Schumacher confident despite McLaren advances

"I am looking forward to the race which I expect to be a lot tougher against the McLarens than it was in Monaco before I had my car problems," he said.

Although the championship leader dominated the Monaco event before his suspension broke, the two-time World Champion expressed disappointment at the outcome of a race which saw his title lead cut to 12 points.

"It would have been nice to pick up another 10 points to add to my title lead but the result showed that nothing is sure until the last race of the season," he said. "With 10 more races to go we still have a lot of hard work to go before I start thinking about the championship title."

Nevertheless, Schumacher remained bullish about his chances of victory on Sunday despite the ever-strengthening McLaren challenge.

"Our car is very good on all types of track now and even though Montreal is a lot quicker than Monaco, the Ferrari should work well there," said Schumacher. "It's a circuit I enjoy very much with a good combination of fast and slow corners which demands the very best from chassis, engine, driver and brakes."

Schumacher saw his lead in the title chase cut to 12 points as David Coulthard leapt ahead of Mika Hakkinen into second place.

Although the Scot has only scored five points from six start in Canada, he is generally competitive there - last year he missed a podium spot after tangling with Eddie Irvine, and in 1997 would have won but was in the pits when the race was red flagged.