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Schumacher confident things will improve

Michael Schumacher inspects the changes to his Mercedes © Sutton Images

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• Race:
• Spanish Grand Prix

• Championship:
• FIA Formula One World Championship

• Drivers:
• Michael Schumacher

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• Mercedes

Michael Schumacher has admitted he has not met expectations this year but is confident things will improve with time.

Schumacher has scored just 10 points in the first four races, 40 less than team-mate Nico Rosberg. However, he is not too worried about the situation just yet.

"I think if you look at what has happened it is that, in China certainly, my performance hasn't been good," Schumacher told reporters in Barcelona. "I'm very optimistic that things will go in the right direction. I'm pretty relaxed about what's going on. I know that the car is not perfectly suited to me right now, but I haven't expected to come here and blow everybody away. It's a process and the process is going absolutely good."

"Naturally there is more joy if you win races, no doubt," said Schumacher. "And China - no worries - I was very disappointed, and I was angry at myself. But things will be different. There was a trend, and if you look at this, except China, things were going in the right direction. But then there were circumstances that were a part of this. Nevertheless it's only four races that we have done. So let's see."

For the Spanish Grand Prix Schumacher's car has been given a raft of updates, many of which have been targeted at suiting his driving style. However, he admitted that he too had to adapt to get the most from the Mercedes package.

"The cars are what they are and you have to find the way to drive around them," Schumacher added. "That's how it was in the past and that's how it is now. We have probably been limited in what we could have been doing but, as I said, I never expect to come into a completely new structure and restart where I had finished in Ferrari.

Asked if he would no longer have any excuses now that the car had been modified, he said: "I'm sure there are always excuses you can find if you want to. But the matter of fact is that some might see now I have the car and now I have to perform and now it should be and if not and blah, blah, blah.

"I'm afraid it's not a new car, quite honestly. There are a couple of new bits and pieces on it to make it quicker. I guess you have heard about various things, certainly the wheelbase is a bit longer and we have some aero updates. Those are the main two factors that we are bringing here."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.