World champion Michael Schumacher is chasing his third successive victory in the Canadian Grand Prix this weekend as he bids to continue his devastating form in a race that almost never was.
There was uproar last year when the popular race, which has been won by Schumacher six times in the past 10 seasons, was thrown off the calendar to make way for new venues in Bahrain and China.
But it was reinstated on an expanded 18-event schedule after the Montreal community put together a financial rescue package.
And ahead of this weekend’s race Schumacher is confident that he will extend his winning streak at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
”Why should I be anything other than positive? Montreal is a circuit that suits our cars so I expect us to be very competitive,” said the German, who has topped the podium in six of the seven races so far this year.
”I am going to Montreal in a positive frame of mind. I have always done well in the Canadian Grand Prix so I hope to do so again and, as ever, we will be going all-out for the win.”
Schumacher claimed his first victory in Montreal for Benetton in 1994, the season he won his first world title, but took his five other victories with Ferrari in 1997, 1998, 2000 and the past two seasons.
He blew away any thoughts that his first loss of the season, in Monaco in the middle of May, would be anything other than a one-off when he won at the Nurbrugring in Germany two weeks ago.
And a record that also includes six pole positions and four fastest laps as well as two runners-up finishes for his Brazilian teammate Rubens Barrichello all point towards a fifth Ferrari one-two of the season on Sunday.
But both Renault, who are second in the world championship behind Ferrari, and BAR-Honda, who put in another strong showing at the last race, are confident of putting up a challenge.
Briton Jenson Button extended his run of podium finishes to five in six races when he claimed third place at the Nurburgring after his teammate Takuma Sato lost out on his maiden podium with a blown engine late in the race.
BAR will have an improved engine this weekend and Button said: ”I’m very confident. The step with the engine will help us because this is a power circuit and it is a race I would love to win, given the chance.”
The Canadian Grand Prix will form the first part of a North American double-header nestled in the middle of a run of six races in eight weeks. The United States Grand Prix in Indianapolis follows next weekend.
Williams have been front runners in recent years with Ralf Schumacher claiming pole last year and a win in 2001 and teammate Juan Pablo Montoya starting from the front two years ago.
They, like former frontrunners McLaren, who last won here with Finn Mika Hakkinen in 1999, have been struggling this year but expect the power circuits in Montreal and Indianapolis to suit their car.
Ralf Schumacher, who is yet to finish on the podium this year, said: ”Even though things haven’t gone right for me recently I am looking forward to the trip to Canada and the US.
”In the past few years we’ve managed to produce some good results in Canada so I’m hoping the track should suit our car again this year and I am convinced that we made a step forward in testing after the Nurburgring.”
Most of the top teams congregated at Silverstone in England last week to prepare for the fly-away races before packing up their cars and loading them on to planes bound for Montreal.
Ferrari chose to make a rare testing appearance outside their home test tracks of Fiorano and Mugello and, while their rivals are expecting new developments to bring them closer, they are expecting to pull away again.
Schumacher, who joined his rivals in England last week, said: ”There is no doubt that testing at Silverstone went well and the two races coming up should favour us.” — Sapa-AFP