Although the title has already been decided, China’s first formula-one race still has second and third place in the standings to decide, along with the much-anticipated return of former champion Jacques Villeneuve and Ralf Schumacher.
Michael Schumacher has already clinched the driving title this season — his seventh overall and fifth in a row. He and Rubens Barrichello helped Ferrari take their sixth consecutive team title ahead of this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix, the latest addition to the formula-one schedule.
However, behind the titles there are still some struggles, notably for second and third in the team standings, which counts for valuable money from commercial revenues. Behind Ferrari’s 234 points, BAR-Honda have 94 and Renault have 91 with three races left.
”We need to be aggressive between now and the end of the year to overtake BAR again because it will be a big fight,” said Renault’s Fernando Alonso. ”We will all be intent on bouncing back from the Monza result in style and taking the fight to BAR in China.”
After a good early season, which included a victory by Jarno Trulli at Monaco, Renault haven’t scored in the last two races.
Trulli’s results forced Renault to terminate his contract after the Italian Grand Prix with three races left.
Trulli has signed with Toyota for next year and his seat for the last three races at Renault will be taken by Jacques Villeneuve, the 1997 formula-one champion and 1995 Indy 500 winner.
Villeneuve returns after nearly a year away when his contract was ended by BAR-Honda before the last race of the 2003 season and he was replaced by Takuma Sato.
Sato has teamed with Jenson Button to gain nine top-three finishes this season. Button has even led a few races this season, but his best finishes have been seconds in San Marino and Germany.
Button, with 71 points, has a slight chance to overtake Barrichello’s 98 points in the driver standings. He needs at least two victories and a second, and for Barrichello to remain scoreless over the last three races, to gain second.
Meanwhile, Michael Schumacher has 136 points with 12 victories in the 15 races so far. But he hasn’t finished first in either of the last two races, with McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen taking the Belgian Grand Prix and Barrichello winning at the Italian race two weeks ago.
That race featured an improbable 1-2 finish by Ferrari after both Barrichello and Schumacher fell far behind early.
Schumacher is anxious for more in his first visit to China and its brand-new, 5,451km track, which reports say cost as much as $320-million.
”Everything we have seen seems fantastic, so I think there is good reason to be excited about the China race,” Schumacher said.
”Until now I have seen the track only in designs and some photos, but I had a good impression of it,” he added. ”There are many tight curves, some fast stretches and also a long straight, one on which overtaking should be possible.”
Schumacher is keen to add to his 82 victories.
”It’s a great honour to have won many races,” he said. ”But I have spaces for a few more trophies.”
The race is also expected to see the return of Ralf Schumacher, Michael’s brother, to the Williams team following a six-race absence after crashing into a wall at the United States Grand Prix in Indianapolis in June.
”It’s good to be back in the car again,” Ralf Schumacher said. ”As I expected, I didn’t experience any pain in my back and I felt OK physically.”
Williams need his help. After winning four races last season, including two by Ralf Schumacher, Williams are winless and just fourth in the standings.
Teams further down are struggling.
Jaguar, who are running seventh among the 10 teams, announced last week they are quitting formula one at the end of the year.
Jordan announced on Wednesday that they terminated the team’s contract with Giorgio Pantano and will replace him with back-up driver Timo Glock. — Sapa-AP