Formula 1
Austria special for Schumacher
Michael Schumacher was all smiles after an action packed race in Austria. The German was already back home in Switzerland on Sunday night, after celebrating his win with a few friends in the paddock. "It was a really special race," said Michael, on ...
Published: May 21, 2003, 11:13 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Michael Schumacher was all smiles after an action packed race in Austria. The German was already back home in Switzerland on Sunday night, after celebrating his win with a few friends in the paddock. "It was a really special race," said Michael, on the subject of the Austrian Grand Prix. "The reason it felt special was because I had to face all sorts of difficulties."
Victory at the A1-Ring means Schumacher is now only two points behind series leader, Finland's Kimi Raikkonen, the McLaren-Mercedes driver, who had looked in a very strong position. The win owed much to the cool and calm attitude of the German driver in the race. First of all came the two aborted starts which saw almost all the drivers move off the line, while Schumacher stayed put in his F2003-GA.
"I saw the yellow lights and immediately realised that the start was aborted. I therefore concentrated on staying in control of the tension for the next start," said Michael. He demonstrated even greater steely nerve, to the stupefaction of all, when he came in for his first pit stop. It was the second key moment in the race, as a small quantity of fuel dripped from the refuelling nozzle and caught fire on the car.
Schumacher could see the flames in his mirrors. "I could see everything in the mirrors and I immediately realised that not too much fuel was involved, so I did not feel I was in too dangerous a situation," recounted Schumacher. "The mechanics reacted with impressive speed and in a well orchestrated and safe way. I can only repeat what I said immediately after the race, which is that in a situation like this, you need to have total faith in your team and as far as I was concerned there was nothing to make feel the contrary. I have the best mechanics in the whole pit lane and I trust them completely. They reacted fantastically."
"In fact the most serious moments were immediately after the incident as I was worried about the possible damage caused by foam from the fire extinguishers," continued the German. "When I left the pits, I felt the engine gasp briefly because obviously a bit of foam had got into the air intake. Luckily, everything went off well and I was able to rejoin the race with no problems."
"I just had a slight problem with my vision, as I had already used all the tear-offs on my visor as some water had got in. There were a lot of insects and the fire extinguishers had left an opaque layer. Luckily, I managed to clean it all off while I was leaving the pit lane."
Before the next race in Monaco, Michael will be working at Fiorano from Wednesday to Friday, as the team strives to close down the gap to series leader Raikkonen, who has only won one race to Schumacher's three.
-ferrari-
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Introducing the McLaren MP4-18
Next article Trulli's account of Austria
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Kimi Raikkonen
David Coulthard explains why Robin Raikkonen's rise resembles Max Verstappen's
Formula 1
Formula 1
Spanish GP
David Coulthard explains why Robin Raikkonen's rise resembles Max Verstappen's
On this day: Michael Schumacher wins… and stuns tifosi with F1 retirement
Formula 1
Formula 1
Italian GP
On this day: Michael Schumacher wins… and stuns tifosi with F1 retirement
Red Bull signs Kimi Raikkonen’s son as junior driver
Formula 1
Formula 1
Italian GP
Red Bull signs Kimi Raikkonen’s son as junior driver
More from
Mercedes
Max Verstappen stars with 15-place charge in 45 minutes: 'I learned a lot and had fun'
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance
Portimão
3 h
Max Verstappen stars with 15-place charge in 45 minutes: 'I learned a lot and had fun'
Latest news
When Can-Am made its controversial comeback
General
When Can-Am made its controversial comeback
Yamaha boss on MotoGP changes under Liberty: 'We must be careful not to lose our fans'
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Japanese GP
34 min
Yamaha boss on MotoGP changes under Liberty: 'We must be careful not to lose our fans'
Kyle Busch remembered: Rowdy’s most notable Phoenix moments
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
59 min
Kyle Busch remembered: Rowdy’s most notable Phoenix moments
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe