Canadian GP - Michael Schumacher: "As confident as
we can be"
Montreal, 22nd June 2006 - Michael Schumacher was a late
arrival at the "Gilles Villeneuve" circuit on the
Ile Notre Dame outside the city this afternoon, but he had
a good excuse as he had been at a press conference organised
by Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro technical partner, Shell in downtown
Montreal.
The seven times world champion and indeed, a seven times
winner here in Canada, looked fit and very relaxed as he entered
the paddock surrounded as usual by a host of photographers
and cameramen. In fact, Michael, his wife Corinna and a group
of friends have been in North America since just after the
last round of the championship, the British Grand Prix, flying
to America on Sunday night after the last race.
"The post-Silverstone test at Paul Ricard was not on
my schedule, so I thought we would come for a holiday in the
States, which as you know, I enjoy very much," explained
Michael. "We had a lot of fun doing all sorts of things
and for the second time in my life, I went parachuting. It
was very exciting. We also went quad-biking and so I feel
very relaxed."
The German might not have driven at Paul Ricard, leaving
that task to his team-mate Felipe Massa and the Scuderia's
official test driver Luca Badoer, but he still knew all about
the work programme in the South of France. "I kept in
contact with the team during my break, so I am fully aware
of all the test results, in terms of the data we acquired
with the low downforce aero package and modifications to the
rest of the car and engine."
Schumacher laughed when the media asked him what he thought
could be the outcome of Sunday's race here. "You know
I don't like making predictions," he reminded them. "But
I see no reason why we should not be competitive again at
this circuit. We can be as confident as we can be, given that
we don't know yet how the car will run here, nor how our closest
rivals will go here in Canada."
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