Formula 1 news
Briatore expects Brazil to be fair race
16 October 2006Renault boss Flavio Briatore believes Michael Schumacher will play fair game in Interlagos even with the odds for the drivers' title heavily stacked in Fernando Alonso's favour. The Italian boss is all too aware of Schumacher's controversial shunts with past title rivals and was the German's team boss at Benetton in 1994 when he famously collided with Damon Hill at another final race decider.
With ten points of breathing space, Alonso can only lose the title by not scoring any points and Schumacher winning as both drivers are tied on seven wins each. Chances are therefore very slender for the seven-time World Champion but his never-say-die attitude that has got him in trouble in the past might be aroused by the challenge. However, Briatore believes he is beyond that now and that he will want to see out his career without the controversy that has often marred his success.
"I believe that Michael is a very professional driver and if he causes an accident then he loses the championship anyway," Briatore said at the news conference in Amsterdam to announce financial giant ING's three-year title sponsorship of the Formula One champions.
"I really don't believe this is a problem because Michael wants to leave Formula One in the right way," he added.
"I know Michael very well and I don't think there is a problem. It's good for the press talking about it, good for the gossip and the newspapers because people are more interested in Sunday that way but it will be a normal race.
"I'm sure it will be a fair race with good fighting between Michael and Fernando."
With Alonso only needing to win a point to secure the drivers' championship, it is expected that Renault will play it safe to ensure he goes the full race distance. Briatore believes this it is better to attack than defend, however.
"We go to win the race. It's like in soccer, if you go looking for 0-0 draw then you will probably lose the match," Briatore said.
"The team is strong. I believe if we get one point we have the drivers' championship and a few more we have the constructors' and if we win the race we have everything.
"We go to Brazil to try to win everything," he reiterated.
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