|
|
|
|
| June 30,
2001 |
| French GP - QUALIFYING
PRESS CONFERENCE |
| . |
| Question: Ralf, it
was very tight, wasn't it? |
| Ralf Schumacher: It
was very tight indeed. In actual fact I didn't expect, after
this morning, that we were able to beat them here, but it worked
out. It was very tight but it was enough. |
| Question: How
special is this first pole position for you and the team? |
| Ralf Schumacher: It
is special for the team maybe. For me it is nice
to be on pole position, but then Saturday
doesn't count. I would rather hope that we have a good day tomorrow
and that I watch the white lines a bit better this time. |
| Question: Ralf, will
Michael be giving you any favours at the start tomorrow? |
| Ralf Schumacher:
I owe him one definitely. This time
it will hopefully be the other way round. I think we
are going to have a tight race again. As David
said, we have to see what the tyres are doing.
From what we've seen so far from Bridgestone
this weekend they look to perform very good, very well. We
will have to see whether we are able to keep up. |
| Question: Ralf,
well done. What other presents have you
had today? |
Ralf Schumacher: No,
my parents aren't here obviously and…
Michael Schumacher : ...........it
was a nice one today, wasn't it? He worked
hard for it. So did I, but was you can see, it wasn't enough. |
| Question: No presents
then, apart from pole? |
| Ralf Schumacher: No,
not yet. Apart from pole. I think pole is very nice as I've said before,
but then tomorrow counts. |
| Question: Do
you think you could have matched the time at the
end? |
Ralf Schumacher: It
was difficult. It was a pretty clean lap. The strange thing
about Magny - Cours seems to be that as the session seems to go on, it
becomes rather slower than quicker, and it was difficult
for people to match their quick times
anyway. Slight
improvements were possible,
but not for me. |
| Question: What conditions
would feel would be ideal for the race? |
| Ralf Schumacher:
What we have today would be perfect
for tomorrow. We know that from previous races, so I hope it
will be that way. The forecast tells us it will be like this. |
| Question: Any reservations
about doing to your brother what he did to you last weekend at the start? |
Michael Schumacher: He would
never do this...
Ralf Schumacher:
No, never ever. No, it's the other way around this time.
This time, he's in the car behind me, and if it is similar,
obviously he has to back off because he's behind me. End of story. |
| Question: For the car
or for you? |
Michael Schumacher: As you
know, Bridgestone has brought a new tyre here and the conditions don't
actually matter for that tyre.
Ralf Schumacher:
This is amazing, isn't it? What about
if it's snowing tomorrow? Incredible! |
| Question: David, pretty
spectacular, some of your laps.... |
David Coulthard : The
ones that looked spectacular weren't quick and, on my third run, I
thought there was a risk I might get pole, so I
went over the kerbs just to slow myself down so
that Ralf could have a nice present.
Michael Schumacher: We said
thanks for that before already....
Ralf Schumacher: It
was amazing, thank you very much, David.... |
| Question: Michael
and Ralf, are there any deep anxieties at all about the
start tomorrow and have your parents had a word with you about
your behaviour? |
Ralf Schumacher: My
mother warned him this time! We get along fine - as with the
Nurburgring, it's tight again maybe, but I hope not. I hope
that since I'm in pole position that I have a good start and
go away. That would be the perfect scenario, but if it comes
down to it
I would do the same - I mean I have to defend
my position as he has. Normal thing, isn't it? |
|
|
|
| June 30,
2001 |
| French GP - QUALIFYING |
| . |
| Ralf took his first pole position
in Magny Cours, |
| Ralf said "I am
really happy about my first pole, he beamed. It was very tight, in
fact I didn't expect after this morning that we were able
to beat them here, but it worked out - very tight but
tough, it was enough. The team did a great job
and I had a very good car. Unfortunately we are
not given points for qualifying. I believe it will
be a very close race tomorrow and hope for a better
start than I had in the Nurburgring. I think we
are well prepared for the race and have also made the right tyre
choice. " |
| . |
| R.Schumacher
Williams BMW (M)
1:13.989 ( 1st ) |
|
|
|
|
| June 30,
2001 |
| Happy Birthday Ralf!! |
| . |
Ralf celebrates his
26th birthday today. He said "Unfortunately there won't be much of a party,"
he said, "because of it falling in the middle of a Grand Prix weekend.
I would actually like to stop having more birthdays now, 26 seems
about enough, I think."
"It was good
that I entered F1 early, when I was only 21. It has given me the time to
build and now I feel as a driver I have all the tools at my disposal to
win.
“I've felt this
for some time and now with the BMW WilliamsF1 Team
I'm getting to a position where it
is all coming together. Before winning my first F1 race earlier this
year I knew it was just a matter
of time, but knowing it and having
done it are different things. It's like completing a jigsaw. I'm
getting the last pieces in place now." |
|
|
|
|
|
| June 29,
2001 |
| French GP - FREE PRACTICE |
| . |
Ralf said "We've got the car
going quite well, but the time we lost from this morning has
meant we haven't been able to run through all the things we needed to try."
