Schumacher calm and determined

Michael Schumacher is staying calm and determined despite Ferrari's painful fall from grace, and who would expect anything else from a seven-time champion? The German will finally, after a five year run of consecutive titles, have to hand over his crown this season. But Schumacher, despite the team's struggles, is fighting on.

Michael Schumacher.

Photo by xpb.cc.

"I can think of no reason why our situation cannot drastically turn around," he said. It might perhaps seem an overly optimistic statement -- Ferrari's poor performance this year is as mystifying as the Scuderia's seeming inability to do anything about it. Schumacher, however, remains serene and positive.

"I am a realist, plain and simple," he stated. "I also think that our strength comes from our being calm. There is no need to try to change things in a short space of time. We should not let outside factors affect negatively how we act. We will see on the track on Friday how things go in Brazil".

As F1 heads towards the end of the season all eyes are on title rivals Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen. No matter what Raikkonen does, Alonso just needs to get on the podium at Interlagos to become the youngest ever world champion. Schumacher is convinced the Spaniard will do it sooner or later.

"The situation is a bit like it was in 2003 when I went into the last race with nine points more than Kimi and it was sort of very academic to lose the championship," said Michael, according to Autosport. "It got very close in the end, but I didn't expect it to happen then, and I don't expect it to happen now to Fernando -- I'm pretty sure he'll do it."

Alonso claims not to be nervous about his possibly impending championship -- God only knows how he can't be, I'm nervous as hell! "No, I'm not," the unfeasibly calm youngster said when asked if he was nervous. "For sure, I am quite close now to the championship, but I approach this race (Brazil) like any other."

Revive me with whisky when it's all over…