Transcript of Race of Champions press conference with Michael Schumacher held at the Stade de France, 13:00 pm, Saturday December 4th 2004:Roc: Michael, first of all welcome. You've only just joined us here at theStade de France. You've already taken full advantage of your test timearound the track. Talk us through it. What were the various cars like?

Michael Schumacher: "First of all, what we are doing here is quiteinteresting for us drivers. I have never competed before with rally driversand my competitors in the same car. It's a very much fun event and I amlooking forward to. It's quite a lot of fun out there. The circuit is niceto drive. Quite entertaining jumps to see, I believe. I mean all of us havea big smile on our face. That's the good thing about it."

RoC: What was the different technique with the different cars you aredriving? Talk us through the practical problems you had to overcome to takein the track so quickly with different cars

M. S.: "Well, I only did two laps in the Ferrari. I don't think I have thehang of it yet. I need a bit of practice to get on that one because it's fartrickier to drive; it's heavy and not made for this type of track. The buggy[ROC Car] is obviously a fun car for here, the right car for this type ofcircuit. The other point was that on the Ferrari the tyres were cold. So Ithink that when the tyres are warm, these cars can be driven differently,and then they should be fun too."

RoC: You seemed to be a popular choice yesterday when we asked the otherdrivers who they would be keen to compete against this weekend. Do you feelunder any pressure?

M. S.: "As I said, it's a fun event and I just arrived this morning fromAmerica. I am therefore less interested being perfectly prepared for thisone because I don't see it as so serious, although when I'm out there I willobviously give it my best and we will see whether that's good enough. I'mpretty sure that those rally guys are going to kick ourŠ back parts."

RoC: Will you try and win though?

M. S.: "Have you seen a race driver when you give him a steering wheel hedoesn't give his best. I haven't. I think I'm a race driver too.!"

RoC: It's a nice treat for us to see you outside Formula 1. Give us the realreasons for coming and doing thisŠ

M. S.: "There are several reasons. The main thing is to have fun and enjoymyself. But there is another very important reason which is called ICM.That's why I am here because we have been able to achieve quite a lot ofpublicity and we should be able to receive quite a lot of money for the ICMinstitution project. They are the two main reasons that brought me here."

RoC: Would you like to just explain exactly what the ICM is?

M.S.: "ICM is about research into brain and spinal cord disorders. It hasbeen calculated that one person in ten is affected. We're creating aninstitution to research the reasons for the disorder and then to look atfinding a possibility to cure it. We have three doctors involved in thisproject who are all highly knowledgeable in this domain and we expect a lotof success for the future. We are very close to doing all this but itobviously needs a certain amount of financing and that's what we're herelooking for."

RoC: David Coulthard said yesterday that he thought events like this weredefinitely the future that motor sport, that the sport should perhaps try alittle bit harder to bring itself to the people. Like other sports. Likefootball, basketballŠ Do you agree we should have more events like this inthe middle of cities?

M. S.: "I think we should have, as you said, a certain number of events.That's quite fair to say. If you do too many, they don't become specialanymore. You also can't do too many because most of us are quite busy andcouldn't accept too many of them. So I think the way we do it, to do it in alimited number, would attract a lot of people. They're going to be able toget very close, they are going to see us from a different angle because whenyou do a race weekend in F1 you're always so serious and so concentrated.That doesn't leave much space to see who is the person behind. In theseevents, everything is a bit easier and you should see a little bit moreabout the personal side.

RoC: We're expecting close to 60,000 people tonight. You're going to be morelike a rock star than a racing driver in terms of atmosphereŠ

M. S.: "For sure, it's going to be a great atmosphere. The stadiumatmosphere is not exactly what we have [in F1] but we're obviously prettyused to the numbers of people. Here is a completely different event, I'mpretty sure they'll find some good ways to ensure a great atmosphere withthe public in addition to our driving part. The experience here should bevery different for all of us."The 2004 Race of Champions ­ Nations Cup supports ICM (The Institute forBrain and Spinal cord Disorders) and ADREC (The Association for theDevelopment of Research on the Brain and Spinal cord Disorders)icm-institute.org