"At the end of
the second session my car felt quite good despite the
fact, due to some technical problems, I couldn't do as
many laps and as much set-up work as I would have wished." |
| . |
1. D.Coulthard
McLaren Mercedes B
1'14"935
2. E.Irvine
Jaguar
M 1'15"133
3. J.Villeneuve
BAR Honda
B 1'15"224
4. M Hakkinen
McLaren Mercedes B
1'15"372
5. R.Schumacher
Williams BMW
M 1'15"537
6. J.P.Montoya
Williams BMW
M 1'15"582 |
|
|
|
| June 28,
2001 |
| Ralf has been speaking
about the European GP |
| |
|
"I didn't speak
after the race not because of any problem with Michael but
because I was upset about my stop/go penalty. The move Michael
made at the start was fair and I would have done
the same in his situation. It was a
tough move but I wouldn't go any further
than that. I had a quick conversation with
him congratulating him on his win and
about my stop/go penalty and the fact that
( Ferrari ) e-mailed ( race director ) Charlie Whiting
pointing out that I'd crossed the line."
"It is a
rule and I transgressed it. But first of all, we had
that rule imposed for safety reasons and
what I did did not appear unsafe to me. In fact
the whole reason I crossed the line was because
I was looking in my mirrors to make sure
I didn't come out into the path of a faster car."
“Also, there were other
drivers who went over the line, maybe not as much as
me, but they still crossed it yet weren't
penalised. Michaelan Rubens, at least, went over
it and I'm sure ther were more too." |
|
|
|
| June 26,
2001 |
| Ralf said "I would have done the same
to Michael" |
| . |
"Yes, of course," Ralf said
when asked in an interview whether everything was fine between him and
Ferrari's triple Formula 1 world champion.
"I'm now looking forward to
the next duel in France, hopefully with a better outcome for me. That's
what I told Michael on the phone as well," |
"That kind of thing isn't
exactly very pleasant for the person on the receiving end, But he
was just defending his position, as he did later on in the race as
well."
"I would have done exactly
the same in his situation."
"Michael has always
driven really hard, but never unfairly, on the Nuerburgring.
I know his driving style and he knows mine.
We have to live with that," said Ralf.
"We're just not prepared to
give anything away." |
|
|
|
|
| June 26,
2001 |
| French Grand Prix |
| . |
Friday June
29
free practice 1.1 :
11.00 - 12.00 (GMT + 2)
free practice 1.2 :
13.00 - 14.00 (GMT + 2) |
Saturday June 30
free practice 2.1 :
09.00 - 09.45 (GMT + 2)
free practice 2.2 :
10.15 - 11.00 (GMT + 2)
qualifying session
: 13.00 - 14.00 (GMT + 2) |
Sunday July
1
warm-up
: 09.30 - 10.00
(GMT + 2)
RACE
: 14.00 - 16.00
(GMT + 2) |
.
. |
London time: GMT+1 (Summer
time)
Local time : GMT+2 |
|
|
|
| June 25,
2001 |
| French GP - PREVIEW |
| . |
Ralf Schumacher said
"Magny Cours is one of my favourite race tracks. It has
many fast corners and the surface is very
even. At at the end of the straight it is possible to overtake,
but I have
just one point to crticise
and that is some parts of the track could have more run off
areas. We had some very promising testing in Magny Cours, so I think
we should be fairly competitive there." |
|
|
|
|
|
| June 24,
2001 |
| Ralf upset with Michael |
| . |
BMW WilliamsF1 Team driver
Ralf Schumacher was angry with his
brother Michael
after the European Grand Prix at their
home circuit of Nurburgring, feeling that he
committed a dangerous move against him at the start to prevent him
overtaking.
As Ralf got better acceleration
off the starting grid, he moved to pass the Ferrari on the inside. Michael
responded by moving over to the right towards the pit wall.
The two cars came within a few centimetres of touching
before Ralf was forced to back off to prevent a collision. |
| A BMW Motorsport spokesman
said: "Ralf is quite disappointed and does not want to talk
about it at the moment because he feels he might say something which
he will regret later." |
Michael commented: "I left
him
the minimum amount of room, but this is normal
in racing. The rules say you are allowed to move
across once and this is what I did.”
