Formula One news

Schumacher could only improve quali slot

Schumacher faces the wrong direction after collision

Michael Schumacher had a disasterous weekend in Turkey as Ferrari struggled to find any competitive pace in its car all weekend. Schumacher started the race from nineteenth on the grid having taken an engine change after his qualifying spin on Saturday. He carved his way up to eleventh within a couple of laps but had a collision with Mark Webber which damaged the Ferrari and forced him into the pits.

At that point Schumacher was the first official retiree and it looked like he would have to qualify first at Ferrari's home race in Monza in a fortnight. But mechanics worked on Schumacher's car for over 20 minutes and sent him back out to at least beat the other three drivers who had retired in the meantime. As a result Schumacher will now be fourth out in qualifying at Monza.

"All weekend long we haven't been competitive," the reigning champion said. "The race was sort of expected that we probably wouldn't make it to the points but then we got pushed out, but at least we managed to get a bit better position for qualifying in Monza."

"I saw Webber coming down the straight behind me then didn't see him go in the inside and I felt a bang from the rear," Schumacher added. "I suspect from that he wasn't really next to me to take the position. I don't know how sensible it was for him to try to overtake like that especially when he was a lap down already."

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• 28 Dec. '08
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