Formula-one star Ralf Schumacher did a U-turn on Monday a day after he threatened to leave the Williams team in a row over his new contract details.
Schumacher’s contract negotiations have not been finalised and the younger of the Schumacher brothers had accused team boss Frank Williams of suddenly retracting a new contract that was all set to be signed.
But Schumacher on Monday denied that his words in an interview with the Bild am Sonntag newspaper should be taken as a ”threat to leave”.
”I didn’t talk about breaking the contract, nor that my words should be taken as a threat to leave,” Schumacher, who finished fourth in last season’s world championship drivers’ standings, said on his website.
”My only intention was to to counter press reports that implied that I was only interested in money.”
Schumacher had said in the interview published on Sunday: ”Even if me and my manager Willi Weber would find it hard to leave behind our friends at BMW, there’s a chance it could happen. It would be sad but I can’t allow myself to be treated like that by Williams.
”I’m not frustrated,” added Schumacher. ”But I find it hard to understand certain things that have happened these past few months.”
Schumacher claimed that Williams accused him of only being interested in money.
”Frank Williams says I’m nothing but a money-grabber. I can only laugh at that. He knows that I would accept to cut my current salary in half,” added Schumacher. — Sapa-AFP