Schumi backtracks on 'no wins' comment

Michael Schumacher has backtracked on his recent 'no wins' comments, insisting that in the past 24 hours his opinion has changed.

On Friday, Schumacher told reporters at the Barcelona circuit that he felt it would be difficult for Mercedes GP to claim the victory at the season-opening Bahrain GP.

"At the moment we are not perfectly in the position we would like, probably to be competitive enough to win the first races," he said.

"But we are working hard, the season is long, and the main issue is not to be too far off. This is very difficult to judge right now, the real picture."

But, 24 hours later and with team-mate Nico Rosberg setting the pace at Barcelona on Saturday, the seven-time World Champ says he may have spoken a bit prematurely.

"Yesterday I was little bit pessimistic before I studied the data, afterwards it looks much more reasonable than I thought," Schumacher explained.

"There is two things. One I didn't just say this yesterday, I have said it from the beginning that we might not be in a position to win the first races and that is not really important. Because you have to win by the end of the season, not the beginning of the season.

"And probably this could be the case, although I mentioned it yesterday after not having studied the data. This was just initial feeling, but it looks like maybe we were running more fuel than others yesterday and that's why the time didn't look so good.

"Looking at the results and the data, actually it looks very reasonable - not too bad. So let's see where we are."

The German has already set his sights on an eighth World title, confident that Mercedes GP will give him all the tools needed to do so.

"I am here to fight for it yes, and I am sure we will be in the position. Whether will be able to achieve it is another matter," he said.

But even if he doesn't win the World title this season, he still has another two in which to try.

"I see it first of all as a three-year programme and I see it secondly that it is important to see what happens by the end of the season and not by the beginning of the season. This is the two main important things.

"If we are not in a position to win the first races I wouldn't worry at all. If we are two seconds off the pace, then okay maybe we will start to worry, but I don't think that is the case."

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