31/03/2004
NEWS STORY
That's the claim being made by British tabloid The Sun today.
It claims that the German, who has won 6 Grands Prix, is on the verge of signing a deal worth a staggering £60m ($110m), which includes performance clauses that could give him an extra £4m a year.
For some time Ralf, whose current contract with WilliamsF1 runs out at the end of this season, has been involved in talks with the Grove outfit, which is simply refusing to meet his financial demands.
Ahead of the January launch of the WilliamsF1 FW26 both parties announced that talks had been put 'on hold' until later in the season, yet both sides continued to feed stories to the media.
Schumacher's manager claimed that the German was on the verge of signing a deal with Renault, a claim quickly denied by the French team, while Frank Williams claimed that Ralf's only option, other than his team, is Toyota.
According to The Sun, a 'source' says: "It looks odds-on that Ralf will be at Toyota next season because there is no way Williams will try and match the offer."
Ignoring the fact that this could qualify for understatement of the year, the source continues, making a comment that some might see as an early April Fool joke: "Ralf is 28 and feels this could be his only chance of joining a team which he can help transform just like Michael has done.
"He has watched the adulation Michael has earned by making Ferrari great and he would like to see if he can do the same with Toyota."
In all reality the deal is almost certain to happen, not because Williams won't match his offer, but simply because they don't feel the need to. In the past they have refused to capitulate to World Champions, therefore Ralf doesn't stand a chance.
With Juan Pablo Montoya already heading to McLaren, Ralf and his manager Willi Weber might have thought that they had Williams by the 'short and curlies' clearly not, while BMW's admission that a German driver wasn't a pre-requisite didn't help Ralf's cause.
The signs are that Mark Webber will be in one of the BMW powered cars next season, though Jenson Button has also been linked with the team, while IRL Champion Scott Dixon's prospects have improved after his impressive showing last week.