“It was tight. For the person
who has to lift off, it seems unfair. But we (the drivers)
had this discussion at length some time ago and its clear
what is allowed and what isn't. |
|
|
|
| June 24,
2001 |
| European GP - RACE |
| . |
|
| Ralf said "I am extremely
disappointed about the outcome of the race as I had
a chance to win in front of my
home crowd. However, under the circumstances I have to be happy with
fourth. As for the white line incident, I was looking
in my mirrors when I left and pits and obviously
concentrated more on the traffic behind me than the line.I have to
accept the penalty." |
| . |
| R.Schumacher
Williams BMW (M) 1hr30:16.069
( 4th ) |
|
|
|
| June 23,
2001 |
| European GP - QUALIFYING PRESS
CONFERENCE |
| . |
| Question: Ralf,
you've been going better each day so far - how has the
change in weather helped? |
Ralf Schumacher: The
warmer, the Michelin, and that's what we are going to
be waiting for tomorrow. We saw this in the two practices
that we had this morning. One lap is always good for us, but then the performance
seems to drop off quite dramatically, whereas the
Bridgestone runners seem to be able to keep their
performance. It's going to
be interesting. |
| Question: Ralf,
disappointed that it's not pole position after this morning? |
Ralf Schumacher: Not
at all - though [I have] just one thing to use the time. Before this weekend
came it was not lying but yesterday - two hours in fact
before we announced what we were doing - I had a few
journalists asking me what I was going to do. I said
'I don't know
when it is going to be announced, we're still in
negotiations'. So that was not a lie, I signed it afterwards just to apologise
for that because otherwise I look like a liar.
Coming back - pole
position? Not really because from we saw
what Ferrari was doing we saw they
were going quicker and quicker on old tyres as Michael said. After
we saw Rubens doing a 15.8 - and we know how much Michael's able
to go quicker - so I knew that it was going to be tight. In
actual fact I'm surprised that we are so good here compared
to Bridgestone runners. |
| Question: The
temperature went up during qualifying and
30 degrees you would have thought was 'Michelin weather'
yet you set your time earlier in the session. |
| Ralf Schumacher: I
think I had a pretty good first lap. Here it is always difficult to say,
on some circuits the circuit goes quicker during the session
but here so much dirt is next to the kerbs and drivers do
pull a lot of dirt onto the circuit.
In actual fact sometimes I get the opinion they
do it on purpose after their run but that's the way it is and obviously
that slows the whole thing down a bit. |
| Question: Do you feel
your handling was good over the kerbs? |
| Ralf Schumacher:
Our car was fine otherwise we wouldn't be
where we are. |
| Question: Race conditions,
alright? |
| Ralf Schumacher: That's
another issue. We struggled specifically on Friday in
the first session in the morning, it got a little
bit better in the second but that's still a bit of problem we had
with the tyre we have here. The temperature
hopefully is going to increase a little tomorrow
again and the rubber obviously comes down on the circuit and I'm
sure it will become better for us but in the first third or half of the
race I think Bridgestone have an advantage. |
| Question: Just
to clarify what you said earlier - you've
signed with the team until 2004? |
| Ralf Schumacher: That's
correct, yes. |
|
|
|
| June 23,
2001 |
| European GP - QUALIFYING |
| . |
Ralf said "I'm
very happy with second on the grid.
The track temperature could have been higher ( that would
have helped us because the Michelins work better
in such conditions ) and we will be watching that very closely
tomorrow. The forecast is for sun which would be good news for us."
"My first run
was a pretty good one and normally
you would expect to go better each time but obviously we didn't.
The thing with this track is that when drivers
go off it drags a lot of dirt onto the track, which slows it
a lot. I think that is why we didn't go faster at the end - but it was
the same for everyone. "
"I'm looking forward
to tomorrow. We have a very strong engine in the BMW, a good car
and excellent tyres. I think it will be a good race - for us
and for the fans." |
| . |
| R.Schumacher
Williams BMW (M)
1:15.226 ( 2nd ) |
|
|
|
|
| June 22,
2001 |
| Ralf re-signs for the BMW WilliamsF1 Team |
| . |
| The BMW WilliamsF1 Team has
re - signed driver R. Schumacher until the end of 2004. BMW WilliamsF1
Team principal Sir Frank Williams confirmed
the agreement at the Nurburgring
this afternoon. |
| Frank Williams “A very sound
decision by the team, which we are confident will be proven
correct time-and-time again in the future. This signals our
intent to continue the progress we have made together
over the last two and half years
towards our world championship ambitions.” |
| Ralf Schumacher
“I am very happy that we have
reached an agreement to extend our relationship
until 2004, I am looking forward to the continuation of our
successful partnership with the BMW WilliamsF1 Team and Michelin
and believe we will reach our targets together.” |
|
|
|
|
| June 22,
2001 |
| European GP - FREE PRACTICE |
| . |
Ralf said "For a first
day, just finding out where we are, I think it bodes quite
well, The balance of the car isn't perfect yet but even so we're
third quickest. Probably the Ferraris which are
behind at the moment can go quicker but I think we can too.
