Ralf Blames Himself for 'Silly Mistake'

Ralf Schumacher blamed himself for a 'silly mistake' which cost him a likely podium place in Sunday's Spanish Formula One Grand Prix.

"It definitely wasn't my day today," said the Williams driver, younger brother of Ferrari's race winner and World Champion Michael. "First I made a silly mistake which I do very seldom and that's why I am so angry about it."

Ralf was in second place, being chased hard by his Colombian teammate Juan Pablo Montoya, when he went wide and damaged the front wing and underside of the car. He later retired with an engine failure while 11th.

Williams technical director Patrick Head suggested that Ralf had found it hard to come to terms with his mistake, at least initially.

"After he'd been off he was very uncommunicative with us in terms of telling us what had happened," he said.

"He didn't say 'I've been off and I think I've damaged the front.' He just said 'There may be something wrong with the front wing' or something. So when he came in we changed the nose but there was loads of grass and rubbish hanging from the bottom of the car."