Michael Schumacher’s quest for a third straight grand prix victory got off to a winning start, with the local driver leading his amateur soccer team to victory on Wednesday at the Carl Benz stadium in Mannheim.
Ferrari star Schumacher, who is 17 points behind Fernando Alonso in the 2006 drivers’ chase, oversaw a 9:7 win in a penalty shootout after the final-time score was 6:6.
15,000 spectators had gathered in the stadium, where 37-year-old Schumacher scored in the sixty-eighth minute.
He also fired-in a penalty.
Renault’s Alonso, though, also has an extra reason to shoot for Hockenheim victory, as he turns 25 on Saturday.
”I know how fast he is,” Niki Lauda told ‘Kicker’ magazine, referring to the Spaniard, ”because when I ran the Jaguar team (in 2002) I tested him.
”The two of them are equally good as drivers, but Michael is perhaps a breath more motivated.”
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