Ralf urges patience at Toyota

The German lost a decent haul of points at the Nurburgring last weekend when he retired in the closing stages with an engine failure - but he is confident that the team are back on the right track after their early-season troubles.

"We are in the upper middle field, better in the race than in qualifying - at least in my case - and so I'm quite happy about that," he said ahead of this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix.

"We showed that we could have a strong race performance at the Nurburgring, it was just unfortunate for the whole team that we had an engine failure. I am confident however that after analyzing the data we will find the right solution for the coming races.

"Overall, we are certainly on the right track, a little patience is needed but when the time comes, we will pick up some points and defend our last year's championship position."

Schumacher's Toyota teammate Jarno Trulli would be overjoyed to repeat his podium finish from last year's Spanish Grand Prix this time out - especially because he has failed to score a point so far this year.

"I have had some good races here including the two podiums I have achieved the last two years and I am definitely looking to repeat this again this year," he said.