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Schumacher's
Fast Little Brother
Friday, September 5, 1997
IN THE pits at a Grand Prix
race Ralf Schumacher looks so much like his brother Michael
that often the only way to tell them apart is by
the color of their baseball caps; on the race track, too, they are beginning
to look more alike.
In preparation for Sunday's
Italian Grand Prix at Monza, the younger brother, who
wears a yellow cap and drives a yellow car, has been going
much faster than the better-known one in the famous red car and matching
red cap. It will be the home race for Michael's Ferrari
team, but Jordan-Peugeot cars set the fastest
times during testing at the track last week.
Close up, the
differences appear. Ralf does not have the
muscle man presence of his brother,
the double world champion. Ralf has just turned
22, and unlike Michael, 28, can
look like a
pink-cheeked, awkward
teenager.
''I don't like
to speak about it,'' said Ralf of his physique, in an interview
under the awning of his team's motorhome at the Belgian Grand
Prix, two weeks ago. ''And I don't like to have
pictures in the gym or whatever because that's not my style.''
Ralf has been called arrogant.
Some say he is simply inordinately self-assured, others that, at 22, he
is immature. But he shares one characteristic
with Michael that all race car drivers must have:
a near lack of consciousness of the
danger of
hurtling around a track at
break-neck speed.
Ralf answered
questions while watching the time trials for a Formula 3000
race on television.
'It's really bloody
quick,'' he said after being pressed on the
danger. ''But there are several circuits where if you
go off, you wouldn't have
anything. You
have a lot of big looking accidents where the drivers
just jump out and nothing happens. And
then other accidents like Panis's that didn't
look that spectacular.''
Panis broke both legs in his
crash in Montreal.
'I think it's very secure.''
At which point,
on the television, a car spun off track, bounced into
a tire barrier and nearly speared another car.
''Oh Oh Oh Oh!'' said Ralf.
Only last year,
little brother Ralf was racing in Formula 3000 in Japan. He
won that series. The year before he won the most prestigious
race in Formula 3, the Grand Prix of Macau ‹ he says that is his
best racing memory. |
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Like
Michael, he had been a go-kart champion. He started at 2, Michael
at 4. They still kart together. Michael acts as Ralf's mechanic.
Eddie Jordan,
the Jordan team owner who discovered
Michael in 1991 and hired him for one race before he was snatched
up by Benetton, has said he signed Ralf for
his qualities as a driver, but knew people would say it was for his name.
The other Jordan driver is
Giancarlo Fisichella, a young Italian.
Jordan said: "Without doubt
they're the two best young drivers in my opinion in Formula One at
the moment. And any young driver who has never been at a lot of the circuits,
to be able to score points in his last five
Grand Prix is something quite exceptional, and
he can only get better from here."
Ralf's record
is better than big brother's at the same age. He was a year younger
when he started in Formula One and scored a podium finish in only his
third race. Did he learn from
Michael's
mistakes?
''Not really,
no,'' he said. ''You can't really learn,
not in car racing. You have to make your own mistakes.''
Some have criticized the brothers
for an apparent lack of sibling rivalry.
At the end of the French
Grand Prix in June, just before he crossed the
finish line as the winner, Michael slowed down almost to a stop to
let Ralf ‹ a lap behind ‹ pass him. The maneuver
allowed Ralf to race another lap and move up a place and gain
a point.
At the Hungarian
Grand Prix, in August, Ralf, in fifth
place, did not attempt to overtake his brother,
in fourth.
''I was definitely
quicker,'' said Ralf. ''I knew that he
needed the points for the
world championship title and I was quite satisfied with the position
where I was.''
It cost Ralf, and his team,
an extra point.
When pressed,
Ralf changed his tune, saying the team told him not to
overtake, because it would be too difficult.
LAST YEAR,
Willi Weber, who manages the brothers,
said he'd like to groom Ralf, now the youngest driver
in Formula One, to take over the drivers' title just as his
brother leaves the sport in a few years.
''You can never
plan those things,'' said Ralf. ''I'm sure one day I'll
try to win the championship. But now is a bit
early to think about it. First I have to win a race, then we'll
see.''
Ralf turned away
and started talking to a team member about the Formula
3000 race. A German television crew waited
impatiently at the next table. So last question:
Does he race for the love of speed, or the love of competition?
'More the
competition,'' he said. ''Speed is nothing.
When you're sitting in the car you don't realize how quick you are.''
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