Schumacher: Ferrari have woken up

"We've had various tests obviously during the winter and things have in general improved compared to what was our position and situation last year.

"Lately, in (testing at) Jerez, again we seemed to have made another step and I think things look pretty promising, we're pretty much on schedule for our programme and we look forward to this coming year," he told a news conference at the team's winter retreat in the Dolomites.

Schumacher accepted that he also had to work on his performance after last season where he managed only one victory but said the team's improved chances had given him a real boost.

"I think that I could do things better than I did myself last year, so I think even on my part I made a few mistakes and I probably didn't do the best job.

"All in all, it sort of woke up everybody, because I think in quite a few areas, we didn't do 100 percent job and we can do a better job. I believe that the results being so bad....boosted us up and gave us back the old strengths we used to have."

Lessons Learnt

The 37-year-old German said that, while he could not pinpoint exactly why the team were so disappointing last year, Ferrari had learnt lessons from their mistakes.

"I would not, in detail, be able to explain to you why we were not competitive by so much over the whole year.

"In the meantime, we have understood in quite a few areas, on the aerodynamic side and on the tyre side and on the car itself, what kind of mistakes we made and I think most of them we have already solved," he said.

"Nobody wants to have another year of what we had last year."

A rule change means that F1 cars will run on a less powerful V8 engine next season and Schumacher said he has enjoyed driving with the new set-up.

"It's a lot of fun. It's like a little go-kart now. Before you had this monster in the back which you could not control to a certain degree because the car's dimensions were not for managing that horsepower.

"Now it makes it more a package, more together, a lot of fun to drive. Your driving style changes slightly, you use high rpms and it's a sensation I do like. I used to enjoy it in the past and I've found this again now," he said.