Michael Defends Brother Ralf in Overtaking Row

Michael Schumacher jumped to the defence of his younger brother Ralf today, rounding on critics "who talk without knowing what is going on."

Ferrari's five-times Formula One World Champion said it was unfair to take Ralf to task for failing to overtake him, a repeated criticism most recently levelled at the Williams driver in Canada two weeks ago.

Michael won that race, with Ralf a close second, despite suffering a brake problem for most of the distance. Some newspapers, particularly in Britain, highlighted negative comments about Ralf's performance.

"I think it's very simple," Michael told a news conference at the European Grand Prix, his and Ralf's home race and their first in Germany this year.

"There are a lot of people who talk without knowing what is going on. And that's a problem. You get criticised for something that people shouldn't even make comment about.

"If I hear things like this I obviously don't feel very happy...it wasn't only him behind me. There was (Juan Pablo) Montoya behind Ralf and there was (Fernando) Alonso behind Montoya. And none of the four could pass anyone.

"And I was behind Ralf before and I couldn't pass him either," he added. "It's all about a nice story, how to create a story, how to make people look a little bit stupid and that's what I obviously dislike."

Ralf, who has started on the front row at the Nurburgring for the last two years without winning at a circuit near his home town of Kerpen, said he would always try to overtake when possible.

"There has been talk over the last year and a half to two years and I think it all started here at the Nurburgring," he said. "I personally don't understand it but it might be due to the fact that people, as Michael said, do comment where they shouldn't.

"Whenever there was a possibility in the past to overtake I took it and it will be the same in the future. There (in Canada) there wasn't one."

Montoya, meanwhile, said his teammate had done a good job.

"For me, it is very hard to say he didn't try hard enough. I am not in Ralf's mind," said Montoya. "The end result was he didn't try and some people feel he should have tried but he did a good job for the team he came in second."

Ralf has yet to win a race this year while Michael has won four of the last five and leads the Championship by three points from McLaren's young Finn Kimi Raikkonen. He can take his 50th win for Ferrari this weekend.