Michael Schumacher says he remains upbeat despite reliability problems

The seven-time world champion has retired from five races so far this season, and he suffered his latest mechanical problem in Canada when a hydraulic issue left his Mercedes' DRS stuck open.

While Schumacher has only two points so far this year, team-mate Nico Rosberg has 67 and has finished every race. But Schumacher told reporters in Valencia that he was relaxed about his run of bad luck.

"I have been around long enough to understand that these are prototype cars, and no matter how good a job you do, you can have problems like we have experienced," he said. "It is what it is. It's part of Formula 1.

"It's just coincidence it seems to happen on my car. I know it is the nature of Formula 1, and I trust my guys 100 per cent. If something fails, then it is fate."

Schumacher added that the fact he is not fighting for the world championship makes it easier to deal with setbacks.

"If you are not in a championship situation, you are still trying your best, but if you have retirements and problems like I have had to experience, you don't actually feel too bad about that," he said.

"From the beginning of the year I wasn't thinking that we would be in a championship fight. I could be wrong, because looking at Nico's points, and the points I could have accounted, it could have been different."