• Canadian Grand Prix

Schumacher confident he can challenge for victory

Michael Schumacher retired from seventh place in Monaco after a grid penalty meant he started sixth © Sutton Images

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• Race:
• Canadian Grand Prix

• Drivers:
• Michael Schumacher

• Teams:
• Mercedes

Michael Schumacher is confident that he can challenge for victory in the Canadian Grand Prix this weekend.

Having qualified on pole position in Monaco before a grid penalty, Schumacher is high on confidence going in to the race in Montreal. When asked what the chances were of him becoming the seventh different winner this season, he said that the track should suit Mercedes as it looks to maintain its good form.

"Let's put it this way - I like number seven!" Schumacher said. "It certainly is the right direction. We've seen in Monaco that we can be strong and here is a sort of similar situation that could be good for us."

When asked if he was confident a victory was close, Schumacher added: "I'm very confident on this one. If you take the comeback time from the start to now, probably this is the closest that we can be of having a good result this weekend."

However, Schumacher denied that he had turned a corner with his qualifying performance in Monaco, saying he's been strong all year.

"Honestly, if you look right from the beginning of the season I've been very competitive. In Bahrain I had a wing failure, probably Shanghai yes I was slower than my team-mate, and the rest was pretty straightforward. Barcelona I didn't go (out in Q3) and in Monaco I did the pole so if you really look at the situation it's pretty straightforward this year I think."

Despite that qualifying record, Schumacher has only finished two races all year, but he said that he wasn't annoyed with the poor reliability of his car even though he admits it rules him out of any potential title race.

"I'm long enough around this world - we have prototype cars. We're building a complete new car every year with thousands of new pieces. I think you've got to give credit to all these people that built those cars and then get them actually reliable in such a short time. A normal road car takes seven years to be reliable; we do that in probably seven months. So I have no regrets and no grievances and I just feel that it's part of that world, it happens. It's a shame that we seem to have a sort of run in this direction but every run will stop in a positive or negative way, and hopefully here this weekend that's going to turn around.

"I've said right from the beginning of the season that this year won't be a season that we fight for the championship. I might be wrong, because Nico has proven to still be in the game but it's still a long year so we'll find out whether that is the case or is not the case. But in my terms with the two points that I've got I don't need to think about the title right now."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.