The
conditions here are not perfect
for our tyres but as the weekend goes on I hope
it will get better. So that would put us in even better
shape." |
| . |
1. M. Hakkinen
McLaren Mercedes B
1'16"408
2. D. Coulthard
McLaren Mercedes B
1'16"579
3. R. Schumacher
Williams BMW
M 1'17"355
4. M. Schumacher
Ferrari
B 1'17"507
5. R. Barrichello
Ferrari
B 1'17"665
6. J. Montoya
Williams BMW
M 1'17"737 |
|
|
|
| June 21,
2001 |
| European GP - THURSDAY
PRESS CONFERENCE |
| . |
| Question: Ralf, how
was the party at Kerpen last night? |
| Ralf Schumacher:
We've had this for the last five years, or four years since
I joined Formula One, that 12 to 5 is my
team and six to three in the morning
is Ferrari and that's what we did yesterday. The
intention at the end was to let them race against one
another but my father didn't want it. The circuit looks so nice and
the karts were brand new, so it was decided
to have them separate. |
| Question: What
the circuits where Michelin should go particularly well? |
| Ralf Schumacher: You
should ask Michelin that. It's a pretty of a guess from circuit
to circuit what they bring and how it works. At Montreal,
on Saturday lunchtime, the tyres decided to work properly
as the temperatures went up. Here at the Nurburgring,
as we all know, it could snow tomorrow morning, so it's a bit of
a guess. It's not really a tyre problem,
this is aerodynamically a more challenging circuit than Montreal ever was. |
| Question: Did you test
with the brake lights at Silverstone? |
| Ralf Schumacher: Everybody
had the brake lights, I must say it was good. It
looked a bit strange to begin with but you get used to
it pretty quick. It is an advantage, definitely.
It tells you if some other driver decides to
brake a bit earlier and gives you an additional chance
to react. It's a good idea. We should have policemen on the circuit
as well to direct you. |
|
|
|
| June 19,
2001 |
| Williams Team Spokeswoman : |
| At present there is no negotations with
R.Schumacher |
| . |
Ralf Schumacher
is not one of the most in demand drivers in the Formel - 1 - Circus,
to it exists a doubt. Nevertheless the Williams team does not want
to rush into anything in things prolongation of a contract.
" Ralfs contract
with Williams runs up to the end of the season 2002 ",
acknowledged a team spokeswoman on request of Sport1. Therefore no
hurry for negotiations is required. |
No official negotiations
The spokeswoman
continues to explain : " Williams and Ralf
Schumacher are not at present officially in negotiations together, it however
quite give discussions over a common future. "
The Kerpener is since beginning
of the season 1999 with Williams under contract and from
the beginning a clear number unity status
there gained.
Its team colleagues
Alessandro Zanardi (1999), Jenson Button (2000) and Juan
Pablo Montoya (2001) could not all together from
the shadow of the today 25-year old out-stepped. |
Two victories in the season
2001
In the current season Schumacher
could bring already two Grand Prix victories in, it was first for Williams
since end of the season 1997.
Thus however the market value
for R. Schumacher rose immensely, its manager Willi weber acknowledged
several times that it gives several interesting and respectable supplies
for its favorite. Observers saw thus Frank Williams under
course obligation to equip its Top pilot with a contract to improved
conditions. |
|
|
|
| June 19,
2001 |
| Ralf on the Brink of Extending Williams
Contract |
| . |
Ralf Schumacher speaking at
a news conference in Bonn, admitted that the contract had already
been thrashed out and that it was simply a case
of sorting out the finer details. " We
will get together and talk about the last details," Schumacher announced.
Ralf has revealed
that he intends to re - sign with the BMW
WilliamsF1 team shortly - perhaps even during
this weekend's European Grand Prix. The German is currently
contracted to the team until 2002, but he was known to be speaking
to other teams in the F1 paddock. |
| He did not give details of
his salary or for how many years he is extending his
contract. |
| Ralf added "We
have said already that we have been talking to other teams." |
|
|
|
|
| June 19,
2001 |
| Ralf close to new Williams deal says Weber |
| . |
| Willi Weber said on
Wednesday May 30, |
Ralf Schumacher
is set to sign a long - term extension to
his contract with BMW-Williams, his manager Will Weber
said on Wednesday May 30,
Weber said he expects Ralf to sign a new deal that will keep him
at Williams until the end of the 2004 season.
