at the same time. We've only got very close [and had problems] on a couple of occasions when we were fighting for wins or positions. Michael's too competitive to look after me. I know where his limits are and where my limits are. I wouldn't try a stupid move and I don't think he would make one on me now" "Michael and I don't talk much about racing. He lives in Switzerland, I'm in Austria. We've both got families and generally don't spend a lot of time together. Even from our first year in formula one together we never really talked about cars or racing issues at the circuit. He didn't want to; and after a while I didn't want to do that also. In that respect I suppose you could say that it took me some time, perhaps, to realise just how competitive formula one is. When I was going to leave Jordan, Michael gave me some advice on some of my options and, interestingly, he asked me what I thought about his quitting Benetton back in 1995 even though I wasn't even near getting into formula one myself at that time" |
Ralf on Juan Pablo Montoya: "You could argue that, if Juan had not spun he would have won the race [Australia 2003] but McLaren were right there because they had a better race than we did. We had a very good result and were all happy about it but we're not out of our problems and we still have to find a lot of performance" Ralf's relationship with Montoya is not close. Since the Colombian driver replaced Jenson Button as Ralf's team-mate in 2001 the two men have been on little more than nodding terms. Ralf sees his relationship with his team-mate as reflecting merely a lack of personal chemistry but admits to spending little time off the track with him. "I wouldn't say that I dislike him but we are totally different people with different interests. We haven't even ever had a dinner together. I don't know, it's very strange. We talk to each other normally at the races but nothing beyond that. There was some tension between us at the beginning, although more created from outside the team than from within it, but there's no real problem now. The situation is just fine by me" |
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| The Iraq war oppresses Ralf much. In Malaysia he's informed by television about the current happenings. He hopes that the war ends quickly, and people do not have to suffer. |
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| Different than often speculated the two succeed in working professionally with one another. "The relationship was never extremely bad. On the racing course we go around properly with one another... We do not have private contact. That is not necessary also. When he goes home, he has enough friends, over who he must worry, and I also" |
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| Montoya contradicted the continuous speculations around an allegedly clouded relationship between him and his team colleague Ralf Schumacher. "We do not have much in common, but Ralf is a nice chap. The media did not always represent the relationship correctly" |
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| "[Williams BMW] naturally has priority. But if we did not reach an agreement, then Toyota also could enter my plans" According to the teammate of the Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya, the decision on his future after the conclusion of his contract in 2004 will be taken within about five months. |
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| He triumphed in the penultimate race of last season in Malaysia, but admitted that he is not expecting a similar outcome in the first race of the new season. "We will not be also-rans in Australia, but we might as well forget any thoughts of winning the first couple of races. We lack too much to aim for a win. Michael gets in the car, drives 80 laps just like that and does not have the slightest problem. Ferrari again is driving in a world of its own. We've worked like mad and everyone knows that we have a huge amount to do. |
At the moment the new car is as quick as the old one, perhaps a tad faster, but that is not good enough" Ralf played down rumours linking him with a move away from Williams, insisting that he is happy where he is. "I have a contract for two more years at BMW-Williams and I like it here. It all depends if Williams want me beyond 2004. Or if I want to stay there. But that has no priority now, the priority is to improve the car" |
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What is the biggest hurdle you have to overcome when you're Michael Schumacher's brother?
(Hans Wolker, Germany) Ralf: "I never ask myself questions like that. I do my job as well as I can, I try to satisfy the people who are employing me, and that's about it. Since the start of this season, for example, I haven't read anything the papers have written about me. Most of it's unfair, and the best answer I can find for their sarcasm is my results on the track" Who is your ideal driver? (tkata) Ralf: "Am I supposed to say my brother?" (laughs) |
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