Confident Schumacher not bothered by losing pole

NUERBURGRING, Germany, May 6 (Reuters) Michael Schumacher remained confident he could hand his fans a home victory at the European Grand Prix tomorrow despite losing pole position to Renault rival Fernando Alonso.

Seemingly unperturbed by missing out on a third pole in five races this season, the Ferrari driver said there were plenty of places to overtake on the Nuerburgring and not being first is less of a worry than at the last race in San Marino or Monaco.

''The pole position is not that important. The strategy is,'' Schumacher said after world champion Alonso beat him to win his first pole of the season.

''I think we're going to be very competitive. The open question is who has how much fuel on board?'' Schumacher trails Alonso by 15 points in the championship. The seven times champion held off the title holder's challenge at Imola two weeks ago for his first win of the season but only gained two points on the Spaniard, who finished second.

''I think it's also going to be important to see what is the performance in the race compared to the performance in the qualifying,'' said Schumacher, sounding confident before racing in front of a big crowd near his childhood home town of Kerpen.

IMPROVED STARTS He said his tyre problems have all been sorted out and added that Ferrari has found ways to improve its starts. He said strategy would decide Sunday's race.

''It's true that Renault has a very good starting system, but we have made progress in that area as well,'' said the 37-year-old.

''If I can win the race on Sunday, I can live quite happily without winning the pole.'' Schumacher has won a record 85 races in his career and been on pole 66 times. Alonso, 24, has won 10 races and been on pole 10 times.

The German said he was not surprised that Alonso had managed to squeak in ahead of him at the end of the qualifying. But he admitted he was surprised that his rival had been well off the pace earlier in the session.

''It was more of a surprise to see they were not that quick initially,'' he said. ''I think it should be a good race.'' He dismissed the suggestion that Renault went all out to win pole after the frustration at Imola, where Schumacher held off Alonso's repeated attacks. Schumacher added that his car's problems had been cured.

''I think they tried hard to get the pole in the previous races too, but weren't able to get it,'' he said.

Schumacher said team mate Felipe Massa's third place on the grid, while Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella will start 11th, was another positive sign for his fortunes.

''I'm hopeful Felipe will get into the frame,'' he said.

REUTERS PM KN2210