Schumacher targeting Canada victory

The Ferrari driver is in urgent need of a good result in Montreal to close down Alonso's 23-point advantage, and knows that if he loses much more ground his hopes of an eighth title will realistically be over for another season.

But after a holiday in North America, Schumacher said on Monday that he is eager to get out on track and believes the low downforce nature of Montreal makes the fight on track more even than it has been in recent races.

"We have every reason to be optimistic," he said. "Our car has lived up to all of our expectations so far and we have improved it continuously. I don't want to make any predictions about how that will play out at Montreal.

"The circuit is totally different than the last ones we were on recently and we will be using completely different aerodynamics packages.

"Apart from that, nobody knows exactly what to expect, because no team has tested here and has insights to go by. So everything is completely different now except our fighting spirit, which has been refreshed perfectly.

"We're ready to go and want to do well in Canada. And I see no reason whatsoever why we shouldn't."

Rather than getting run down by his tough fight with Alonso, Schumacher claims that his spirits are high at the moment - and that he is fully motivated for the battle ahead.

"True," he smiled. "Fights and challenges like this are part of my nature. Sure, you can't win all the time, but there's nothing better than being competitive like this. That's purely inspirational."