| Question :
Michael,
this has been a circuit on which McLaren has a
tremendous record. Do you feel
that you are at a disadvantage
here? |
| M.Schumacher :
Not
necessarily, honestly. We have
had a good test here. We haven't only had
one test here. We've been here several
times. You could say that being here more often
gives you a greater advantage. It might be true to some
degree, but you have to see it in relation to
the new car, the experience you've had with
the new car and our base with the new car is obviously
very good. What you then need is to finalise the
set - up. We've had some time to do this
as the last test was here - with
two new cars so we feel pretty
much prepared for it. On the other hand, if you
look at last year, with the exception of the last
stint, I had a very good battle with
Mika, being pretty equal except in the last stint
and then obviously it was a
fortunate win. But Ferrari has gone up step - by - step
and this circuit certainly shows how much the
potential of the car is.
|
| Question :
Have
you got new bits and pieces here? |
| M.Schumacher :
Yes,
we have a few aerodynamic bits on the car which
are different and to our knowledge better but it's going
up in small steps.
|
| Question :
You
had an accident in testing last week. Can you tell us
a little more about it?
|
| M.Schumacher :
No,
we had a problem with
the front end of the car which
caused me to go off the circuit. It was a problem
with the front nose which we are still investigating
which consequently then damaged the suspension afterwards.
|
| Question :
A
question about Formula One as a whole: Jordan
have had to lay off people,
BAR have done the same thing earlier this
year. Eddie Jordan has said that he
feels that some of the top teams
aren't taking the economic problem seriously enough.
What do you think about that? |
| M.Schumacher :
You
quoted two examples of which probably only one
is right because I think BAR
have re-structured. They've dismissed
some people to bring in
new people, whereas Jordan
has simply let people go, for
whatever reason. I don't want to get
into that. At the end of the day, there has always been
the case that you have had good times and lesser
good times in Formula One financially. Maybe we are
getting to an area where finally
it's getting a little bit tougher because
if the world economy is tough, which it
is at the moment, it reflects onto Formula One.
But then usually Formula One is the first
to get out of it again because good companies want
to invest and they invest in good teams.
If you do a good job - and Eddie has shown
how good a job he can do as a small team to
get up to then become interesting to good
sponsors. At
the moment, he's on the other
side. He's obviously dropped a bit on performance,
for whatever reason, and that makes
him less interesting for
other partners and sponsors. Whether, overall, this
is to be seen as this and whether the big teams can
actually take care - which they do, what
does he propose? Should they give him money to
keep running? It's not really
feasible. I think one step ahead is the engine
situation in the future which is looking in this direction.
But Formula One has always been in a certain way
and I don't think you can change it
from one day to another. In
the long term, certain steps will
surely be taken to secure the business is going, to
keep it stable.
|
| Question :
For
Michael. How difficult is it for you not to get so excited
about the new car considering how far ahead you were
in the last race? |
| M.Schumacher :
It's
pretty easy. If you look at the beginning of the season
I was so much ahead of everybody in Australia and then
it turned around in Malaysia for whatever reason. I
have enough experience
of motor racing. You can
have a good situation for a
certain time and then it can change. I remember
1994, we were sort of miles ahead and then the championship
got tight, for obviously other reasons
as well, but I have seen this
often enough, for other teams as well. Very often
we were chasing other teams and we were
able to pick up and suddenly make the championship very
tight for them. In Formula One you can never
rest and never feel too comfortable. You always
have to look ahead and keep
on fighting and only when the job is done can you be
sure.
|
| Question :
Michael,
we have had a year of driver aids now. Are
the cars easier to drive and do you
think the racing is better or worse?
|
| M.Schumacher :
To
me it is clearly an improvement because
as a driver I prefer a much
more neutral situation, a much more advanced and
technology improved situation, which we have now.
I prefer working that way. Does
it make racing more or less interesting? Well,
if you look through the years I don't think
it really changes a lot to what is shown to the outside.
We have the same circuits
and about the same number
of overtaking moves as
we had in the past. It is pretty close
together in all honesty, simply a little bit more
complicated but it offers other opportunities.
|
| Question :
To
Michael, not about
Formula One. In an interview
you were asked about politics and
said you don't vote because of certain
reasons. Do you think this
could change in the future? |
| M.Schumacher :
Maybe,
yes.
|
| Question :
What
must change then for you to do that?
|
| M.Schumacher :
I think I expressed it quite clearly. If I can
see the politics in a way
I can agree with it then I would vote but that
is not the case at the moment.
|
| Question :
Because
you are not
in Germany is it more difficult
to judge the politics?
|
| M.Schumacher :
In
my opinion the only way to judge politics
is what you get from the
media and I am pretty reachable in news
and watching television and that is the main way
of understanding what politics want to achieve
and what is the goal and direction. I don't
think you need to be in Germany yourself to see
and hear but probably it
is less correct for a person,
and that is another reason that has not
been expressed so much.
As I am a Swiss resident
I should probably be less involved
in this and shouldn't really vote for
something that is not really in my
interest and I should leave it up to the Germans who
live there to do so.
|
| Question :
Michael.
Today the new Formula One
magazine came out. There is
a story about the 100 most
powerful people in Formula One, you are
listed as number one, Bernie Ecclestone is
number two, Luca di Montezemolo is
number three and Max Mosley is number four.
|
| M.Schumacher :
I
didn't know I paid Bernie so much money!
|
| Question :
I
was going to ask you how you got there and now
we know, but is this fair? Do you think
this magazine is fair in putting people in that sort
of order? |
| M.Schumacher :
Clearly
no. There is probably one
person judging that and whoever
he feels is his buddy
he puts maybe in number one or number
two or whatever. No, I feel that is completely
unfair. If I rate the job certain people do in our
team to the amount of
work I have to do I should probably not even be
on the list amongst the 100.
|
| Question :
Another
question for Michael
and Kimi. I am curious to
know if the drivers see the race the same
as we do. The last Grand Prix the spectators and media
thought the race was not very
exciting but when you look at the race after,
do you find it interesting and exciting or boring?
|
| K.Raikkonen :
From
my point of view it was pretty interesting at least
at the beginning of the race. I had a big battle with
Montoya and of course it wasn't
for long, but I think the races are always
interesting when you are driving in them,
you do your best and push
as hard as you can. I think it is quite different from
outside to inside.
|
| M.Schumacher :
It
depends from what point
of view you look and where the
spectator is watching, if he is watching at the
front, the midfield, the back end, because
you have different levels of excitement
depending on what is the race. If
you take Brazil, for sure Brazil was
more exciting than Imola was, even for myself, no doubt,
but then I am one driver out of 22.
|
| |
