No plans to replace Schumacher's engine

Concerns about Schumacher's engine have been evident at Sepang following the failures suffered by Felipe Massa and David Coulthard's V8 power-units in Bahrain.

But despite rumours spreading around the paddock that Schumacher's engine could need to be replaced as well, a Ferrari spokesman has told autosport.com that the team are content with the situation at the moment.

"There is no problem with Michael's engine," said the spokesman. "It is sleeping well right now in his car.

"Of course we are monitoring the situation - it is quite natural when you have failures like Felipe's and Coulthard's. But there is no discussion on replacing Michael's engine."

Schumacher himself said earlier that the team were looking closely at his engine as a precaution, to ensure there were no risks of a failure in qualifying or the race.

"At the moment there isn't a real problem, but we'll check it and reflect over it. We'll know with certainty tomorrow," he said.

"Let's put it this way: there is a theoretical possibility we'll have to change the engine, but I hope it won't happen."