Michael: I'd hate 'Team Schu'

With Rubens Barrichello having been confirmed as his team-mate at Ferrari for another three years, the German has said he is relieved the opportunity to partner his sibling has never come up.

Speaking at Ferrari's annual skiing event at Madonna Di Campiglio in Italy, Schumacher believed the pressure of two family members racing side-by-side would cause unnecessary tension.

Michael said: "That wouldn't have been nice for one main reason; if both Ralf and I were in the same team one would be the winner and one the loser. That is something that Ralf doesn't want to do to me and I don't want to do to Ralf."

However, the German has never been afraid of racing wheel-to-wheel with his brother, with the pair even colliding at the past, most notably at the Nurburgring in 1997. Despite this, Schumacher believes such competition is healthy, and that winning and losing in separate teams is an entirely different prospect.

"If you are fighting in two different teams you may call it winning and losing but then you call it under different circumstances and other things will be responsible for that," he said.

While they never competed in the same team, 1972 and 1974 World Champion Emerson Fittipaldi joined the Copersucar squad set up by his older brother Wilson in 1976. Despite never achieving great success, family harmony was maintained during the partnership.