Berlin: Formula One driver Ralf Schumacher threatened to leave BMW Williams, unhappy with contract negotiations.

“Maybe it’ll come to that. That would be sad but I can’t let them pull my leg,” Schumacher told the weekly Bild Am Sonntag. “I don’t have any understanding for some of the things that have happened in the past few months,” he pointed out.

Schumacher’s contract with one of F1’s top stables is up for re-negotiation in April, and the German driver said he believed he had a verbal agreement with team boss Frank Williams to stay.

The two men struck a deal at last season’s final race in Japan, said Schumacher, younger brother of Ferrari world champion Michael Schumacher.

“When someone agrees to something and seals it with a handshake, then I assume it won’t be broken afterwards,” Schumacher said. “He took back his offer — that’s the truth and that shouldn’t happen.”

But Schumacher believes he’s in a position of strength, and the team needs him since Juan Pablo Montoya is jumping to McLaren for the 2005 season.

“I think Williams is under pressure in the negotiations, a lot of pressure in fact,” Schumacher added. “If they lose their second driver after Montoya for 2005, they’ve got a problem.”