Tough-Talking Schumacher Can Handle the Heat

World Champion Michael Schumacher shrugged off suggestions he was under pressure today and presented himself instead as the hard man of Formula One.

Without a podium from two races this year, Ferrari's five times World Champion said he could handle the heat after his worst ever start to a season.

"When the going gets tough, the tough get going. That's my thinking," the German told a news conference before Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos.

"At the moment things are going a little bit tougher and we become stronger," he said. "I'm not worried for what has happened. I know what did happen, I feel that as long as you can analyse it and understand it then you can still look ahead and we do look ahead.

"The first two races are not too good. Still, we got eight points out of these not very good races for us and our time will come again."

Schumacher finished fourth in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix after Ferrari made a poor tyre choice and had only himself to blame in Malaysia for a first lap collision. The incident, in which he hit the rear of Jarno Trulli's Renault, left Schumacher sixth in the race and also sixth in the Championship.

Australia was the first time since September 2000 that Schumacher had relinquished the Championship lead and the first time since September 2001 he had finished off the podium.

No Inquest

"It will be a much tougher season, a much tighter competition and that's what we face," said the German who has won four times in Brazil. Schumacher suggested that pressure was a double-edged sword and deflected claims from rivals such as McLaren's David Coulthard that he made more mistakes when under stress.

"I have the reputation of being great under pressure and I have the reputation of doing mistakes under pressure. So, take the one you like," he said.

The German said there had been no particular inquest at Ferrari after the disappointing first two races.

"We analyse and discuss all the races to be prepared for the next," he said. "But it was very clear what happened to us in the first two races and there was no need to get together particularly to change our strategy or our approach."

The opening races, rich in drama and surprise after rule changes, have been credited with reviving Formula One after a year of Ferrari domination when the Italian team won 15 of the 17 races in 2002. Schumacher disagreed with the premise that the sport had either become boring or was somehow in need of saving.

"After 1988, I didn't have the feeling that the sport was on a downtrend because of the dominance of McLaren," he said.

"In sport, not only in Formula One, there has always been certain kinds of dominance from either a tennis player or a team or whatever. I don't think the sport has really suffered. It's a period you go through and then you come to what has happened how, that other teams do a better job and we make a few mistakes.

"Suddenly the whole thing is shaken up and is completely different, and for some people is more interesting and for our fans less so."