Formula 1
High hopes for Ralf in 2003
Ralf Schumacher has high hopes for 2003 and thinks there should be more wins coming his way. Schumacher scored Williams' only victory of last season in Malaysia but with the new chassis and new BMW engine for this year, the younger of the Schumacher ...
Published: Jan 31, 2003, 7:00 PM
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Ralf Schumacher has high hopes for 2003 and thinks there should be more wins coming his way. Schumacher scored Williams' only victory of last season in Malaysia but with the new chassis and new BMW engine for this year, the younger of the Schumacher racers is optimistic for a good fight.
Ralf Schumacher.
Photo by BMW PressClub.
"Hopes for our team are high, as are my own," he said at the launch of the FW25 in Barcelona today. "I hope that the chassis lives up to its promises, that the new BMW engine will be the best in the field again, and that both will lead to race wins. In 2002, I achieved the only victory for our team -- there should be more wins in 2003."
Schumacher and team mate Juan Pablo Montoya are well known for not seeing eye-to-eye and their clashes also happened on track. The German is keen for their partnership to benefit the team but doesn't want any more banging of wheels.
"The team will continue to benefit from the fact that the performance of Juan Pablo Montoya and myself are on a par," he commented. "Juan Pablo and I are certainly different types but, at the end of the day, we're equals. However, collisions within the team such as the one at Indianapolis should not happen again."
The new qualifying system has been much talked about and Schumacher thinks it will be beneficial for smaller teams, at least in the way of publicity: "What I do think is that the single timed lap is spectator -- and sponsor --friendly. We will no longer see qualifying sessions where nobody ventures onto the track for the first 20 minutes. And, as in ski jumping, the cameras will now be on every driver. That's particularly important for the small teams, who hardly get into the frame otherwise."
The new points allocation, where the top eight will now be rewarded, is another thing Ralf is happy about: "It's positive," he said, "As far as Michael is concerned - and I anticipate Ferrari dominating again in 2003 - it will make it more difficult for him to streak ahead in the championship as quickly as before. The later the title is secured, the greater the interest levels in Formula One. And that's what we all make our living from, after all."
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