Sunday, September 26, 2004
MOTOR RACING Formula One Bad luck hits SchumacherThe world champion consoled himself with the fact that the race was won by his Ferrari teammate Rubens Barrichello.SHANGHAI, REUTERS:
Michael Schumacher cursed his bad luck after finishing a roller-coaster Chinese Grand Prix in a distant 12th place on Sunday.Ferrari team mate Rubens Barrichello took victory as Schumacher, who clinched his seventh world title in Belgium last month, survived a collision, a spin and a puncture in Shanghai.Schumacher was lapped for the first time in more than a year and was even beaten into the first corner by the safety car after starting the inaugural Chinese Grand Prix from the pit lane.“That was a heck of a turbulent race, more than I imagined it would be,'' gasped Schumacher, who has won 12 out of 16 races in a record-breaking season. ''Certainly, it was not my weekend but I have had so many good weekends this year. We have still won the race with Rubens and those are the important factors.'' Schumacher bumped Jaguar's Christian Klien on lap 12 and spun off three laps later. A tyre blow-out 20 laps from the end capped a nightmare day for the German.''I had to pull the car out of the fire a few times,'' he shrugged. ''I thought I was inside Christian and he thought he had his nose in front, which resulted in the collision.''Then I was fighting with (Fernando) Alonso but got too close in the important area of the corner and just spun off. After that I had the tyre failure -- from that moment the race was over.'' Schumacher, who began the race from the pit lane after spinning out in Saturday’s qualifying, expressed amazement at getting stuck behind the safety car at the start.''The safety car was a joke for sure,'' he said. ''He was trying to join in the race. In a way, I'm disappointed not to take a certain number of points. But we came here to China and it's a great moment for us as a team, for Ferrari, to put our name in the book.
Michael Schumacher cursed his bad luck after finishing a roller-coaster Chinese Grand Prix in a distant 12th place on Sunday.Ferrari team mate Rubens Barrichello took victory as Schumacher, who clinched his seventh world title in Belgium last month, survived a collision, a spin and a puncture in Shanghai.Schumacher was lapped for the first time in more than a year and was even beaten into the first corner by the safety car after starting the inaugural Chinese Grand Prix from the pit lane.“That was a heck of a turbulent race, more than I imagined it would be,'' gasped Schumacher, who has won 12 out of 16 races in a record-breaking season. ''Certainly, it was not my weekend but I have had so many good weekends this year. We have still won the race with Rubens and those are the important factors.'' Schumacher bumped Jaguar's Christian Klien on lap 12 and spun off three laps later. A tyre blow-out 20 laps from the end capped a nightmare day for the German.''I had to pull the car out of the fire a few times,'' he shrugged. ''I thought I was inside Christian and he thought he had his nose in front, which resulted in the collision.''Then I was fighting with (Fernando) Alonso but got too close in the important area of the corner and just spun off. After that I had the tyre failure -- from that moment the race was over.'' Schumacher, who began the race from the pit lane after spinning out in Saturday’s qualifying, expressed amazement at getting stuck behind the safety car at the start.''The safety car was a joke for sure,'' he said. ''He was trying to join in the race. In a way, I'm disappointed not to take a certain number of points. But we came here to China and it's a great moment for us as a team, for Ferrari, to put our name in the book.
