Schumacher Not Giving Up

The Ferrari ace will be the fourth man out for first qualifying in Monte Carlo, thanks to his retirement at the Spanish Grand Prix, which will hand him a huge disadvantage with track conditions likely to improve over the course of the hour.

Allied to the fact that Ferrari's Bridgestone tyres are known to not be as good as Michelin for out-and-out pace over a single lap, it almost certainly means that Schumacher will face an uphill battle if he is not to find himself too far down the grid to challenge for victory.

But speaking on Monday, Schumacher made it clear that his determination to do well was not diminished by the circumstances that were conspiring against him.

"Giving up is not an option, but giving up before you try is completely out of the question," he said. "Like I said: this is sports, and in sports anything is possible.

"Even though it will be difficult for us this time, because the position on the starting grid at Monaco is somewhat decisive for the outcome of the race, that does not diminish my excitement. We are looking forward to taking on this challenge."

Schumacher has spent the last week focusing on car improvements and tyre developments specifically aimed to helping Ferrari's form for Monaco.

And despite Ferrari's disappointment at Schumacher's retirement from Spain after his double tyre failure - the seven-times champion still feels that there are reasons to feel optimistic about the team's future form.

"We may be going through somewhat of a weak phase right now, but that's the way it is in sports: there are always ups and downs," he added. "We were doing extremely well for an unusually long period of time, and now we're having to struggle a little bit.

"But we know what the reasons for that are, and that's the most important thing. We'll have to see how we can work our way back to the top now. The good thing is that none of us are giving up, everyone is continuing to do their work.

"Small steps also show their effect and we've already made some good progress - even if it may look differently from the outside."