Michael Schumacher, after losing the championship two years in succession, is it easier or more
difficult to motivate yourself this year?
MS: No. It's very easy. I remember many conversations with our team
representatives last year, and from the beginning the main problem was with
the tyres. We had to deal with that problem as well as we could. Having
said that, Goodyear did a great job for us after the first five races in
order to bring us back on the right track. Now we don't have that question
mark. We all compete on the same tyres. We did a lot of development and it
makes me very motivated that we can do it.
Do you think that the lack of tyre competition will make a big difference
to the finishing order this year, or will it be pretty much the same thing?
MS: It shouldn't be too different to be honest. You will have the two top
teams at the front and the same teams chasing, but things will be closer
this year, because you don't have the big gap of tyres. The rules are in
place for the second year. Everyone knows what they have to do to their
cars. But still, it's going to be the same two cars and after that, I don't
know: probably Williams, Jordan, Sauber and Benetton, so the usual teams.
What do you think of the new grooves in the tyres to slow the cars down?
MS: I think they will decrease our overtaking opportunities. That's a fact.
They make the car slower, it slides more and has less grip. The tyres are
harder and that's why it's more difficult to overtake, because you reduced
the grip of the car and you increase the grip from the aerodynamic side.
For sure, you will see overtaking, but it won't be the same as before.
I'm not sure how much Bridgestone are interested in developing the tyres.
Why should they? They could improve lap times by a couple of seconds, but
they don't want to. The FIA wants to reduce speed, and as there is only one
tyre manufacturer, it's easy to control. I would like to improve it because
I like to corner fast, that's what makes Formula One interesting. I don't
see it as a safety aspect, but sliding around corners doesn't really excite
me.
What would a third World Championship mean to you?
MS: It's not about a third World Championship. It's more about being in
Ferrari and doing it with Ferrari. That means a lot. They haven't won it
for 20 years. We've been very close twice. There are a lot of reasons why
it would be a very special championship, not just because it's a third one.
Do you think you can win the championship?
MS: We have a 50-50 chance and it's a sport. We will try our best. This
year I feel we have good reasons to be motivated from the start. There are
no question marks over tyres, good development work both aerodyanamically
and mechanically. Unless someone comes up with something totally new that
we haven't thought about, I can see us out front, not on our own but
obviously close.
What did you think of last year's peformance?
MS: The amount of development that we did during the year - to be as far
behind as we were at the beginning of the season - which allowed us to
fight for the championship at the end was a great achievement.
Is less testing better?
MS: If you do too much of anything it's no fun. And last year was marginal,
just on the limit and sometimes a little bit over. I welcome the fact that
we don't have so much tyre development even though Eddie and I split it.
Without tyre development, testing will be almost certainly less. But the
rule has been changed again, as I understand it, so it won't have changed
much in comparison to last year.