Q: Michael, what about your feelings coming into this season? You look as though you’re up for it, ready for it.
Michael Schumacher: Yep.
Q: How much of an advantage do you think it has been testing here?
MS: It’s difficult to quantify, but it’s certainly no disadvantage being here. We have V8 engines, new aerodynamics, different new tyres so to chose your compounds and the tyre you want, probably you are a little bit advanced in this direction, but then on the other hand the other guys who have not been here in general have enough experience not to take too long to get on top of that, I guess.
Q: Whatever advantage you may have here is only an advantage for here or particularly for next weekend as well?
MS: As it wasn’t as hot as maybe we would have liked it, it’s probably not a great advantage compared to Malaysia but the chance to test here freely was quite important in a way for us, because if you go to some of the big tests in Europe, especially in the beginning, when cars are not yet very reliable, you get a lot of red flag situations and so on, so you cannot really do your programme as efficiently as we could be.
Q: Now for the last five seasons you’ve started the following season as World Champion. What changes does it make when you’re not World Champion?
MS: Not really much, honestly. I have to walk a little bit further to my garage. That’s the only thing.
Q: What about Bridgestone? How do you feel they’ve met the challenge this year?
MS: We have worked very hard and we certainly have improved the game, but then it’s always the question: have we improved enough? It’s something we will find out this weekend. As always we have had a long winter, a lot of talk, a lot of question marks and finally we answer them, in a way, at the first race. It’s always better to drive than talk, honestly.
Q: Michael, can I come back to you as the most experienced driver in the field; what difference does it make starting the championship here in Bahrain rather in Australia?
MS: It’s not really a big difference other than that we have less time change to cope with and that’s about it.
Q: A bit warmer?
MS: Australia can be hot. It can be hot here but it can also be cold because two weeks ago it was reasonably cold at certain moments, so I don’t really see a big difference.
Q: And the media pressure? The Australian media in comparison to the Bahraini media?
MS: No, because you guys are sort of all the same anyway wherever we go.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: Michael, you said the car was better balanced with the amount of power from the V8 and the amount of rubber you have.
MS: It’s more in harmony.
Q: So do you enjoy it more?
MS: Yeah. It’s much sharper to drive.
Q: (Azrul Anada – Jawa Pos Indonesia) About lap times in Bahrain. In testing we’ve seen Honda and McLaren quite close to last year in Valencia. How much difference will there be in Bahrain and when can you pass the lap time of last year with the V10.
MS: It’s not only a question for here, it’s a general question for all tracks, generally you lose 2-3 seconds going from a V10 to a V8, but our engineers are so efficient so it has not made a big difference. We were off the pace last year but it all depends. Plus it’s unfair to compare to last year. You had to have one tyre for the whole race and our qualifying strategy was completely different to what it will be this weekend. So it’s really unfair to make a comparison.
Q: (David Croft – BBC Radio 5) We have some rookies this year. Is there any advice the three guys at the front can give them?
MS: I don’t think they need advice. Generally the young generation have so much time in go-karts. For sure a Formula One car has a lot more horsepower than other cars but apart from that there is not much difference.
Q: (Harry Kiner – ARD Radio) I look at the front row and see Fernando, Michael and Kimi. Am I right in thinking you are the three favourites for the title?
MS: I think there’s more than three because honestly as we spoke about Honda who have two drivers. Also, we all have team-mates so it’s got be a nice season for all of us.
Q: (Peter Windsor – Speed Channel) Michael, sorry to ask you but unfortunately it’s the first chance many of us have had to ask this question, but, what happened on the formation lap at Shanghai and what was your opinion on the decision of the stewards afterwards?
MS: Honestly I don’t see any sense in going back into it. It’s decided to what it was and we can’t change it anyway. We don’t have a Minardi team anymore. It’s different now. Sometimes certain things do happen and it's coincidence, sometimes things come together.
Q: (Livio Oricchio – O Estado de Sao Paulo) – Michael, your team came here to test and had some problems with the clutch system. The team decides to test in Mugello. How is the real mechanical situation?
MS: First of all, we did everything to schedule, we did more running than we planned to do. The only difference was that instead of staying in Italy we were going to Valencia and we had only three days available in Valencia, but staying in Italy meant we had six or seven days available for driving. It’s true the weather wasn’t great, but for what we had to do we figured out our issues. Its true as well we would have loved to do more kilometres, but we are now more prepared because the car was quick right from the beginning and even quicker now and I think we can be quite confident to be reliable as well.
Q: (Andrea Cremonesi – La Gazzetta dello Sport) About the new qualifying system. It seems the last part is quite complicated to explain to the people in the grandstand. Are you worried it will change again during the season and what do you think about this mechanism? Worried about changing again?
MS: The only reason we could probably be forced to change is if you explain it the wrong way if people don’t understand so it’s you’re (the journalist’s) job to explain it so we don’t have to.
Q: (Ottavio Daviddi - Tuttosport) – Michael, last year you had an expert driver in Rubens, now you have an inexperienced team-mate. Is this a problem to find the solution to problems to find the set-up?
MS: No. First because Felipe is quite experienced in the meantime. Second, it depends on the team and on how you develop, with the team, a new car. The only question we have is in terms of driving style. Maybe we have different driving styles that require to different set-ups so it will be quite interesting to see if I can take profit more than I used to or not. |
