Schumacher Ready for Tough Weekend

The Ferrari driver faces a difficult task after his retirement from the Barcelona race, as he will be among the first drivers to go out in first qualifying on Saturday.

That, added to Ferrari's problems to find speed over a single lap, will make Schumacher's life tough at the principality where he has won five times in the past.

The seven-time World Champions, however, is not giving up hope.

"It's difficult but not impossible," Schumacher said at Monaco. "Both McLaren and Renault will be very strong, they have been very strong in recent races.

"Here it's a bit of an exceptional race in terms of what the car needs. We have seen Renault have been strong here in the past and not very good elsewhere, maybe now it is different - we will find out.

"There are many candidates that can be fast, even Toyota can be quick here and Williams. We have quite a tough challenge to face but we are ready."

Schumacher admitted qualifying has been a problem for Ferrari, the German having started higher than eighth only once, at Bahrain.

"We know that this is our weakness, we have worked and we have improved," he said.

"Whether we have improved enough we will find out on Saturday. Even here you can make positions if you have the right strategy. It's important to be in touch to the front but not mega important to be on pole to be honest."

The Ferrari driver is 34 points behind Championship leader Fernando Alonso after the first five races of the season, but he is still refusing to rule himself out of the fight for the title.

"Put it this way, it is obviously more difficult after Barcelona but I haven't given up. There are still 14 races to go so 140 points for me to get so we will see if I can or not."