10/09/2004
NEWS STORY
Clearly it is the media that is suffering the after effects of Michael Schumacher's test crash last week rather than the German.
At yesterday's press conference the German was asked if the accident had caused him to reconsider his future and perhaps even retire, though similar questions have not been levelled at Jenson Button, Anthony Davidson, Ryan Briscoe or any of the other drivers who have crashed heavily in recent weeks.
"Any crash is too much and you don't want it," said the seven-time world champion, "but it's part of the game.
"It's not about being tough or not," he continued. "First of all it is about doing everything possible to make your survival cell in a way as safe and as comfortable as possible and I spend a lot of effort doing this, together with the team."
Schumacher's Monza crash was down to tyre failure and came days after three high-profile failures at Spa. The German was asked if he was concerned at this spate of failures.
"I am not worried for what happened here at Monza," he said, "but naturally I am worried about what happened in Spa. I believe, from a GPDA point of view, it is pretty clear what we would like to ask but it is nothing we would want to discuss publicly, but in the end it is up to the FIA to sort of take consequences and we will find out what they think about this."
Following the incidents at Spa, and of course his own brother's accident at Indianapolis, Schumacher was asked if he though in such circumstances races should be stopped while the track is cleared properly rather than continuing behind the safety car.
"The problem is if you take one decision in that direction it might have other consequences," he replied, "and we have learned very often to make quick change and immediate change is not wise unless you have studied correctly so I would never want to enter into suggestions which are not carefully thought through.
"We have regular meetings after the drivers' briefing where we drivers discuss what we think are the topics and the issues and we have a very good dialogue with the FIA in that sense because we have a lot of trust and belief in each other and that is what moves things forward, not what you try to distribute around with maybe unnecessary comments.