F1: Schumacher wary of Williams duo

Michael Schumacher expects another fierce battle with his Williams-BMW rivals as he bids to maintain his world championship advantage when Formula One returns to Europe this weekend.

The German has admitted that the Williams duo of his brother Ralf and Juan Pablo Montoya will be the ‘‘strongest’’ team in Sunday’s San Marino Grand Prix at Imola.

Schumacher’s belief raises the prospect of another clash with Montoya just two weeks after he was on the receiving end of a verbal attack from the Colombian following their first-lap shunt in Brazil.

Montoya branded his Ferrari foe as an ‘‘unfair’’ driver following their second successive collision on the opening lap and vowed there would be no more ‘Mr Nice Guy’ from him in their track battles.

Schumacher has refused to become embroiled in a war of words with Montoya but knows the threat Williams pose having seen Ralf score his maiden career victory in last year’s race.

‘‘There is no doubt that Williams-BMW will be the strongest team at Imola,’’ said Schumacher, who suffered a rare reliability failure in the first of Ferrari’s two home races last season.

‘‘They were very strong there last year. On the other hand I have to admit that we made mistakes. Williams simply had the best performance.

‘‘Williams-BMW have the best top speed, but we have other strengths, amongst them aerodynamics.

‘‘A car can have more power, but some of this is lost due to other factors, for example weight distribution. You have to realise that a car is a ‘package’.

‘‘In Brazil we were very close to the Williams’ top speed. We compensated for the power difference by our rear wing, which is one of the great strengths of the new Ferrari.

‘‘On the other hand we must not forget that we only won the race in Brazil because, unlike ourselves, our competitor failed to make the best of all his possibilities.’’

Schumacher, who has led the drivers’ standings for the past 23 races stretching back to the Italian Grand Prix in September 2000, believes he can repeat his success in Sao Paulo and extend his advantage in this year’s title battle.

‘‘From our experience last year, we’re aware that the race won’t be easy, but we also know that we’ve improved since then,’’ said the 33-year-old who leads this year’s championship by eight points from brother Ralf with Montoya two points further back.

‘‘Our success in Brazil has logically given us a lift because this success was due to the good package which we’ll have at our disposal this time too.’’

Schumacher, who used his 2002 Ferrari for the first time at Interlagos, added: ‘‘In 2001 we had our difficulties in Brazil, in Imola it was similar.

‘‘But Brazil has shown us that it needn’t be the same this year. All in all, I’m optimistic about circuits which weren’t quite our cup of tea last year.

‘‘I think we’ll have to see from circuit to circuit which team is out in front as far as the tyres are concerned. But I think things won’t look too bad for us in Imola.’’