Schu relishes lack of pressure

Speaking before he flew out to Shanghai for this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix, the German said that he was in ultra high spirits after the joy of his and Rubens Barrichello's Italian Grand Prix fight back and the prospect of purely driving for fun in the final three races of the campaign.

"Races like Monza and the emotions on the podium that you pick up from the fans are really rewarding," says Schumacher. "It's nice that we can go into these last three races without any pressure - it's an ideal situation. So I am looking forward to the remaining races this season."

Rather than feeling drained at the thought of three flyaway races to end the campaign, Schumacher's spirits remain high and he even admits he is thrilled at being able to compete at Formula 1's newest track.

"Of course I'm excited about arriving at the circuit and seeing the track with my own eyes for the first time," he explains. "But I'm also looking forward to all the new things we will be experiencing there in general.

"I have never been to China, but I think it is a highly interesting place. I also think it's right for the Formula 1 to take place there; it is called the 'world' championship after all. I'm sure it will be quite interesting to get to know the country and its population a little bit and experience new things, not just on the race track. I've always enjoyed that and so I'm looking forward to that this time as well."

Although Schumacher is at a small disadvantage to other drivers who have seen the Shanghai circuit already, his Ferrari team does have valuable data on the layout from a demonstration run completed by Gerhard Berger at the track's official opening earlier this year.