Schumacher ready to forget Chinese disaster

JAPAN: World champion Michael Schumacher said here Thursday that he is ready to forget his Chinese nightmare and help Ferrari continue their dominant run of success in Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix.

German Schumacher ended up 12th in Shanghai two weeks ago, his worst finish ever in Formula One, after dropping to the back at the start and spinning as he tried to make his way through the field. His disappointing performance left him without a win in three races after an astonishing run that saw him claim victory in all but one of the preceding 13 events. But he insists he is not worried by his drop in form. “I am not thinking too much about China,” said Schumacher, who won his seventh world title in Belgium. “I don’t have anything to prove. I will just give everything this weekend and see how it works out. “In terms of speed I was there (in China) but the race did not give me a lot of possibilities to see where we would have ended up. It’s probably fair to say we will be highly competitive here and highly motivated.”

Schumacher’s Brazilian team-mate Rubens Barrichello won in Shanghai to add to his victory in the Italian Grand Prix and Ferrari could still break the record number of wins in a season with 16 if they win the final two races. The Italian giants have dominated the season so far and have only been beaten by McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen, in Belgium in August, and Renault, who saw Jarno Trulli win in Monaco back in May. They won both their home races, at Imola and Monza, and Schumacher is confident his team’s Japanese Bridgestone tyre suppliers will provide the equipment to push them up to the front again this weekend. “This is the home Grand Prix for Bridgestone so we’ll see what we can do for it,” added Schumacher. “I’m very confident Bridgestone will give us firstly a tyre than can win the race and secondly a tyre that can finish the race.” afp

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