A few months ago, Atlas F1's Karl Ludvigsen was critical of Ralf Schumacher following the German's unimpressive run of results in the early part of the season. He also questioned Toyota's decision of signing the Williams driver for next year. Following Schumacher's performance in Japan last weekend, however, Ludvigsen shows only fools can't change their minds...

I doubt that my previous column, after Bahrain, casting aspersions on your career prospects caused you much loss of sleep. You, Willi and Cora had the situation under control. In spite of my advice to the contrary, Toyota went ahead and hired you. And then you went and had a hell of a smash at Indy that kept you out of racing for a while.

Your comeback race in China was marred by your apparent refusal to climb back into an undamaged race car, which didn't sit well with Frank Williams. I doubt that it did any favors to BMW either, because with one engine per race weekend they need all the data they can get on the condition of their engines at the final flag.

But then what did you do? You turned in one sockdolager of a performance in Japan. It was an absolutely impeccable drive to second place in a car that you and your crew managed to set up remarkably well in spite of a complete lack of practice. That speaks volumes about your car set-up ability. So does the fact that BMW Williams openly despaired about the lack of that ability while you were indisposed. Neither Montoya nor Pizzonia (surprise) were able to match your performance in that department.

And then what does Patrick Head go and do? After calling your race at Bahrain a "bloody mess, really," after Suzuka he says about you, "everybody in the team says what a pleasure he is to work with and [asks] why have Frank and I not signed him up for next year." A little late to be saying that, I think. Anyway, your six years with Williams were enough. Just as Graham Hill felt he'd become "a piece of the furniture" at BRM after too many years there, familiarity can breed contempt. It was time to move on.

So, Ralf, it's eating-my-hat time. It's profound apology time. I'm sorry I said what I did about you earlier in the year. I misjudged you big time. In fact, I think you might be The Next Big Thing. From zero to hero in my book. I'm starting to understand better why you and Michael have an arm's-length relationship. Michael knows you pretty well, after all, and I believe he sees you as a real threat. If he didn't, he wouldn't act the way he does. He thinks you have what it takes to become World Champion. And, I have to admit, so do I.

When you spoke to your fans about your decision to join Toyota, you showed commendable candor. You said, "I've decided against the present and for the future. I've decided in favor of a perspective, a vision. If I stop to think that I'll be at Toyota at the mid-point of a project whose longer-term goal is the World Championship, then I get butterflies in my stomach. My palms get moist.

"I know that you can't buy success," you went on to say, "and I also know that I won't make Toyota into a winner overnight. But I can promise that I'll bring all the effort and patience that the company requires of me. I'm offering to deliver to Toyota all my experience from eight Formula One seasons to bring this project to a successful conclusion. For I haven't given up on my greatest goal of all, the World Championship - quite the contrary!" These are noble words, honest words. I also accept your assertion that "money played no role in my decision. Money isn't, and never was, my motivation to race in Formula One."

When you stood on the podium in Japan, Ralf, you looked every inch a winner. It was the old German one-two again. And there was the lad Button in third. You know, of course, that "button" in German is "Knopf", as in the great publisher Alfred Knopf. We'll have to consider Button an honorary German on the podium at Suzuka.

You have a lot to offer to Toyota. The question is...Are they ready to accept it? Mike Gascoyne gives the impression of being a know-it-all who's reluctant to take advice. You had your fill of folks like that at Williams. I get the opposite impression of Ross Brawn, for example. He seems capable of taking information on board from others that will help him make decisions, and we can see what kind of result that's had. Let's hope that Gascoyne can change the habits of a lifetime and make full use of your contribution.

You were honest enough to say that you found the Toyota challenge daunting. I'm prepared to reverse the circumstances. I'd say that Toyota is in your debt. It's Toyota that should be sweating about providing you with a car that's equal to your talents, that can indeed take you to the World Championship you're capable of winning.

We didn't see a whole lot of evidence to that effect in Japan, which was a pretty embarrassing outing for the boys in white and red before their home crowd. Placing 11th and 14th is not, after all, much of an improvement on 12th and 13th spots in Australia at the start of the season! And this was the year that Toyota said its goal was its first podium! They have a hell of a lot of work to do. Jarno Trulli will be doing his best to get them to face reality. The sooner you can get in the cockpit to do the same, the better.

Good luck, Ralf. And, again, sorry.

About the author:
Long time columnist at Atlas F1, Karl Ludvigsen is an award-winning author and historian who managed racing programs for Fiat in America in the late 1970s and Ford of Europe in the early 1980s. He is the author of seven books about racing drivers and numerous books about classic racing cars and engines, all of which draw extensively on the many images in his Ludvigsen Library in Suffolk, England.

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