• Mercedes

Schumacher still as intense - Brawn

Ross Brawn is happy with Michael Schumacher's approach © Sutton Images

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• Drivers:
• Ross Brawn
• |
• Nico Rosberg
• |
• Michael Schumacher

• Teams:
• Mercedes

Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn thinks Michael Schumacher is as determined to win in 2010 as he was earlier in his career.

Schumacher will return to Formula One in less than two weeks at the Bahrain Grand Prix, after spending three seasons in retirement. But Brawn, who worked with the German on all seven of his championship victories, has seen many of Schumacher's winning character traits emerging again in pre-season testing.

"Michael has been very intense in terms of his approach," Brawn said. "He's pretty close to what I remember. He stopped [in 2006] because he was tired of F1 but that's gone now. He's very passionate about racing again and is working hard with Nico [Rosberg] to improve the car. He's got to start getting back into the groove but I don't think Michael will be the issue - we've got to get the car a little bit better."

After watching Schumacher and his team-mate Rosberg closely in testing, Brawn said his two drivers were too closely matched on performance to make a solid call on who would be faster.

"Until we get Michael and Nico on track at the same time it's impossible to judge between the two of them," he said. "They both look very good. You don't want to see either driver trailing behind and judging from the tests on different days they are close. I don't think they know where they are because conditions and tracks make comparisons difficult but I think both drivers are looking competitive."

Brawn admitted his team is not quite as quick as he would like, but is hoping a diffuser update will ensure the W01 is at the front of the field in Bahrain.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.