/ 8 July 2004

Schumacher ready to be the icing on the cake

If records are anything to go by then world champion Michael Schumacher faces a tough task to bake his rivals and keep his victorious run alive in this weekend’s British Grand Prix.

The dominant Ferrari driver is the favourite to take his astonishing winning tally this season into double figures with another crushing display on Sunday — but Silverstone is one of the world champion’s bogey tracks.

Schumacher has finished first at least twice on every grand prix circuit he has raced on in his grand prix career but winner’s trophies from Britain — just two — represent some of the least common silverware in his cabinet.

In fact, Schumacher has only won once at Silverstone since he broke his leg in a crash there in 1999 and in 12 race appearances he has posted four retirements and one disqualification.

Only his home grand prix shows a worse record for the six-time world champion, who last weekend claimed his record seventh race victory at the Magny-Cours circuit to follow up his similar feat in Canada.

But, as Schumacher always says, numbers mean nothing to him.

Motivation is more important and he certainly has that.

”After a race like the French Grand Prix I can only look forward to the next one,” said Schumacher, who used a midrace switch in tactics that he said was just ”for fun” to cruise to victory in France last weekend.

”The fact that this one takes place only a few days after Magny-Cours means we can bring our enthusiasm from there to Silverstone and that brings the team even closer together.

”This season is proving to be really outstanding and we were very happy with our testing performance at Silverstone at the beginning of June, so we can hope for victory again.”

Brazilian Rubens Barrichello beat his teammate Schumacher to victory last year as the world champion eventually finished down in fourth place in a thrilling race that was turned on its head by a track invasion.

Schumacher has had the upper hand this year and he has won all but one of the 10 races despite only starting from pole position on five occasions, so the fact he has just one pole at Silverstone will not bother him one bit.

What does, however, is the ever-improving performance of his rivals and, in particular, Jenson Button, who he believes will exploit the advantage of an enthusiastic home crowd to its full.

”The opposition is getting closer and I believe BAR-Honda will be able to come up trumps here more than they did last weekend,” said Schumacher. ”That means we cannot be too confident, but I do like the track at Silverstone.”

Button’s impressive performance this year, which has seen him on the podium six times, will ensure the most partisan crowd since the days of Nigel Mansell and Damon Hill drew in the fans in the 1990s.

Fresh from an appearance in London’s Regent Street, where he paraded his BAR-Honda machine in front of a packed crowd, he is determined to do everything he can to stand under the Union Jack on the top step of the podium.

The whole team will be out to cheer Button on and team chief David Richards promised: ”Home teams always play better on their home pitches and we are now heading to Silverstone. To my knowledge that is not a home pitch to Ferrari.

”The psychology of the whole business is a very significant part of it. I will give you the example of football teams. How much more do they win at home than away? Our mood is going to be very, very positive.

”From Regent Street on Tuesday right through to the weekend. I don’t expect it will have a negative effect on him [Schumacher] but I hope it will have a genuinely positive effect on our entire organisation.”

Button may now be firmly installed as the home favourite but he is not the only driver hoping to give Schumacher a strong challenge. There is a whole bunch of them queuing up in line.

Spaniard Fernando Alonso started from pole position on his Renault team’s home ground last weekend but finished second to Schumacher. He will be looking to avenge the failure to stay ahead.

So too will his teammate Jarno Trulli, who Barrichello passed for the final podium place on the very last lap in France. A word in the ear from technical chief Pat Symonds was hardly needed to fire up the Italian.

Takuma Sato, Button’s teammate, has retired from four of the past five races and will be keen to halt his slide on a track he knows so well from his days as British formula-three champion.

Add to that Williams-BMW stand-in Marc Gene, who is in for the injured Ralf Schumacher and has been given a second chance to impress after a disappointing race in France, his Colombian teammate Juan Pablo Montoya and also McLaren.

Scot David Coulthard, perhaps, has most to gain from a strong performance on home ground as, without a drive in 2005, the home hero who won in 1999 and 2000 could be bidding farewell to his fans.

But he will be hoping for continued improvement from his McLaren team, who introduced their new MP4-19B machine in France, so that he can have another swansong next year.

”This is a fickle business,” he said. ”Some idiots think that if you have got a poor car then that is as fast as you can peddle. I peddled pretty well in France and the chances at Silverstone will be similar.

”Ferrari will again be strong on that circuit as it is quite a fast open track, and I think BAR and Williams will be strong there. We just need to hope we can mix it.”

There are plenty of drivers in the mix and throughout the field there are the right ingredients for an exciting race. But, as ever, Schumacher is ready to be the icing on the cake. — Sapa-AFP