Ralf bullish on Suzuka chances

Honda are aiming to put on a good show at what could be Suzuka's last Grand Prix, before the event switches to the Toyota-owned Fuji facility next year.

But Schumacher is confident that his team are stronger than they have appeared for several races and is bullish about what they can achieve - as he returns to the scene of his first pole position for Toyota.

"I think our fans can expect a decent level of speed," he said. "I'm not so sure about whether we are heading for pole position or not due to circumstances. We'll have to see.

"But I think that if we come back to the level of performance we had in Turkey and the previous races then we can achieve a podium, I'm sure."

Schumacher thinks the rate of development the team have shown this season, especially considering their disastrous start in Bahrain, is proof of how strong the Japanese manufacturer can be.

"It was a difficult year for us," he explained. "We started very poorly and worked our way through. Performance wise and car speed wise we achieved a lot.

"Having said that, due to some technical issues and so on we didn't really achieve the points and results we could have done.

"We had a little low in Monza but before that the trend was clearly going up. So I am very optimistic for the last races. We brought some updates for the car in China, which are anyway needed because we are going for next year as well, so we need to find the right direction."