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Michael Schumacher says the best thing about his Japanese Grand Prix was not that he won the race, instead it was that his brother Ralf joined him on the podium. The two Schumacher brothers claimed P1 and P2 on the Suzuka grid on Sunday morning and later in the day followed it up with the 1-2 in the race. What made Ralf's performance even more impressive was that the Japanese GP was only his second race since returning to the ****pit of his FW26 after a 12-week layoff. Asked what he most enjoyed about his win in Japan, Michael, the elder of the two brothers, answered: "Easy: the fact that Ralf was on the podium with me." "We asked ourselves when it was that it had last happened as we are not ones for remembering statistics. The only thing that came to mind was the Canada race. Naturally, it is not influential; the important thing is the Ralf is back with us" He added: "He proved to all of us that he has always to be taken into consideration." =============================================== The only thing it proves is that Ralfie needs Big Brother to aid his cause .. simply because he is hopeless [/left] 2 podiums in one season ... when his teammate Montoya scores 2 times more points for the team Coming from Big Brother .... and knowing Ralfie will be moving to Toyota next year ... dun expect much from Ralfie, he is there to make up the numbers and because his surname is Schumacher Just look at his pathetic statistics ... one cannot imagine he is driving a Williams and not a Toyota already in 2004. http://www.planet-f1.com/...ship_table.phtml/pf1

Ralf Schumacher is to leave the Williams-BMW Formula One team and sign for Renault for next season, according to his manager. Willi Weber told Tuesday's edition of Bild newspaper that he and the younger brother of six-time world champion Michael had agreed all the details with Renault supremo Flavio Briatore. "We have agreed every point of the contract with Briatore," said Weber. "The signing of the contract is a mere formality." Ralf, 28, has been unhappy at Williams for a while and even with the impending departure of Colombian team-mate Juan-Pablo Montoya at the end of the season for McLaren - and the expiry of his own contract - he is keen to leave. Schumacher, winner of six races in 116 Grands Prix, had launched a broadside at the team's boss Frank Williams at the end of February over his ongoing contract negotiations. "Even if me and my manager Willi Weber would find it hard to leave behind our friends at BMW, there's a chance it could happen. It would be sad but I can't allow myself to be treated like that by Williams," said Schumacher who finished fourth in the season opening Australian Grand Prix on Sunday. "I'm not frustrated. But I find it hard to understand certain things that have happened these past few months." Schumacher claimed that Williams accused him of only being interested in money. "Frank Williams says I'm nothing but a money-grabber. I can only laugh at that. He knows that I would accept to cut my current salary in half," added Schumacher, who finished fourth in the drivers championship last season. Source AFP