Q: A tense and breathtaking qualifying session, and you are on pole, but what happened to you in that incident at Rascasse?
Michael SCHUMACHER: I locked up the front and went wide. I wasn’t sure what was going on after this because of the positioning of the cars and so on, so I was not aware and in the end, I checked with the guys what the situation was, where did we end up, because I didn’t expect to be sitting here right now in this position and they said P1, so I was glad considering what had happened. Q: What actually happened at the end of the incident; did the engine actually stall?
MS: No, initially not and I tried to engage reverse but it didn’t engage, and I didn’t really want to back up just by myself without knowing what was coming around the corner and finally, it stalled.
Q: Brilliant show of speed today as the track has picked up grip.
MS: We didn’t look very good on Thursday. It was a little bit down to the tyre choice. We changed our choice and that put us back on the road and yes, today, this morning, we seemed to be back on pace and we had very good long runs and so on, so I’m pretty happy.
Q: It was always going to be very congested in those first two qualifying sessions; you waited until you went out and on both occasions it worked well for you.
MS: Yeah. It’s difficult to find the perfect slot, but I saw so many cars going out very early and it was natural to find traffic in these moments so I just timed it slightly different. When I saw the red flag I thought maybe I didn’t make the right choice but it came together and the second qualifying session worked out fine. I just conserved and made sure we were within the top ten, and then I gave it everything thereafter.
Q: Michael, different overalls here, perhaps lucky overalls, first time on the pole since 2000.
MS: Yeah, well, history is really not important. You have to live in the present and the new overalls was a very nice design by Philip Morris. We had this idea in Madonna di Campiglio already and we both liked the idea and thought Monte Carlo is a special occasion where we could put some colour into it and we were happy to use it. So let’s see and hope it can be lucky tomorrow, that’s more important.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Michael, just talk us through that incident again if you would?
MS: I think you had best watch the pictures. You will see me locking up and just running out of road.
Q: And then did you stall?
MS: Not initially. Initially I tried to get reverse but it was hesitating to move and then finally I stalled.
Q: In comparison to Thursday, a complete change in performance. You mentioned a change of tyres; was it just that?
MS: No, it was obviously not just that, probably it was also the track coming to us plus making some changes to the car. Maybe there were some other reasons in terms of how we approached the weekend, slightly differently to the other guys which showed us not as strong as we could have been. The other point is that a lot of people used new tyres on Thursday and we didn’t.
Q: Ross mentioned a new or different strategy here; is that what you meant by a different approach to the weekend?
MS: Maybe different to the others, because part of the gap we closed you can probably only explain in a few situations.
Q: Obviously that incident at the end has upset one or two people; what do you say to people who suggest it was on purpose?
MS: We try to drive the car and we find out what it is. The point is that I think I was slightly quicker in the first sector. I don’t know what it was in the second sector but I was obviously watching my time and I was just a little bit quicker and a little bit quicker is not enough, honestly, so you push and you go for it and that was a bit too much.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Anne Giuntini - L’Equipe) To Michael, do you think the championship will continue on that kind of basis, sportingly speaking, and some incidents may be arbitrating the battle between two great champions?
MS: I don’t get your question completely right…
Q: (Anne Giuntini – L’Equipe) To be honest, I have talked already to some drivers – professionals like you – who said it is too big, what happened today, to be credible, so on that basis I think that maybe there is some ‘interrogation’ and maybe it is a bit of a shame if it is true…
MS: It would be a shame if it is true, absolutely, but I think it is as usual whatever you do in certain moments. Your enemies they believe one thing and the people that support you believe another thing and that is what our sport is about.
Q: (Anne Giuntini – L’Equipe) It is not a question of friends or enemies, it is a question of sport.
MS: I think it is because I explained you what really happened and if you want to believe this you believe and some people may not believe this but, unfortunately that is the world we live in.
Q: (Anne Giuntini – L’Equipe) It is a big shame.
MS: Yes, unfortunately that’s it…
Q: (Byron Young - Speed Sport News) Michael do you think you cheated today?
MS: No. And I don’t know why you ask such a bad question. I think it is pretty tough I have to say. If you were to drive around here, at Monaco, you would probably not ask this question.
Q: (Ottavio Daviddi - Tuttosport) To Michael, apart from all these questions, considering your improvement, do you think you have a package to win the race tomorrow?
MS: I hope so. We have been quick all this morning and we made quite a step forward on the car side, but then probably in terms of fuel load we were different maybe on Friday, than other people, and we were on old tyres obviously. And compared to Fernando, he was on old tyres as well, but in general the track seemed to come towards us and we have seen this in the past that here in Monaco certain things can change pretty dramatically. If you look at Barcelona, we were quicker friday and Saturday and lost the edge on Sunday. I just hope it goes the other way around here.
Q: (Alberto Antonini - Autosprint) Michael did the engine stall before you had reverse engaged or after?
MS: The engine, actually, I need to check why the engine stalled because there was no reason why it should stall, but I think that we have some protection that after a certain time, if the engine is running like that, it switches off itself. I guess that is what happened.
Q: (Juha Paatalo – The Financial Times Deutschland) Michael you have already analysed it, but can you describe your thoughts and feelings when sitting there in the car?
MS: Well obviously you are thinking you are going to be positioned backwards because although in that moment it is difficult for the others to improve, but I didn’t know what happened between when I made the fastest time and that moment -- and a lot of things could happen and I wasn’t really updated on the radio for that. When finally, at the last moment, when I was pushed back in, I said ‘so where did we end up?’ and we were still on pole -- so I was quite a bit surprised that it was still the case.
Q: (Byron Young – Speed Sport News) Michael did you know that the Renaults, that Fernando was on a fast lap behind you?
MS: I think we all were on a fast lap.
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