The US Grand Prix may be just the tonic Michael Schumacher is looking for.
The seven-time Formula One champion has either started from pole position or won the race every year the USGP has been run at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He's won it three times and finished second the other two. In 2002, he slowed on the last lap and let his Ferrari teammate, Rubens Barrichello, pass him for the victory to gain points in the series championship.
No wonder he's not accustomed to the struggles he's been experiencing this season.
"There are phases like this that are not so successful, but we have been so successful that I think it's pretty normal," he said Thursday, the day before the start of practice. "As long as you're competitive ... I'm pretty happy to go through this as we make our way up to the front again, and we'll be there."
The 36-year-old German has won a record 83 races, including 13 of 18 starts last year, but he and Barrichello are winless this season heading into the USGP on Sunday.
Schumacher was second in the Canadian Grand Prix at Montreal last week, matching his best finish this year, but has failed to finish three times and is fifth in the points, trailing Renault's Fernando Alonso, McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen, Toyota's Jarno Trulli and Williams' Nick Heidfeld.
Schumacher has won the series championship each year since 1999, when he was fifth.
new rules
"The point is, the development rate of Formula One is extremely quick," he said.
"We had quite an advantage last year. There's been rule changes, which sort of re-zeroed things, and quite frankly we, as a whole package, probably didn't do as good a job as we did last year. The other teams have done a very good job, which leveled out the situation."
Barrichello is seventh in points, with his best finish second in the opener at Australia.
Another struggling driver is McLaren's Juan Pablo Montoya, a former winner of the Indianapolis 500 who has never finished better than fourth in four USGP starts on the Speedway's reconfigured road course. Montoya missed two races this season with a shoulder injury and has not won since the Brazilian Grand Prix last year.
red light,
green light
He was leading the race at Montreal last week, but was disqualified after he drove through a red stop light coming out of the pits following a miscommunication with his team.
"I saw the red light and I said [on the radio], `Do we come in or not?'" Montoya said. "I don't think they heard me. I decided to go through it. It was my mistake in a way."
McLaren boss Ron Dennis said the team should have brought Montoya in with Raikkonen, but Montoya misread the pit signs.
Dennis lobbied in vain for a drive-through penalty rather than outright disqualification, but by that time, Montoya's chance for victory already was lost.
"I thought it was very harsh, to be honest," Montoya said. "But I'm over it."
Raikkonen went on to win the race, his third victory of the season, and pulled within 22 points of Alonso after eight races this season.
Alonso has never finished better than 15th in three previous races at Indianapolis. Last year, he managed only eight laps before he crashed.
"Always in Indianapolis, I never finish the race," he said. "So I hope this year to break this thing.
"We have a fantastic car this season and we were able to fight for the podium in all the races, in fact. To finish in the podium or to finish the race for me will be a big, big pleasure.
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