Schumacher braces himself for toughest season of his career
The German expects this campaign to be even more competitive than last year when he only claimed his record sixth world championship in a fraught decider in Japan.
Schumacher has been victorious for the past four years and has guided Ferrari to five manufacturers’ titles in succession. However, after launching the F2004 at the team’s Italian factory in Maranello yesterday, Schumacher admitted: “The next one is always the toughest.
“It may be that it’s going to be a bit more difficult this year than last season even though that seems impossible. But we will find out in Melbourne. I’m ready for the new challenge and I’m ready for the new year. My motivation is the same as always.”
The F2004 was, as expected, hailed as the best-ever Ferrari even though the team are still building parts for it and have attempted to play down fears the car will not be ready for the first race in Australia on March 7.
Realism rather than optimism was the prevailing theme of the presentation as everyone from the president down to the test driver admitted Ferrari face a tough season despite their recent dominance of F1.
“We know 2004 is going to be a difficult year, but I just hope like last year it will have the same conclusion,” said Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo. “Last year more news was made when Ferrari got beaten than when they won so I hope we do not create much news this season.
“Ferrari has been on top since 1999 and we will do whatever we need to win. Last year we started the season missing some opportunities and this year we need to have the commitment from the start, but we are well aware of the strength of our competitors. Every major car manufacturer is involved with the exception of GM and the Volkswagen group and they all want to win.”
Test driver Luca Badoer said: “This will not be an easy year because our competitors are strong and really pushing, but we are Ferrari and we will do our utmost to win both championships.”
Williams and McLaren have stolen a head march in terms of development on this year’s car with Schumacher not expected to step into the cockpit of the F2004 until later this week.
Renault, who launch their car in Sicily on Thursday, although it was running last week, are also expected to be even stronger this year especially with Spanish ace Fernando Alonso whose maiden victory in Hungary last August proved the low point of Ferrari’s season.
Schumacher finished a lowly eighth in Budapest but, after a controversial row over the tyres rival teams were using, he won two of the remaining three races to beat the record of five titles he shared with Juan Manuel Fangio.
