Schumacher in low-key mood

   Copyright c 1998 Nando Media
   Copyright c 1998 Reuters

TOKYO (Oct 28, 1998 - 12:26 EST) - Michael Schumacher is taking a low-key
approach to the Japanese Grand Prix, confident he can win his showdown with
Mika Hakkinen for the Formula One world drivers' championship.

Finland's Hakkinen leads Schumacher by four points but the German former
champion says he is not worried by the build-up and hype to Sunday's race
-- the last of the season which will decide the title.

Hakkinen has appearing at news conferences and fulfilling media obligations
while his rival for the drivers' crown has been sleeping heavily.

Schumacher has been through it all before. He knows what lies ahead. And he
is sure, just like Hakkinen, that he has done all he can to lift his third
title.

"I have been getting a lot more sleep than usual and just taking it
really easy," he said, during a moment of informal chat in the lobby
of the New Otani hotel in central Tokyo. "I am just staying low-key
for now.

"I feel good. I usually don't sleep well in Japan, for the first few
days, but since I came here on Monday, I have been sleeping well. I feel
great."

Last year, Schumacher was anything but relaxed during the European Grand
Prix at Jerez in Spain where his bid to win a third world title following
his successes in 1994 and 1995 propelled him into a collision that ended
with worldwide scorn and shame heaped upon him.

"That was a bad moment for me," he admitted. "But I don't
feel it has added to the pressure on me. Sure, I am four points behind and
that is obviously a disadvantage for this race, but I am not feeling
pressure because of that. Or anything else.

"Last year, I was criticised because I made a mistake. I am realistic
enough to accept that and to say that I failed and to know why I did. But
all the people who know me will say that I am not the sort of guy who goes
out and makes the same mistake twice. I rarely do that."

Schumacher has talked recently about a feeling inside him that he is about
to win his third world championship and his relaxed demeanour in Tokyo on
Wednesday did nothing to contradict this idea.

Only two weeks ago, he was quoted saying, during one of Ferrari's series of
tests at Mugello in Italy, that there is a "feeling inside me that
tells me I am going to be champion. There is just something there that
tells me I will win it. I don't know why.

"I am not normally that optimistic. But this is different and I feel
very confident now."

He has also revealed in the last few weeks that the incessant criticism of
the European media did, at one stage, make him consider his future in motor
racing.

But, he said, he rejected the idea of walking away because he enjoys it too
much and it provides him with such a fabulous lifestyle.

"I would be very stupid to give up the best thing I love to do just
because of something like that," he said. "I think I have a good
technique for deciding what is bull and what is fair criticism."

Schumacher said he plans to travel to Suzuka with his brother Ralf and
their management team on Thursday morning, well in advance of a scheduled
pre-race news conference later that day.

"That is when the work starts and that is when I have to be
ready," he said. "Until then, I can just relax and prepare
carefully."

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