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So what's it like when you go back home, to this place where it all began? Is it difficult to imagine sometimes that the Schumacher name is now as big as it is? " We dont go home often first of all," says Michael, looking at Ralf. " We live our lives outside Germany, but sometimes we talk with out friends and our parents because it is the only way to keep a perspective. When I go back home, I dont feel like Michael Schumacher. I'm not made to think, 'Who is Michael Schumacher?', I just go out as myself and behave normally. They don't care about Michael Schumacher, the guy eho drives racing car." Ralf says by taking up the theme: " But it's difficult to unwind. Especially this year, where we race one week and then test the next. We could do with a summer holiday! So when I go back home, I just try to enjoy myself. I jet-ski, whatever." Some questions from a Fox Sports Net Slant. What American Sports star do they most respect? Answer: Michael Jordan. What do they expect from Indianapolis? Answer: To give the American people a real understanding of F1. They love America. There is so much space, so much freedom. Do you guys hang out a lot? " If we're in the same part of the world, yes we do" says Michael. "But I live in Switzerland, he lives in Monaco, and we don't have many opportunities. It's not like we spend every day together." "And because you have two kids and five dogs," adds Ralf. " Four dogs" "Oh yeah I forgot. Four dogs." The Schumachers love dogs. Ralf also has two of his own, in addition to the one that Michael rescued from Brazil a few years ago. He laughes, " My wife fell in love with a dog in Brazil, at the race track. They wanted to throw it out and actually they were quite bad to the dog, kicking in and so forth. She got quite upset and fed it and took care of it and, from then on, it was typical love story. He never left her side again! Now he's one of our dogs and lives happily in Switzerland. He's happy dog. We call him Flo, because Flo is like flea and he was covered in flea when we first took him back" How difficult is it not to talk about Ferrari or Williams matters when they are together, away from the F1 world? Ralf speaks first, slightly avoiding the issue:"We talk about racing so much that, as soon as we're home, we enjoy talking about other things, like what we've had for breakfast, what sport we're going to play, and so forth. It's no problem at all." But isn't there a moment, when you're way out in the woods, and you want to know why Michael ran this tyre compound or that diff setting? " Naturally, sometimes here or there we talk about it," continues Ralf, "This happens, but personally, I think that this is surprisingly rare, acutally." " You know, when we're together at home, there are lots of opportunities to do other things," continues Michael. "We do sports, we go training, we go cycling, we play tennis. We are very sports active and this moves us far away from the racing business. Besides, Ralf is godfather of of my eldest daughter, and he could work harder at this, quite honestly" Ralf cracks up. Time to change subject. So who is the fitter? Silence.They both look at each other. And then finally, Michael points to Ralf and says, " He." They both laugh. " I think we're both fit enoughfor what we are doing," says Ralf, again steering the middle course." And it doesn't really matter who's fittest." " It does vary, though" continues Michael, "We both have our own trainers and we have different methods. This year, for example, I'm probably fitter than i have ever been, but I'm training more efficiently. Since the accident, my numbers have actually gone up. I was fit enough for what i had to do, but, this year I'm exeptionally fit, I have to say,because it;s the first time I have had this trainer with me." "Besides you are getting old now." interupts Ralf. " Yeah, I'm getting old, but I'm still getting better," fires back, Michael.
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