Formula 1 news

Schumacher only has to fear Button and Sato

Sato (left) and Schumacher

Michael Schumacher has singled-out BAR-Honda and Jenson Button, over all other F1 opponents, as the only true challengers to a seventh championship crown. The German noted the apparent decline of usual rivals McLaren and Williams.

"I believe they have the ability to bounce back," he said here in Canada. "But it's another thing to actually achieve it."

Schumacher said BAR-Honda is the 'strong opponent' even if Renault's Jarno Trulli is the only non-Ferrari driver to have won a grand prix so far in 2004. "Sometimes [Renault] seem good, sometimes less good," he noted. "But BAR seem strong against us wherever we are."

Button's team-mate Takuma Sato, however, doubted that a race win was likely for either driver until the end of the season. "There's a big gap," he noted. "If we want to do it now," said the Japanese, "we'll need lots of luck."

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