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Pit Stop

Toyota

Poor old Ralf Schumacher. When it comes to sibling rivalry he gets the rough end of the stick. I'm sure there are things he does better than his big brother, but motor racing isn't one of them. One can only imagine the mental toughness needed to cope with watching Michael winning all those championships while you don't.

At last this year there is no Schumacher senior on the grid (normally several places in front too). You would have thought that this would have been Ralf's chance to shine. But instead of it being 'the moment', this season is turning into a stinker for the German. There are rumours that he may not last the whole year at Toyota. Considering the form of Toyota, things must be bad.

It's not that Ralf has been a bad driver. In a career that has spanned 10 years and the best part of 170 races, he's won six times and chalked up six pole positions. But his best season was some years back and currently he couldn't drive his way out of a paper bag.

At Monaco he was so far off the pace (two laps behind the leader) that Toyota's top brass were mystified. There's been a lot of talk in the team of improving Ralf's confidence, something that surely shouldn't even be a consideration in someone so experienced. Toyota's vice-chairman has vented his frustration, saying he can't make Ralf go faster. Tadashi Yamashina was quoted as saying 'the combination of our driver's mindset and spirit, and the set-up of our car, has not combined been well'.

Not the best thing to hear from your boss when your contract is up for renewal. Indeed, so great is the crisis at Toyota that there are persistent reports that Ralf will be replaced midway through the season with the Spyker driver Adrian Sutil.

So why the tailspin in form?

There are those who would suggest he's never been the real deal. Critics point out his over-aggressive driving won him the nickname 'shuntmaker'. His temperament has also been the subject of scrutiny. At Williams, his battle with teammate Juan Pablo Montoya seemed to be counterproductive to results.

Those who know the Schumachers say Ralf is the more amenable of the two brothers. While that may be a good thing over a glass of wine, in a racing car you need a well-honed sense of ruthlessness and selfishness.

It's fair to say that Ralf has also experienced his fair share of plain bad luck. He joined Williams when they were starting to slip from the top echelons of F1. His switch to Toyota found a team even more at sea. In 2003, when he seemed a real title contender, a crash in testing ruled him out of crucial races. At his comeback race, the US GP, another smash further dashed his hopes. His crash in America a year later was even more serious.

If you want more proof of Ralf's lack of luck, look no further than Montreal where he had to take evasive action during practice to avoid a groundhog.

Yet true champions bounce back from such misfortunes and show mental strength that Ralf may lack. His brother did after a broken leg robbed him of the title in 1999. Michael was able to pull Ferrari up by their bootstraps to become the dominant team. The small matter of US$2 million a race should also motivate Ralf.

Perhaps a comment earlier in the season sums up Ralf's state of mind and why he is in danger of losing his F1 seat. Asked if it was weird not to be competing against his brother this year, he replied that he hadn't really competed against him for the past five years.

Imagine sitting down to Christmas lunch knowing not only that your family around the table knows you are second best to your brother, but virtually the whole world is in on the conversation.

It's got to be tough to live in Ralf's world, no matter how big the pay packet.

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