Schumacher makes birthday wish

Ralf Schumacher is hoping he has good cause to celebrate his 32nd birthday on Saturday.

Toyota star Schumacher has endured a wretched season by his own standards with his best results eighth-placed finishes in the opening race in Australia and more recently in Canada.

But in the last grand prix in the United States, Schumacher failed to make it past the first corner due to an accident.

In contrast, team-mate Jarno Trulli finished a creditable sixth as Toyota offered a more positive indication as to where they should be in the field.

Schumacher would love such a finish in this Sunday’s French Grand Prix in Magny-Cours to at least make his birthday go with more of a bang than the one he suffered in Indy.

“To retire at the first corner in the last race at Indianapolis was obviously very disappointing, especially after a pretty good qualifying performance,” said the German, who started 12th.

“But I am determined to have a better race in France, with Jarno’s result demonstrating what the team can achieve.

“I had the chance to test at Silverstone for a day last week which was productive, and I also recorded the fastest lap time of the day.

“It went well and we had no problems at all with the car, so I am reasonably optimistic we can fight for points again this weekend.

“It is also my 32nd birthday on Saturday, so I’m hoping for a strong qualifying performance to celebrate, and then some points would be a good present.”

Trulli, meanwhile, shares Schumacher’s confidence that Toyota can have their best race of the season this weekend.

“I had a fantastic result in Indy after a really great job by myself and the team,” remarked the Italian.

“At the start of the weekend I did not expect to finish as high as sixth, but we made no mistakes and we had perfect reliability.

“This shows we are capable of strong results and I am optimistic we can fight at the front again in France.”