"At the moment we are negotiating
with team chief Frank Williams about what happens after
2002, " Weber told RTL television
"But we are on the brink of
an agreement. We are well on the way to doing something similar with Ralf
as we did with Michael and concluding a long-term agreement," he
said,
The Schumacher brothers' manager,
Willi Weber, recently spoke to RTL, the German
TV channel about the renewal of Ralf's contract
with Williams.The deal would run until at least the end of
the 2004 season.His current salary is thought to be DM 12-14 million
($6m). But Weber is allegedly insisting on a salary of more than DM 30m
($14m) a year. The manager has said he is willing to compromise financially
for sporting success. |
|
|
|
|
| June 16,
2001 |
| European GP - FIA Schedule
of Press Conferences |
| . |
Thursday 21 June
- 15.00
H.Harald Frentzen
( Jordan )
Michael Schumacher
( Ferrari )
RALF Schumacher
( Williams )
Peter Sauber
( Sauber )
Pat S ymonds
( Benetton ) |
| . |
Friday 22 June
- 15.00
P. de la Rosa
( Jaguar )
Nick Heidfeld
( Sauber )
Jos Verstappen
( Arrows )
Norbert Haug
( Mercedes )
Katzutoshi Nishizawa
( Honda )
Mario Theissen
( BMW ) |
|
|
|
| June 16,
2001 |
| European Grand Prix |
Friday June
22
free practice 1.1 :
11.00 - 12.00 (GMT + 2)
free practice 1.2 :
13.00 - 14.00 (GMT + 2) |
Saturday June 23
free practice 2.1 :
09.00 - 09.45 (GMT + 2)
free practice 2.2 :
10.15 - 11.00 (GMT + 2)
qualifying session
: 13.00 - 14.00 (GMT + 2) |
Sunday June
24
warm-up
: 09.30 - 10.00
(GMT + 2)
RACE
: 14.00 - 16.00
(GMT + 2) |
| . |
London time: GMT+1 (Summer
time)
Local time : GMT+2 |
|
|
|
| June 16,
2001 |
| M. Schumacher says that
Ralf is " a Great Talent " |
| . |
| He said the BBC : " Obviously
I believe in my brother because I have
seen him growing up and later winning the F3000 in Japan, which is a very
difficult series. And I have seen him doing good in F1 as well," |
| " Sometimes up
to now he has been a bit
unlucky, like in Nurburgring two years
ago, when he had a puncture while
leading the race. " |
| " Things like
this have indicated to me that he has a great talent, but you also
need a car. And now BMW and Williams have given
him a package which sometimes he can win with. " |
| "Wait a little bit more, until
the car is even more reliable, then he will be very dangerous for
us." |
| "Points - wise I
was in a good position as David didn't finish the race so there was
only joy for Ralf that he had won the race," |
| " It was not the first
time I finished behind him, even in F1, but for sure
I am not disappointed, because I have achieved a lot in F1 and so
I can be more relaxed. " |
" In Canada I
knew he was faster, he was stronger, he tried
several times to overtake
and was very clever to not risk too much as he knew
about his chances later in the race. " |
| " This tactics,
this fighting, this nearly - overtaking - I enjoyed that a
lot. And I think he liked that the same." |
|
|
|
| June 15,
2001 |
| European Grand Prix -
PREVIEW |
| . |
| Ralf Schumacher said
"This is my home race and there is always a great atmosphere,
which makes it very special. It would be nice to have a similar
success at home to Canada, but the Nurburgring will be more
difficult for us than Montreal, so my realistic target is to collect as
many points as possible. The circuit has very high safety
standards but, typical to many modern circuits,
it lacks character and there are no big challenges except the chicane if
it is wet." |
|
|
|
|
|
| June 14,
2001 |
| SILVERSTONE TEST – Day Three |
| . |
| Ralf Schumacher said
"We have done some long runs today and have done a full race
distance, some minor problems have held us up but ultimately
we have done everything we set out to do." |
| . |
R. Schumacher
Williams 1:24.382
67 laps (12 th)
J. P. Montoya
Williams 1:24.431
63 laps (13 th) |
|
|
|
| June 13,
2001 |
| SILVERSTONE TEST – Day Two |
| . |
| Ralf said "We
didn't make as much progress as we would have liked
and unfortunately we are not as quick
as we want to be here. But I am looking forward to tomororw
and am sure there is more to come from the car." |
| . |
1. O. Panis
BAR
1.22.806 68 laps
2. M. Hakkinen
McLaren 1.22.923
76 laps
3. R. Barrichello
Ferrari 1.23.265
65 laps
4. J. P. Montoya
Williams 1.23.412
40 laps
5. M. Schumacher
Ferrari 1.23.506
63 laps
6. J. Trulli
Jordan 1.23.516
48 laps
7. R. Schumacher
Williams 1.23.554
64laps |
|
|
|
| June 11,
2001 |
| Next Test - SILVERSTONE |
| . |
| 12th June 2001 with
Marc Gene |
| 13th June 2001
with Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya |
| 14th June 2001
with Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya |
|
|
|
| June 11,
2001 |
| What did they say about RALF ? |
| . |
Frank Williams "Ralf
is right up there on a par with Michael
and Mika Hakkinen.
Ralf is a natural winner who is going to get better and better as
he gets older and more experienced."
