Schumacher insists Canada retirement has not dimmed his faith in Mercedes

With the exception of Barcelona, where he crashed into the rear of Bruno Senna's Williams, Schumacher's four other retirements have all been caused by technical problems - the latest coming when his DRS stuck open at Canada, for which team boss Ross Brawn later apologised to the seven-time champion.

That lack of reliability has left Schumacher languishing in 18th in the 2012 world championship, having scored just two points, 65 fewer than team-mate Nico Rosberg.

The German says he understands problems can arise during a season, and insists his recent retirements have done nothing to dim his faith in Mercedes.

"I wanted to emphasise once again that Formula 1 cars are prototype vehicles and hundreds of components are made specially [sic] for them. For me, it's completely understandable that things can go wrong from time to time," Schumacher explained on his personal website.

"Of course it was a disappointing outcome in Montreal. But I won't lose my nerve or my faith in the team. I still believe that we will achieve something special together with Mercedes."

Schumacher said he was not looking to apportion any blame, and had immediately sat down with his engineers to see how future issues could be best avoided.

"There is no reason to blame anyone - unfortunate circumstances like these are part of motor racing. Indeed, I'm certain it's even tougher for the guys in the team.

"That's why I sat down with my race engineers immediately after my retirement, to discuss how we should approach the time before the next race and to make sure we stay in close contact over the coming days."