Ralf Confident Williams Will Beat McLaren

Ralf Schumacher said on Saturday that Williams are on course to meet their pre-season expectations and admitted that the focus is to stay ahead of McLaren in the Constructors' Championship.

McLaren's David Coulthard insisted after qualifying that he needs a miracle to finish ahead of Williams pair Ralf and Juan Pablo Montoya in the Championship standings as the expected runner-up to Michael Schumacher.

Ralf backed Coulthard's opinion and said that unless Williams are hit with a spate of reliability issues in the remaining nine Grands Prix they will outscore McLaren in both Drivers' and Contructors' Championships.

"Yeah it is very nice," Ralf said of Coulthard's comments on finishing second. "And at the moment it looks pretty much like it, which I hope we can maintain and stay like this for the whole of the season.

"I mean he is not so far away from us but if everything works normal it should be the case of us being ahead."

He added: "In a way the season has given us more than we expected because we are quite a bit ahead of McLaren and that was our main target. Certainly after Malaysia our targets were a bit higher but they have become a bit more normal now."

Ralf will start Sunday's European Grand Prix from second on the grid behind teammate Montoya, with Ferrari's Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello on the second row ahead of Coulthard and his McLaren teammate Kimi Raikkonen.

The German Williams driver admitted he expects a tough race with the quick-starting Ferraris behind, but is hoping for a change of luck at the Nurburgring after he received a stop-go penalty for crossing the white line of the pitlane exit as he led last year's race.

"I guess it is going to be a tough race," he said. "I see Ferrari being strong in the race and we'll just have to try and maintain our position. It is nice to be at home, but if I am being professional and it is just one of 17 races in the season. I have never been lucky here but we will see how it goes tomorrow."

Ralf defended brother Michael following the Ferrari driver's failure to claim pole position after he made two uncharacteristic mistakes on his final run and admitted it proves the World Champion is only human.

"He has made many mistakes all through his career," Ralf added. "He was always human. He is doing a brilliant job but sometimes he has weekends were not everything is so good."