"I remember telling people
in the middle of 1999 that if Ralf was
in a winning car, a
Ferrari or a McLaren, he would already have
won races. His manner of
winning today (Sunday's Canadian GP)
was exemplary. He is
ready to put a championship together, but we would struggle
to keep up with him as a team until we get all our act
perfect. If we do not win at least one more race
(this year) I would be very surprised. I do not wish to be too optimistic
but clearly the car is very, very good." |
| . |
Jean Todt "We
are reliable, but we weren't
quite as competitive as Williams today.
However this was an important second place for
the two championships. I think you have
to recognise that the Williams, BMW, Michelin package and Ralf was stronger,
so the fact that they won was fair
enough.They are really strong, but I don't think they are quite competitive
enough to compete for the world championship. When they are good,
they are good, but perhaps they need more consistency."
Todt wasn't surprised by the
younger Schumacher's win.
"We've seen for many years
that Ralf is a competitive driver. For
four or five years he's been
competitive, but the difference is
that this year he has
a very good car and in certain Grands Prix
he will make the difference,
which was the case today." |
| . |
| Patrick Head “It
was a faultless drive. He didn't make
a mistake and, although he was able to close up
on Michael, for various reasons he was not
able to overtake on the straight. Nevertheless,
he kept his nose clean. I
think I was quoted recently as saying
he could acquire a little wisdom still, but I think I
should point that more at Juan Pablo Montoya than Ralf.” |
| . |
| Michael Schumacher
"Ralf has a good package and he's in a car which can win. But
it still has too many ups and downs to be consistent enough to win
the championship. That's why David is my main rival. He can still
win this season when everything is just right,
but it's not going to affect my fight for the championship.
In the future, maybe it will be different." |
|
|
| June 10,
2001 |
| Canadian Grand Prix, Post Race Press Conference |
| . |
| Question:
Ralf, many, many congratulations. A superb second win. A great 46
lap duel with your brother, fastest lap. Is this the most fun you've ever
had with your clothes on? |
Ralf
Schumacher: Well, I mean obviously it
was great racing today. The whole time the two of us
were together, I was waiting for him to do a
mistake. Obviously he didn't. I tried
it (to overtake) a couple of times at the end of the straight
but it was
difficult.
So I waited for the pit strategy. I
thought we were going longer (before stopping for fuel) anyway. And it
worked out that way. |
| Question:
We saw you pull out of the slip
stream on that final straight a couple of times
and get almost alongside. Did you approach
it differently because you were trying to overtake your brother? |
| Ralf
Schumacher: No, not really. You know, the thing is, I had the upper
-
hand basically the whole stint. I was following him quite
easily. My car was just brilliant today and I didn't
want to risk too much. I knew that we were very long - we had a lot
of fuel on board - I knew that. So I thought. 'you'd better wait until
he pits and then you try to pull the
gap out instead of trying harder, maybe making a mistake and lose
it.' And that's what I tried. |
| Question:
As you say, your car was brilliant today. When you were in the
post qualifying conference you weren't sure
whether it would be good in race conditions. What did you do to it? |
| Ralf
Schumacher: Well we changed quite a few things overnight.
But the tyres again worked brilliantly. And I think looking
at the Bridgestone tyres they looked a bit worse than ours at the
end of the race. And then especially looking at Michael's car
which was very nervous, I knew it was difficult for him to go the
pace. |
| Question:
We now go to what I suppose is your home circuit at the Nurburgring.
You must be looking forward to that
with great vigour now? |
| Ralf
Schumacher: Obviously it would be great, especially
at the Nurburgring in Germany, if we could
repeat that. I think the person next to me wouldn't like to
hear that very much, but I mean we would both try
our best, whoever is going to be in front is going
to be great for the German crowd anyway.
I think we're both looking forward to coming home
and competing in front of our home crowd. |
| Question:
Ralf, what were you thinking when you
were behind Michael for all those laps? |
Ralf
Schumacher: Actually, that's slightly the case.
When I was following him, I thought he was going to pull away
and then I saw that the two of us were pulling
away from the rest of the field and I thought 'OK, why isn't he going quicker?'.
At
the beginning, I thought he was saving his brakes or his tyres
but then he kept his pace. So I knew that I would have
the upper hand at the end. I had to look after my brakes at the beginning
of the stint as well, so I took it
quite easy. I tried (to overtake) a couple of times at
the end of the straight but realised there was no sense. Obviously he didn't
want to let me by - maybe next time - and then I called
the team on the radio and said 'OK, I'll back off now
and wait until he goes to the pits and then
I think we could pull out the gap to win'. |
| Question:
How close did you get to overtaking him? |
| Ralf
Schumacher: Realistically, I was alongside.
