Schumacher Blames Tyres for Poor Performance

On the same day his Ferrari team announced they will continue using Bridgestone tyres until the end of the 2004 season, Michael Schumacher admitted the tyres were to blame for his poor performance in qualifying for his home Grand Prix in Germany.

Schumacher, leading the Championship by 37 points over McLaren's David Coulthard and hoping to equal Alain Prost's record for most number of wins at Hockenheim, said after finishing the day almost a second behind pole sitter Juan Pablo Montoya that the Michelin tyres were simply the best today.

"There was nothing wrong with the car, we were just slower than the other guys," said Schumacher. "We have performed normally, if you look at our gap to McLaren, but Williams has done a much better job than usual. Most of the difference has come from the tyres. This is one of two tracks which is pretty much tailor made for our rival's tyre company."

Schumacher will start tomorrow's race in front of Coulthard, who qualified fifth, and admitted his main goal will be to finish the race and score points in order to move closer to his fourth Formula One crown.

"I was hoping to be closer to the quickest times after this morning, but this is the situation we now face and we have to live with it," admitted Schumacher. "However, I prefer to have the Williams eight tenths in front of me than Coulthard. I have to look at the situation in terms of the Championship. In the race, we must remember that to finish first, first you have to finish."

Brazilian teammate Rubens Barrichello completed Ferrari's disappointing day, finishing in sixth place more than 1.5 seconds off pole. But the Ferrari driver, winner in Germany last year, was confident of a good result anyway.

"I was not able to get the most out of my car in this afternoon's qualifying session, especially when it came to getting a good top speed for the straights," said Barrichello. "Now we must take a close look at the telemetry data to understand what happened.

"As for tomorrow's race, I'm still fairly confident, as the grid position is not that important when it comes to deciding the final result, as we saw last year, when I won the race having started from eighteenth place."