Schu will struggle again, warns Fisichella

Giancarlo Fisichella has written off Ferrari’s chances this weekend, claiming the fight for the Canadian Grand Prix will be between Renault and McLaren.

World champions Ferrari have suffered a dismal start to the season and are still searching for their first win going into round eight in Montreal, where Michael Schumacher has won seven times in 11 years.

Ferrari have shown slight improvement in recent weeks but Renault driver Fisichella does not expect the red cars to feature at the front this weekend.

He said: “I think it’s going to be a race between Renault and McLaren, I think we are quicker with McLaren than the other teams.

“It’s going to be tough to beat McLaren but I think we are very close.”

Asked whether Schumacher can win in Montreal, he added: “I don’t think so. I was behind him on the long runs and I was catching him about a second quicker a lap.

“When I was behind him he was struggling with grip on the rear end, with braking. He was not so aggressive into the corners, wasn’t quick enough.

“I think Ferrari are still struggling here. It’s not bad news for us and even given a seven-time world champion like Michael, who is a great driver, if he hasn’t got a competitive car you cannot fight for the podium.”

Schumacher himself found it difficult to muster much enthusiasm for his task this weekend after ending second practice yesterday down in 16th place.

The world champion has only finished on the podium once this season and he was downcast after again struggling in practice.

Schumacher, who has seen bold predictions come to nothing for most of the season, said: “We are not looking too competitive here, looking at the lap times.

“I did not get the best out of my new set of tyres in the afternoon as I went out early on when the track was not yet at its best.

“But if you look at Rubens Barrichello’s time [10th fastest], which he set on the same tyres much later in the session, it looks a bit better.”

Like Schumacher, Jenson Button has suffered a season to forget so far in 2005, without even a point on the board heading into this weekend.

The BAR-Honda driver is optimistic of better though in Montreal and was encouraged by his practice pace.

“It’s been good actually because we’ve been able to do a lot of laps,” he said. “It’s been a good day for us, we got a lot of useful information.

“Our pace seems reasonable so it’s looking good.”