Brusque Schumacher rues 'slow' Ferrari

'I am definitely not pleased, no'

A brusque Michael Schumacher neither minced his words nor masked his malcontent after qualifying out of the top ten in Australia. “We were just too slow,” the Ferrari driver told a squad of reporters in the paddock. “We had two attempts (at a quick lap) and on both we were not fast enough. I am definitely not pleased, no.” Asked what the problem was, the ace German ruffled his brow and said: “If we knew, we would do something about it. Things did not unfold for us perfectly, but basically we were not fast.” It was a bad day all round for the Italian team. Team-mate Felipe Massa put his 248 F1 into the tyre barriers, while Schumacher threw debris down pitlane after mechanics forgot to remove a big cooling fan from his brake ducts.

Michael explained: “You have to realise how hectic it is in a garage - particularly with situations like the red flags. So, it can happen.” Schumacher baulked when he was asked what could be done about his poor starting position in terms of race strategy. “No idea,” the German said. “At the moment we are not fast enough, so - first - we have to look into why.”