Schumacher eager to fight back in Spain

Michael Schumacher is determined to bounce back from his disappointing Turkish Grand Prix in Spain, the German admitting he is boosted by the progress of his Mercedes team

Schumacher endured a difficult race in Istanbul, finishing down in 12th position after a troubled event.

The seven-time champion says, however, that Mercedes's improved form in recent races is making him extra-motivated to fight back.

"While I was not happy with my weekend in Turkey, there have been clear signs of improvements for us as a team, which obviously push and re-boost my motivation even more," said Schumacher in a team preview.

"It's more than encouraging to see that the hard work of the team is starting to pay off. We are all determined to make progress."

Team-mate Nico Rosberg is also eyeing a strong outing in Barcelona next week, when the team will introduce more updates in the hope of closing the gap to the front even more.

"Our upward trend is clear for all to see, even though we still have a little more progress to make in race configuration compared to qualifying," he said.

"I'm looking forward to Barcelona, where we will also be introducing an update package for the car, and I'm excited to see how it works. We showed a good level of performance at the final winter test on this circuit, and hopefully we can translate that into a strong result this weekend."