Schumacher confident Ferrari are back

"The car seems very good and competitive to me," the German told Gazzetta dello Sport. "After some initial difficulties the situation now has definitely improved. Let's hope we are at the same level as our rivals. We are quick but it looks like the others are too.

"On top of that we are also reliable now. On Tuesday we completed two Grand Prix distances without any problems whatsoever and at a good pace. In general, we would have liked to do more kilometres but it was important to solve certain problems, and we have."

The seven-time World Champion, who last year endured a nightmare season after five drivers' titles in a row, admitted his sole target for this season is to regain his crown.

"Our objective can't be anything but winning the championship, and we've all worked very hard for that," he added. "It will be a long, tough season but it will be important to get several points from the beginning and not lose any like it happened since the start last year.

"There are three, four teams very close to each other, and without putting them in order I say Renault, Honda and McLaren. Obviously besides Ferrari, which we hope can be back fighting evenly with the very best, maybe by staying in front of them as we were able to show we could do for many years.

"It will be important to be convinced we can go quick from the start and be able to win, in order to immediately warn our rivals Ferrari are back."

The German driver is optimistic of a strong start to the season and reckons Ferrari will benefit from having tested at Bahrain before the season-opening race next week.

"Absolutely, because it was hot and because we'll have the first race there, [so it's] an advantage in setting up the cars and studying how to plan the race," Schumacher said. "As for the tyres, we and Bridgestone have worked and are working hard and well.

"There's clearly always room improvement but we are very confident we're undoubtedly in a better situation compared to last year."