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Schumacher's motivation boosted by Mercedes' progress

Michael Schumacher failed to score points in Turkey © Sutton Images

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Michael Schumacher insists his motivation has not waned since his disappointing result at the Turkish Grand Prix one week ago.

After finishing 12th at Istanbul Park, the Mercedes driver admitted "the big joy is not there right now". The comments led to speculation that Schumacher might hang up his helmet for good at the end of the season, but speaking about the upcoming Spanish Grand Prix he said he was still motivated.

"While I was not happy with my weekend in Turkey, there have been clear signs of improvements for us as a team, which obviously push and re-boost my motivation even more," Schumacher said. "It's more than encouraging to see that the hard work of the team is starting to pay off. We are all determined to make progress."

Mercedes boss Ross Brawn revealed that the fruits of the team's labour would come in the form of several upgrades to the car, aimed at improving its consistency throughout a race.

"The last two races in Turkey and China have proved that we can be quick in certain conditions but we need to focus on achieving that level of performance consistently over the entire race weekend," he said. "We will have an aerodynamic development package for the Spanish Grand Prix, along with refinements to our suspension package, which should help to find the consistency in the car that we are looking for. The Circuit de Catalunya is such a familiar venue to the teams that we should be able to maximise our practice time to focus on this, and I hope to see another step forward and a positive weekend."

Schumacher has won the Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona six times, including his famous first victory for Ferrari in 1996. He said he is looking forward to returning to the circuit.

"The Spanish Grand Prix is traditionally where it really feels like the European season gets underway and holds a lot of good memories for me," he said. "Of course, we know the Circuit de Catalunya very well from testing, but it will be interesting to see the effect of KERS, the DRS and the Pirelli tyres on a track where overtaking is always difficult."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.