SCHU CONFIDENT OF RETURN TO FORM
Last Updated: Monday, 02, January, 2006, 12:28
Michael Schumacher believes plans for him and Ferrari to retake the world titles they lost to Fernando Alonso and Renault are shaping up nicely.
In his new year message on his official website, the German claimed that the mid-December test at Jerez had boosted his confidence for the 2006 season.
"It's not looking too bad, to phrase it carefully," said Schumacher.
"Or, to phrase it a little less careful: there are many things pointing in a good direction.
"I was quite satisfied during testing at Jerez, even though it is of course way too soon to predict anything, because the configuration of the cars was not comparable.
"But the two most important new rules for next season shouldn't put us at a disadvantage."
The seven-time champion endured his worst season as a Ferrari driver in 2005 and admitted that he had derived more pleasure from tested the new V8 engine than racing uncompetitively in the second half of the season.
"The best moments on the track for me in a long time were the tests at Jerez just before Christmas - at last I was able to feel content when I got out of the car afterwards," he confessed.
"During the past season, and especially the last few races, that wasn't the case, as everyone knows.
"Our taking third place in the drivers' as well as the constructors' championship was - and I would like to quote our president Luca di Montezemolo's words from the Christmas party - "a miracle".
"It's just that I would rather not wait for miracles..."
Schumacher added that while the new regulations, which include a return to mid-race tyre stops, played into the hands of teams like Ferrari, they wouldn't be enough to recover the ground the team lost in 2005.
But the work going on behind the scenes at Maranello has convinced the German that his team is back on the right path.
"We have to make sure of our own performance, and that's what we've been working on for a while," he said.
"That was one of the reasons why I felt so good when I flew home after those two days of testing at Jerez, because I saw that the whole team has set their mind to it.
"We're all on the same page: we want to play a major role in the fight for the title next year."
http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?PO_ID=34783
SCHU CONFIDENT OF RETURN TO FO
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