Schumacher unimpressed by McLaren

Michael Schumacher believes McLaren’s poor form in testing suggests Renault and Williams will be Ferrari’s main challengers this season.

The six-time drivers’ champion has been unimpressed by the Mercedes-powered team’s performances in the build-up to the first grand prix in Australia next month, although he admits they may not be pulling out all the stops.

“I see Williams and Renault are really strong, probably more than McLaren,” Schumacher told Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport.

“But it’s impossible to judge from the outside, as no-one knows what they are really doing at McLaren. They aren’t setting fast lap times, that’s true, but maybe they aren’t looking for it.

“So it’s pointless to talk about these things now, it’s premature, we’ll have to wait. Williams and us are certainly going better than others, but everything depends on the current tests and on the moment those lap times are set.”

The German star is content with the progress being made with the F2004 and believes it can be relied upon from the start of the new season.

“There is really no reason for not taking it to Melbourne, even within a short time we have made some positive experiments; we are optimistic, totally calm and confident about its reliability already on the first race of the championship.”