Back Row No Obstacle For Schumi

Michael Schumacher overcame the disappointment of being forced to start on the back row of the grid in Japan by storming through the field in the opening laps.


The German, who was forced to relinquish his pole position by stalling at the second start, made up four places by the first corner, and another four by the time the field reached the Degner Curves. Rubens Barrichello was added to the tally before the end of the lap, and by the fourth tour, Schumacher had passed more than half the grid and latched onto the battle for fifth involving past champions Jacques Villeneuve and Damon Hill.


(The first couple of laps were fun,) said a disappointed Michael later, (All the other drivers were very fair and didn't try to make life difficult for me. Damon wasn't easy to overtake, but he was perfectly fair.)


The German's opening lap could well find itself being compared with Ayrton Senna's at Donington Park in 1993, but Schumacher will probably not choose to remember much else about a weekend in which his title aspirations disappeared for another year.