I could have stayed inside, but the only thing that would happened
was that we both would have gone straight
through the chicane and maybe crashed or something would have
gone wrong. There's no sense in that. |
| Question:
After the safety car period, he leaped into a 2.5s lead. What happened
then? |
| Ralf
Schumacher: I picked up a lot of rubber on the tyres, and
it took a long time to get up to grip and
to be clean again. I don't know why that happened, because I always
took care. When I got the call that the safety
car was coming in, I couldn't get them clean again and they
took a bit of time to come back. But I knew at that stage
I had to close the gap again otherwise I would lose the
race. Luckily it worked out. |
| Question:
Did the temperature work in your favour -
it went up about six degrees just before the start? |
| Ralf
Schumacher: Yes, it was perfect. We all know the hotter
the better for Michelins and it worked that way again. |
| Question:
And the hard tyres were the right choice? |
| Ralf
Schumacher: Yes, at the beginning of the weekend we were
in trouble, we couldn't use the soft ones,
so we decided to opt for the hard ones and try
to make them work, which worked in qualifying, but again
yesterday it was pretty hot in qualifying compared
to the morning, and we were hoping
for a lot of sun today which came before the start, so it was perfect
timing. |
| Question:
Ralf, you had a big lead at the end, yet you were still
locking the wheels - why? |
| Ralf
Schumacher: I was driving easy but, the
thing is, into the hairpin, even if you brake lighter and turn in,
you still tend to lock an inside wheel, but I wasn't pushing.
You can see by my lap time I backed off two seconds nearly. |
| Question:
When was the last time that Ralf beat Michael in a race? |
| Ralf
Schumacher: We never really raced together
as he's seven years older - as you'll see just by looking
at him! We have never really competed together, so it's actually
the first time that, with a bit of luck, I was able to beat him. |
| Question:
Ralf, yesterday you said that the lack of results so far was down
to Frank to change the car. How much of today was up to you
and how much from the car? |
Ralf
Schumacher: The car obviously hasn't
changed since yesterday, has
it? Seriously, Frank was not happy
with the records of finishing and when I said it
was down to Frank to change it, (it was) because
we had a few reliability problems in the team as well.
He wouldn't blame the driver and I wouldn't the team. This is a circuit
that works in our favour but, when
we started here on Friday, we had great problems getting the car and
the
tyres to work together on the circuit.
By getting better throughout Saturday, I knew that we
were going to be competitive, but looking after yesterday's
performance realistically we were half a second faster than Michael - so
how should I expect to win the race? |
| Question:
Michael and Ralf, is it difficult to
be as aggressive when you're one - on - one? |
| Ralf
Schumacher: I think we've shown in the past that, whenever we've
come together, it's been very hard fighting in between us but
fair. At the end of the day, we always give the safe to survive. You saw
today [that] I didn't try any stupid moves, but I did try to
overtake him as I would anyone else. |
| Question:
Ralf, you tested at Magny Cours recently and were very fast there. If
you are as quick there… |
| Ralf
Schumacher: Are we going for the championship? You know, after
Imola, everyone should have seen what
happened, as a package we are too young - I mean, we're going
to show up from time to time, I'm pretty sure, but depending on the tyres.
Michelin hasn't got the experience Bridgestone has, and I'm sure there
will be occasions when we just don't get it right. Aerodynamically, we
are not where we want to be as well, so we
can't go for the championship, but we can try and
take advantage of some other teams weaknesses and
maybe be second in the teams' championship at the end of the year. |
| Question:
Ralf, you spent a lot of time behind Michael today - can you tell
us what he's like as a
driver? Is there room for improvement? |
| Ralf
Schumacher: I had 45 laps to learn off him, and then I
just went away, so it helped me today, it was just amazing! |
|
|
|
| June 10,
2001 |
| Canadian Grand Prix, RACE |
| . |
| RALF Schumacher Wins The Canadian Grand
Prix! |
| Ralf said "It was a
great race today. The whole time with the two of us together
I was waiting for Michael to make a mistake, but he didn't
! I wanted to see how the pit stop strategy would work. The
car was brilliant and so were the Michelin tyres. I would like to
thank everybody in the team for the great effort for giving me an
incredible car and performing a perfect pit stop." |
| . |
| R.Schumacher
Williams BMW (M)
1h34'31"522 (1st) |
|
|
|
|
|
| June 09,
2001 |
| Canadian Grand Prix, Qualifying Press Conference |
| . |
| Question : Ralf
it is the second all Schumacher front row since Brazil,
but you have made up a huge amount
of time from this morning. What have you done to the
car? |
| Ralf : We
had problems basically all weekend, especially
with tyres, and we had a change before qualifying
which seemed to help us quite a
bit. Then the temperature increased over
ten degrees from this morning, and so the
whole balance was a lot better and it was actually
relatively easy to set the time. |
| Question : Does
this mean you have to work hard tomorrow in the warm-up to get a
good race set-up? |
| Ralf : I guess
yes, but we have the right tyre choice for the race so I don't fear
that, and the weekend has shown that if we are a bit off the pace, we are
(still) consistent. So I'm looking forward to the race. We should be relatively
competitive. |
|
|
|
|
| June 09,
2001 |
| Canadian Grand Prix, QUALIFYING |
| . |
| Ralf to start from the front row in Canada |
|
Ralf said "It was
a surprise to me. The track
was a good temperature for our tyres
but even so, I didn't think I'd done such a good time, especially
in the second sector. It was actually quite an easy lap.
