Schuey praises unforgettable US crowd

The German had called for the event to be postponed following the terrorist attack, but looking back the world champion feels that F1 did the right thing by allowing the race to go ahead as planned.

"I have to say that racing in front of a crowd of 200,000 is something really special," he said. "I am curious to see what it will be like this year, given that last year's race came shortly after particularly sad circumstances. With hindsight, I would say it was the right decision to race there in 2001, as we tried to bring some happiness to people who had suffered badly with what had happened. I was very impressed by the attitude of the crowds: they were not beaten, but continued to live their lives united together. You could really feel it and it was very moving."

Schumacher and Ferrari have been in the class of their own this year, and the German could win a record 11th race of the season on Sunday. However, he refuses to accept that it will be a Ferrari walkover, despite the team's near-unchallenged dominance so far this year.

"We have such a good car that of course it would be great if the last two races went in our favour," he said. "Tyres are a key factor as we saw in Monza. Even if it looked as though things were easy for us, the race was actually very close."

Schumacher won the first race to be held at Indy in 2000, but had to settle for second place to Mika Hakkinen last year.