Wednesday in Melbourne is traditionally a time for drivers to get involved in various publicity stunts and for Michael Schumacher that involved playing Seven a Side Rugby with members of Australia's famous Wallabee team. Today however, it was business as usual as the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro man faced the media at the back of the team garage in the Albert Park paddock. Asked why the race in Malaysia had not gone as well as the opening round in Bahrain, the German felt that the second race did not produce a clear picture. "It's true that we looked better in Bahrain," he agreed. "But we have to ask ourselves how good was the car in that Malaysian race given that I started ten places down on the grid and Felipe was right at the back."

The media had made much of the fact that Massa finished ahead of Schumacher a fortnight ago in Sepang, but the seven times world champion did not share their fascination with this situation. "Felipe had a good race and was quick," commented Michael. "That is no surprise to me as he was quick all through winter testing. I did not have an ideal run in terms of traffic, so if you read the race correctly it was no surprise." And what about this weekend? "It is not impossible that we could take our first win here," he said. "We are certainly quite happy with where we are compared to the others at the moment and we believe in the strength of our development programme. In terms of reliability, we were concerned about our engine in Malaysia which is why we changed it, but it turns out it was not really necessary so we have no concerns in that area at the moment."

Like most of the people in Formula 1, Schumacher enjoys his annual visit to Australia. "Melbourne is always one of the highlights of the season, in terms of the interest surrounding the race in the city and the amount of fans that turn up," he said. "It's been like this every year and it's down to the fact the race takes place right in the heart of the town." And a final thought about this soccer-mad driver's introduction to the game of Rugby. "It was good fun and the guys I played with were jolly good fellows. I understand a lot more about this game now which I really knew little about before. Luckily, we did not go for the tough stuff, sticking to playing "touch" Rugby."
 

Meanwhile, sporting the tan he acquired in Bali, where he holidayed before coming to Australia at the start of the week, Felipe Massa met the media and the first topic was family, both biological and social. "I like having my family with me at the races," began the Brazilian. "They give me a lot of support, although this weekend, they are not here as they have returned to Brazil. But I have another family as Ferrari is definitely like a big family and I feel very comfortable inside the team. In 2003 I was a test driver here so I know everyone very well now. I am still the same guy, except that I have a lot more experience and know how to behave as a driver at the track and also outside the race track."

To continue the family analogy, the press made the point to Felipe that he is the youngest member of the Ferrari family and has yet to make his mark. "All I can do is to try my best all the time," he replied. "With every test session and every race, I am getting a better insight about these people I work with. I am still in what I consider to be at the start of my career."

After what started out as a very difficult weekend, the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro driver put in a very strong showing in the last round in Malaysia. "It was great," he recalled. "I had a good race, starting from the back and making up a lot of positions. I enjoyed my fight with Michael. We pushed each other quite hard in the last ten laps. For me it was a great result and a great achievement. I hope we can continue fighting one another in this clean way throughout the season. We pushed each other to the limit and that was very good. I have always had a good relationship with Michael and he is very nice towards me. We always talk a lot together about the set up of the car and the tyres. I think that is really good for the team as it helps us to improve and work in the right direction."