The team asked me afterwards how I'd done it but I couldn't really
tell them."
"We made a couple
of changes to the car before qualifying and this proved
an important step in the right direction,
All of a sudden the car felt perfect
and an increase in temperature helped
as well. I had to watch the exciting finish on the television, but
the rush for everyone to pass the line
before the flag was more exciting than a race start." |
| His team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya
said "I was impressed a lot by that lap, I didn't think the
car was capable today of that sort of time but Ralf showed
I was wrong." |
| . |
| R.Schumacher
Williams BMW (M)
1:16.297 ( 2nd ) |
|
|
|
|
| June 08,
2001 |
| Canadian Grand Prix, FREE PRACTICE |
| . |
Ralf said "That
was a good two sessions, we progressed well."
"I'm still not
100 per cent happy with my set - up
but we are working in the right direction. I'm
confident that by tomorrow we will have sorted
this. I think we will be in the top
five in qualifying tomorrow and the gap to the front will be no more
than 0.3-0.4s." |
| . |
| R.Schumacher
Williams BMW (M)
1:18.967 ( 6th ) |
|
|
| June 08,
2001 |
| Ralf launches BMW driving school in Canada |
| . |
| BMW WilliamsF1 Team
star Ralf Schumacher last night officially launched BMW Canada's
BMW Driver Training course. |
| Ralf said "BMW are great
driving cars obviously, and it's only natural
that owners should want to explore the potential of them. This course
will give them the basic skills they need to do this in safety
and derive maximum enjoyment from their cars." |
Ralf himself took on the role
of instructor at the launch, beginning with a warm - up
lap through a slow - speed slalom exercise in a
BMW M3 Cabriolet. In this he demonstrated the basic handling
characteristics of understeer and oversteer
and how they are
induced and corrected.
He also demonstrated avoidance braking techniques. |
|
|
|
| June 06,
2001 |
| Patrick Head "Our Drivers are Not Mature" |
| . |
Williams is infamous
for poor driver relationships as well
as some very strong ones, but speaking to
the British publication, Motorsport News, Patrick Head admitted
that in Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya, they do not
have the maturity that they would have liked.
Technical director Patrick
Head said "In terms of speed, they
compare very well with our previous partnerships, But I wouldn't
say they rank with the likes of Piquet and Mansell or
Jones and Reutemann in terms of wisdom. That's not just
because of the bumps ( they had ) in
Monaco, though certainly they
were accidents we could have done without, as every
accident is a limitation to what can
be achieved. But generally I wouldn't say that it's a mature
partnership. I suppose 10 or 20 years
ago the drivers were in their mid-thirties, but either they're
younger now, or so protected from the ways of the world that they
don't become as wise so quickly. I don't know." |
| Head's comments
followed those of team owner Frank Williams, who, on Monday was
said to be unhappy with the performance displayed
by the team in the first seven Grand Prix races of the
season - particularly the fact that out of 14 starts there have only been
three finishes. |
|
|
|
|
| June 01,
2001 |
| Canadian Grand Prix
- PREVIEW |
| . |
| Ralf Schumacher said
"The Canadian track is quite similar
to Melbourne, only with less run - off areas in
some fast sections. There are also two overtaking
opportunities. On the negative side, this is
a heavy circuit on brakes. I think the Circuit Giles
Villeneuve could be pretty favourable to
our car as we have a powerful engine, which is
essential there. It's not particularly demanding on the drivers,
as it is basically a 'stop-and-go' track. I like Montreal
and I am looking forward to being there, hoping this time
I will be able to finish my race and be in
the points." |
|
|
|
|
|
| June 01,
2001 |
| Canadian Grand Prix |
| . |
Thursday
June 8 th :
free
practice 1.1 : 11.00 -
12.00 (GMT - 4)
free
practice 1.2 : 13.00 -
14.00 (GMT - 4) |
| . |
Saturday
June 9 th :
free
practice 2.1 : 09.00
- 09.45 (GMT - 4)
free
practice 2.2 : 10.15 -
11.00 (GMT - 4)
QUALIFYING
session : 13.00 - 14.00 (GMT
- 4) |
| . |
Sunday June
10 th :
warm-up
: 08.30 - 09.00 (GMT - 4)
RACE
: 13.00 - 15.00 (GMT - 4) |
| . |
London time: GMT + 1
(Summer time)
Local time : GMT
- 4 |
|
|
|
