 | US GRAND PRIX 1 M Schumacher (Ferrari)
2 R Barrichello (Ferrari)
3 T Sato (BAR)
4 J Trulli (Renault)
5 O Panis (Toyota)
6 K Raikkonen (McLaren)
7 D Coulthard (McLaren)
8 Z Baumgartner (Minardi) |
Michael Schumacher was relieved to find out that his brother Ralf was unhurt in his dramatic US Grand Prix crash. "The worst thing was seeing Ralf in the car for so long," Michael Schumacher said after winning the race.
"I was told over the radio that he was OK, but I have heard these kind of things before in the past and it has not been the case.
"But I later learned that everything was all right and at the end of this race that's all that matters."
Schumacher described how he realised it was his brother who had had the accident and not the other Williams-BMW driver Juan Pablo Montoya.
"I knew Juan was behind, the safety car came out and then I saw a BMW sitting there," the world champion said.
"I thought 'Oh please, not anything bad!' It is one of the toughest situations I have been through in my Formula One career.
|  They kept telling me that everything was looking all right, but I have heard this many times in the past and it has turned out differently |
"We had a similar situation in Monza [testing last year] when he had an accident. There it wasn't so clear what was happening to him. "I was in the garage. The test was basically finished and in the last two minutes I heard he had had an accident.
"So I went to see him in the medical centre and I was shocked because he wasn't in a very good condition at that stage.
"Knowing what had happened in Monza, it was a big concern.
"But I was constantly in contact with the team. I was asking questions 'What's going on?' and 'Why is he still sitting there?' I was concerned.
"They kept telling me things weren't looking too bad and that everything was looking all right, but I have heard this many times in the past and it has turned out differently.
"But then the team were telling me he was trying to get out of the car by himself, and they (the doctors) stopped him. They wanted him to stay. They were taking extra careful steps.
"I think it was right to do so, but that was obviously a good message that he wanted to get out himself. After that I was less concerned.
"In a way it was tough to keep my concentration. It was obviously needed running behind the safety car.
"But if it had been in the race properly, then it wouldn't have been possible for me."
MMIX
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