World champion Michael Schumacher vowed on Wednesday to go flat out to make the Japanese Grand Prix an all-Ferrari affair, even though he and his team have already swept the honours this season.
”Honestly, I’m not looking back too much. You always have enough reasons to look forward,” Schumacher said at a sponsor’s event in Tokyo ahead of the season’s penultimate race at Suzuka on Sunday. ”To me, there is still so much to come and so much fun still to have.”
The 35-year-old German has not won a race since winning his 12th Grand Prix of the season at the 13th round in Hungary two months ago to clinch the driver’s crown for the seventh time.
At the inaugural Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai two weeks ago, he finished 12th following a spin and a puncture while his Brazilian Ferrari teammate Rubens Barrichello chalked up his second straight win.
”We have both come here to win the race for Ferrari and our partners,” Schumacher said. ”Whether it’s going to be Rubens or me, it’s Ferrari. That is important.”
”Something I’d like to do is get back to my winning ways but Rubens wants to stop that,” he laughed. Asked if the two drivers would go for a one-two finish, Schumacher said, ”We’ll try.”
Barrichello was also upbeat ahead of Sunday’s race on the twisting technical circuit at Suzuka, home to Japanese carmaker Honda. The Italian team also use Japanese Bridgestone tyres.
”Obviously, it’s a home Grand Prix for Bridgestone and we want to do very well here,” Barrichello said. ”The last couple of races have been just phenomenal. And we will just keep on going the way we have done.” – Sapa-AFP