Ralf Schumacher has admitted his contract negotiations with formula-one team BMW-Williams have hit a snag and his manager Willi Weber has warned the German team the driver will go elsewhere if his personal demands are not met.
Schumacher, the younger brother of six-time world champion Michael Schumacher, was to have agreed to a contract extension to drive for the BMW Williams team for 2005 but confidential contract details have stalled the 28-year-old Schumacher’s decision to sign on the dotted line.
”There are a few contract details that I can not discuss,” declared Schumacher. ”I am not totally satisfied and that is why the talks are still ongoing.”
The contract details mentioned by Schumacher are believed to concern personal sponsors.
The German driver crushed media suggestions that he was holding out for a more lucrative financial package from BMW-Williams.
”Money is not really the issue,” insisted Schumacher. ”You can not believe everything you read in the newspapers.”
Schumacher’s manager, Willi Webber, did not mince his words in issuing a warning to the BMW-Williams team, revealing Schumacher could follow Colombian teammate Juan Pablo Montoya out of the door if a suitable package was not put together.
”There are other quick cars around,” Webber told German daily Bild. ”If the conditions are not right then we will simply not sign.”
”It is not as if Ralf will be sitting on the street.”
Montoya joins rivals Mclaren Mercedes for the 2005 season and BMW-Williams will not want to replace two of the best drivers in formula one. — Sapa-AFP