No rest for Schumacher

There's no rest for Michael Schumacher: just a couple of days after taking victory at Indianapolis the German will be back on track testing at Jerez. Schumacher and Ferrari were invincible in America, scoring the team's first one-two of the season with Felipe Massa in second place. But there's no sitting back and relaxing.

Michael Schumacher.

Photo by xpb.cc.

"This is how things should be; we have to continue working," said Schumacher, who is scheduled to be testing for two days at the Spanish circuit of Jerez de la Frontera. "We are heading in the right direction."

"It was clear from the Friday that things would have gone well and in Saturday's qualifying we had a big advantage over our adversaries," the seven time title holder added. "The gap in the world championship is down by six after (Sunday's) win. Our aim was to make up ground on the leader and this is what we have done."

The gap between Renault's standings' leader Fernando Alonso and second-placed Schumacher is now down to 19 points. Alonso suffered at Indianapolis and was only sixth until Ralf Schumacher's Toyota dropped out, promoting the Spaniard to fifth and one extra point.

Schumacher has never given up on the title fight, despite the fact that Alonso and Renault have been impressively strong this season, at least until Indy. "There was never any reason to give up," Schumacher remarked. "On the contrary, our display at Indianapolis was encouraging."

"We want to show what we are capable of. We should not forget that there are eight races left and there is still time to bridge the gap. We will try to do this and see how things turn out. Our aim, as ever, is to be world champions."

While the back-to-back races in North America occupied the F1 fans recently, there's also been the little matter of the World Cup football. Massa was disappointed when Brazil was put out by France but Ferrari now has the split allegiance of Germany against Italy in the semi-final.

"I have tickets for the final in Berlin and it would be even better if Germany were to make it," said Schumacher. "I have my fingers crossed. Despite the fact that I race for Ferrari and that I have many friends in the squad, the German football team really gets me going. The guys can do it, I am sure. I cannot wait for the match in Berlin!"