Michael Schumacher: No 2013 Formula 1 decision before October

The seven-time champion and his Mercedes team are weighing up whether they wish to continue beyond his current deal, which runs out at the end of this season.

But although there had been suggestions that the matter could have been sorted out over the summer break, Schumacher revealed at Spa that nothing will be settled for at least another month.

"I think we made a very clear statement some time ago that by October we would be able to give indications," said Schumacher, who is celebrating his 300th grand prix in Belgium this weekend.

When asked how many races he expected to reach in his career, Schumacher was non-committal.

"How many it will be in the end we have to find out," he said. "I don't know yet, but certainly it will be until the end of this season."

Although Schumacher's season has been derailed by poor reliability, he insists that he has total faith in his Mercedes team.

"You have those moments where things do run against you, and I have mentioned that at any time that I have full trust in the guys. They all do their utmost, they don't want to retire, but unfortunately things like this do happen.

"I don't mind too much about this, I was aware earlier in the season that we would not fight for the championship, so it was not a big deal if we were not in the championship. If I was in the championship it would bother me much more.

"I look forward to the rest of the season. We have a lot to go through, a lot to improve on, and push on to go forward to make our process more a reasonable step."