Ferrari Mailing List: Fwd: I'll do it for Ferrari, insists Schumacher

[red5hilser (red5hilser]

 Interesting .
 
 
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Subject: I'll do it for Ferrari, insists Schumacher


Michael Schumacher has turned his sights on giving his Ferrari team one last 
gift by steering them to the 2006 Formula One constructors' championship, with 
his chances of claiming a record-breaking eighth drivers' title almost gone. 
 
Schumacher, who retires at the end of the season, trails world champion 
Fernando Alonso by 10 points with only the Brazilian Grand Prix remaining in 
the 18-race season after an engine failure saw him fail to finish Sunday's 
Japanese Grand Prix. 
 
Schumacher is aiming on paying tribute to a team that has helped him win five 
of his seven world titles.
 
"We have won so much together and in the end what we did this year, there was 
such a lot of great work and to lose it now, I think that's part of life and I 
can really live with it," said the German legend.
 
"I can live with it very well. I just love everybody in the garage because I 
know everybody has tried their best, their maximum and I don't see it as 
anyone's fault, it's just a matter of circumstance and it's life.
 
"I'm really thinking now about the constructors' championship and we have nine 
points to make up and I think that can be done. At least we will try our best 
but there is no reason to be too disappointed after what we have achieved this 
year.
 
"Look back at what we have done over the years, I think it's great. I have no 
hard feelings. That's what life is and this is what makes life sweet, winning 
and also losing sometimes.
 
"Maybe we were not supposed to win the last race (in China) and we won it and 
maybe today we thought we should have won and we didn't."
 
Schumacher's engine failure in Japan was his first in a Ferrari since the 
French Grand Prix in 2000 and it was a rare failing for a team that has been in 
imperious form in the second half of the season.
 
Before Japan, Ferrari had won six of the previous seven races, with Schumacher 
claiming five and team-mate Felipe Massa capturing his first race win in Turkey.
 
That run of form saw Schumacher's championship chances revived after a poor 
first half of the season. Following Alonso's win at the Canadian Grand Prix the 
German's chances were being written off.
 
"You can only say that life consists of ups and downs and we have done so many 
great things together," he said.
 
"We have had so many ups, especially those guys in the garage and after Canada 
nobody believed in the championship and we still kept it open until more or 
less the last moment, and I think you can be proud of this.
 
"We brought back to life a championships that seemed to be over already, so 
what we achieved by coming back we can be proud of. "And we can proud of what 
we have done in the past and also this year and maybe you can argue there's a 
tiny piece of hope remaining, but I don't want to hold on to that hope because 
I don't want to win a championship like this."
 
Brazil will be Schumacher's 250th and final grand prix and, despite the bitter 
taste left by Sunday's failure, he remains in love with the sport that has made 
him a global superstar.
 
"Retirements are part of Formula One, as are victories," he said. "I really 
don't hate this sport at all, even on days like this because situations like 
this are simply racing.
 
"You try everything and everybody is giving his best and you should not forget 
that this is a championship made out of prototypes and we are all aware of this 
so we all know those things can happen.
 
"I cannot blame anybody for this. It's really the opposite. We improved over 
this year. Look what we have done since the summer, so I have no bitter 
feelings about what happened. I'm really happy with what we have achieved.
 
"Life is about ups and downs and that makes it interesting. How boring would 
life be if it was nice all the time? That would really be boring." 
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