No added pressure insists Schumacher

"First of all we know under which circumstances winning the championship might happen this weekend," he said, "but it's not really a focus because I don't honestly expect it to happen. I will race to win, like normal, but it's not important to me when or where it happens. Just that it does happen."

Schumacher is optimistic about Ferrari's French Grand Prix prospects, however. "So far," he added, "we have had the better car and it has been down to having the right tyres whether we were beaten or not. But we have done a good test with Bridgestone which should make things more comfortable for us here."

Schumacher was highly complimentary about Bridgestone's performance level so far this year, but claimed that Ferrari being the only top team on the Japanese rubber was a double-edged sword.

"Life is not perfect and being just one top team means that there's a big workload on us," he said. "Sometimes you miss things because you can't do it all and spot things as well. On the other side you can do things more specific to your car, which equalises the situation. Sharing the information can help you to improve faster but, saying that, Bridgestone is producing a super product."