IMOLA, Italy - Michael Schumacher has brushed aside rumours of a possible split with Ferrari and reaffirmed his long-term commitment to the team ahead of this weekend's San Marino Grand Prix where he hopes to relaunch his title defence.
Germany's six-time world champion has become an integral part of Ferrari having won the last five drivers' titles with the Italians, but they have struggled to stay on the pace of championship leaders Renault this year.
However Ferrari have tested in Barcelona, Mugello, Fiorano and Monza in the last three weeks in a bid to solve their early problems and Schumacher insists he is not about to turn his back on the team just yet.
Asked if he will stay at Ferrari to the end of his career, Schumacher said: "Yes. I think it is very obvious why I want to do this. It is much more than comfort. It goes beyond many things. There are a lot of good people around."
Reports in the Italian press had suggested that Schumacher has entered talks over his future at the team but he insisted there are not yet any formal discussions because the door is open for him to stay as long as he wants.
He added: "They leave it open for me. Open means open. My love for the sport is so high that I still like to continue, but I don't see any reason to fix myself too early.
"If I can fight my way through from the middle of the field to the back of the field, that wouldn't be the thing I would want to do, that is pretty certain.
"But (at the moment it is) pretty nice. It is a challenge. You can see ahead, we have a chance to win."
Schumacher has only secured two points this season while world championship leader Fernando Alonso of Spain is on an impressive 26 points after two victories and a podium finish in his Renault.
Ferrari introduced their new F2005 car at the last race in Bahrain having started the season with a modified F2004 car, but its debut was a disaster as Schumacher retired and Rubens Barrichello finished out of the points.
The problems were not expected for Ferrari, whose reliability record is the best on the grid, but Schumacher is confident all the failures that struck them in the Middle East will not come back here this weekend.
"We are as confident as you can be with a Formula One car, because it is a prototype and it might stop at any point," said Schumacher.
"They can still fail at certain times but we have a good record and we shouldn't be concerned.
"I think the Bahrain weekend certainly was better than I expected it to be after the difficult Malaysia experience and my feeling is I still would have been on the podium if I had finished.
"Probably the point about that weekend was that after Malaysia, where we were so far away, we saw in Bahrain where we were back and we can fight those guys. It is not out of our reach any more."
But already there is a long way to catch up. Even if Schumacher wins the next two races and Alonso, who has been on the podium at every one so far, fails to finish both, the German will still be behind in the title race.
Renault admit they have plenty in reserve for when their rivals catch them up and Schumacher admits the Anglo-French outfit has simply done a good job in all areas coming into this year.
"I think Renault have not one particular strong point because, as it has always been for me as well in the past, there is not one thing only that is a reason for success, it is a package," said Schumacher.
"It goes through the car, the tyres, the engine and everything. Everything has to be right and they have managed to do a very good job on that. But we come here reasonably confident that we can fight back."
04/21/2005 15:07 GMT