Schumacher Sees Williams as Real Threat

Ferrari's decision to race their new car in Brazil this weekend was speeded up by realisation of the threat posed by Williams, Michael Schumacher said on Thursday.

The Formula One World Champion, speaking to reporters at Interlagos, said he expected Williams to be Ferrari's main rivals this season after that team's one-two finish at the last race in Malaysia.

"I think it's pretty simple: if we had been faster in Malaysia then we would have come here with three old cars," said Schumacher. "We wouldn't probably have pushed that hard just to have one (new) car here. But because we have been so slow, we needed to push a little bit harder.

"Obviously we would be much more happy to have three new cars here but that has not been possible."

Schumacher won the season-opening round in Australia in the old F2001 after nearly half the field went out in a first corner incident.

He then took pole position in Malaysia but finished third after a clash with Williams' Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya at the first corner.

The incident allowed Schumacher's younger brother Ralf to run clear to victory, ahead of Montoya.

McLaren, Ferrari's main rivals for the past three seasons, failed to finish at Sepang and Briton David Coulthard - runner-up overall in 2001 - has yet to score a point this year.

"What we see now is that Williams is stronger than McLaren, whether it will stay that way until the end or not we will find out," said Schumacher. "My assumption is that yes it will. I think it will swing between us (Ferrari and Williams) from race to race."

The Brazilian Grand Prix favoured Williams powerful BMW engine last season, with the team clearly fastest and Montoya leading for more than half the race before a collision with Jos Verstappen.

McLaren's Coulthard won that race.

Schumacher, who has been in the top three 14 times in the last 17 races, can claim his 100th career podium finish this weekend. He has won the Brazilian Grand Prix three times previously and has a record 54 career wins.