Schumacher starts to get himself out of a corner

Michael Schumacher might be feeling a bit emotionally and psychologically bruised after a string of tough races which have dramati-cally eroded his lead in the World Championship, but yesterday he bounced back to take a decisive pole position for a Hungarian GP that will be crucial to his campaign.

Michael Schumacher might be feeling a bit emotionally and psychologically bruised after a string of tough races which have dramati-cally eroded his lead in the World Championship, but yesterday he bounced back to take a decisive pole position for a Hungarian GP that will be crucial to his campaign.

The Hungaroring, 20 kilometres outside Budapest, has twice yielded its prize to the German, and he needs another win to keep his title hopes on track. Equalling the legendary Juan Manuel Fangio's score of 28 pole positions was as good a way as any to show that his misfortune has not psyched him out.

"I would have preferred it to have been won by now... certainly by us, anyway," Ferrari's technical director, Ross Brawn, said. "We have been through a very difficult period with Michael, who has scored only 10 points in the last five races. That is not the level of scoring you need to win a World Championship, and we have to get ourselves out of that trough. I am sure we will."

Brawn said that he did not expect Schumacher to change his style in the wake of recent criticism of his tactics, particularly when leaving the start line. "Two of the things which have happened were car failures and not his fault at all. The incident at Hockenheim with Giancarlo Fisi-chella was unfortunate, although I don't think anyone was 100 per cent to blame for that. Michael moved across, and though he didn't hit Giancarlo, he put him in a very difficult position. But a change of style, I think, would be a mistake."

Not to mention uncharacteristic. Schumacher, to his credit, has never been a percentage player. He knows only one way to drive, and he has reminded people of that all weekend.

"We came here confident and I hope we will leave here tomorrow with the same confidence," he said. "My first target is to finish, and then we are in a good position to win."

He could also do with a decent, controversy-free result to damp down all the criticism which has dogged him since Imola, where he put brother Ralf on to the grass by weaving violently at the start.

"Some people made a point of his starting technique and I can under-stand that," Brawn conceded. "Having said that, it is something that is acceptable to the FIA, who are the judge of these things. I think the level of criticism is starting to become vindictive. Michael's critics now have a different agenda; they are not trying to stop him doing what he does at the starts, they have a different objective."

Jacques Villeneuve, one of the chief critics of Schumacher's start-line etiquette, has always made his feelings clear. "It's nothing against one person," he said. "After the last race I said that David's [Coulthard] start was not acceptable either, but the reason that he did it was to show what he meant about previous races. Michael always seems be in the middle of these things, so people seem to think it's a war against him. It's not. If everyone thinks David's start was acceptable, they are all gonna do that, and they'll be more cars going off in the first corner.

"It's difficult to have a solution. Once you have a very strict regulation some will be punished and some will get away with what they've done. It should be left to the drivers, your personality and the way you comport yourself."

But Villeneuve will not be a factor at the start of this race, after qualifying only 16th. The sharp end of the grid sees Schumacher and Coulthard sharing the front row, with Mika Hakkinen and Ralf Schumacher next up ahead of Rubens Barrichello and Heinz-Harald Frentzen. Fisichella shares the fourth row with Jenson Button, eighth quickest on his first acquaintance with the track.

The order into the first corner here is, given reliability, very often the order after 77 laps. Overtaking is even harder than usual. So the start - and the tactics deployed during it - will be more crucial than ever. Villeneuve does not believe the regulation which permits dramatic directional changes will be changed "until 12 cars are off at the first corner..." It could happen here.

Starting is Schumacher's Ach-illes heel, which is half the reason for his defensive moves. "Getting it right is a fine edge," he said. "Qualifying is one thing, but the race is another, and I want to get a good result." But to finish first, first you have to finish.