Schumacher cool on Toyota talk

Ralf Schumacher insisted today he is not poised to quit Williams to join Toyota in a €90.2m deal from next season.

The German said he was in no rush to sort out his Formula One future adding that a planned meeting after this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix between team chief Frank Williams and his manager Willi Weber had been delayed.

Schumacher was reported earlier this week to be set to join the Cologne-based outfit in a five-year deal that would make him the second highest paid driver on the grid after his brother Michael, who earns around €37.6m a year at Ferrari.

But the 28-year-old said: “Everybody must be bored because Ferrari keep winning. That’s why there is a lot of talk about my contract.

“I don’t think there will be a decision made after Bahrain. The talks will go on a bit longer still.

“We are still negotiating and both sides know what they want.

“I am not in any rush to get this sorted out. I don’t think it will affect me concentrating on the world championship.”

Schumacher reputedly earns around £9m (€13.5m), though Weber said recently any new contract with Williams would see his standard wages cut as part of a performance-related pay clause.

Toyota will have no problems meeting Schumacher’s salary demands as their €360.7m budget is only bettered by Ferrari.

The Japanese car giant is determined to win the world championship having only entered F1 three seasons ago.

Schumacher insists his main priority is helping Williams sort out their early season problems after they made a disappointed start to a campaign in which they were expected to fight for the title.

The Salzburg-based racer is currently languishing in seventh place in the championship standings with just five points – 15 points adrift of his brother who has won both the opening two races.

Schumacher finished fourth in the season opener in Australia but a problem in his BMW engine ended his afternoon early last time out in Malaysia.

“We are pretty unhappy with the last two races,” said Schumacher. “It is a bit surprising that we could not get it together when you look at the end of last year when we were very close to Ferrari and were beating them at times.

“But I don’t think it is going to take us as long as it did last year to sort out the problems. I’d say we are only three or four tenths away at the moment.

“I think Bridgestone have made a big improvement with their tyres over the winter and that has helped Ferrari but with Michelin I don’t think we have had as big an improvement.

“But I don’t think Ferrari have the best car on the grid at the moment. The best car I’d say is the Renault.

“If you look at Malaysia, Fernando Alonso came from the back of the grid and in Melbourne they were 25 seconds ahead of us.”