Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, going for his third straight victory on Sunday, is hoping Michael Schumacher's former invincibility at the Nuerburgring in Germany will rub off on him.
Schumacher, who left Ferrari last year to be replaced by Raikkonen, won at the German track six times in his career. The Finn on the other hand has never had much luck there and has twice had to pull out while in the lead.
"I like winning all races but I'd especially like to do it in front of Michael Schumacher's home crowd," he said as preparations began for Sunday's European Grand Prix.
In earlier comments published on his website, the Ferrari driver talked about his bad luck at German circuits in the past.
"Something always happened to stop me from winning. Never mind what we did, at the end of the day Michael's red car was there to take the chequered flag first".
Raikkonen is currently third in the drivers' standings, 18 points behind McLaren's Lewis Hamilton and two behind the Brit's Spanish team-mate Fernando Alonso.
After wins in France and England, the 'Ice Man' is the favourite to take the honours again at the European Grand Prix on Sunday.
If he does, it will be a double blow for his former team McLaren-Mercedes, who will have lost on both their British and German 'home' tracks.
Raikkonen said that after recent tests at Spa-Francorchamps his Ferrari F2007 car felt even better than at Silverstone. "With the improvement the team has made over the last two races, I expect to be very competitive," he said.
SPYING SCANDAL.
A win by Raikkonen or team-mate Felipe Massa, who is a point behind him in the standings, would add to McLaren's woes at a time when it is already at the centre of a controversy over spying.
The McLaren team faces a hearing in front of F1 authorities next week to answer charges of illegally holding secret information about Ferrari cars.
If the team is found guilty, it could have some of its championship points docked or even be ejected from the championship.
McLaren has suspended chief designer Mike Coughlan, who has been identified by the press as having received the documentation from ex-Ferrari chief mechanic Nigel Stepney.
It insists that none of the information found in Coughlan's possession was used on the McLaren cars.
Italian prosecutors investigating the case on Thursday initiated procedures for the examination of telephone cards formerly used by Stepney before he was fired by Ferrari earlier this month.
