/ 9 July 2005

Schumi not too optimistic about British race

Michael Schumacher admitted in Silverstone on Friday that the British Grand Prix could see his Ferrari team repeat the disappointing performance they suffered in last weekend’s French Grand Prix.

The Magny-Cours race saw seven-time champion Schumacher qualify third and expect to fight for a win, only to finish more than one minute behind the winning Renault of championship leader Fernando Alonso in the race.

And Schumacher said: ”In Magny-Cours, I was quite optimistic. We had a good test coming to France and I really had the feeling to say we could realistically fight for the victory. Everybody knows how the race went in the end.

”Today we did a lot of laps and pretty much finished our planned programme, and on our long runs we were not too bad. That was also the case on Friday in Magny-Cours, so I don’t want to make any predictions.

”If you look at the times for today carefully, you can see that over one lap it looks as though we are again a bit weaker, but on the long runs I look a bit better. Again, what will it mean for Sunday’s race? I don’t know.”

Schumacher, whose Ferrari team has won at Silverstone for the past three years, finished seventh- and 10th-fastest in Friday’s two practice sessions, but the day was not without its dramas.

He drove into the back of BMW-Williams driver Nick Heidfeld as the pair entered the pit lane at the end of the first session, making light contact with his countryman.

”There was small damage on the nose, but it was not that big,” said Schumacher. ”Maybe I wasn’t concentrating enough in that situation, but then I didn’t expect him to brake that early. I wasn’t concentrating enough.”

Schumacher’s weekend started with a shock, as he was staying in central London when Thursday’s terrorist attacks hit the city and found out about the tragedies when he set off for the circuit by helicopter.

Ferrari boss Jean Todt admitted he had other things on his mind ahead of this weekend’s grand prix and said: ”The terrible events in London yesterday serve to remind us how lucky everyone is who works in formula one.

”They also show how unimportant the bickering that occasionally takes place in our own little world is compared to this.” — Sapa-AFP