Rosberg eyes strong European GP

With the outfit having worked hard on overcoming the tyre degradation issues that have hindered its early season progress, Schumacher gave it reason to smile in Montreal as he raced as high as second place at one point before slipping back to fourth.

On the back of that performance, the team is hoping to make further improvements to its form for next weekend's European Grand Prix - with Rosberg confident that efforts being made back at the factory will pay off.

"Valencia is always a very interesting weekend," said the German. "The track is a combination of a real circuit and a street circuit so the walls are very close to the cars, and you really have to concentrate around every one of the 25 corners.

"I really enjoy driving there, and it's a big event in a pretty cool city. I visited the factory this week to see everyone, which was nice, and it was good to see how the work is progressing.

"We're working hard for a better result in Valencia than in Canada, and I'm very confident that we can make this happen." Team principal Ross Brawn concedes that its car still needs more pace, but he sees no reason why it cannot be up there near the front again.

"The last race in Canada saw a positive weekend for the team, and whilst we still need to work on the ultimate pace of the car, it was encouraging and rewarding to be fighting for a podium finish again," he explained.