Abu Dhabi: After failing to notch up a single podium finish in what is turning out to be a fascinating battle for the Drivers' Championship, seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher wants to finish the season in a positive way.
"The season is coming to an end and I have to say that I am very impressed with how our guys [Mercedes Grand Prix team] have coped with it, especially in the last few flyaway races," the German said ahead of the penultimate race in Brazil yesterday.
"Even though we have not had any big developments recently, we have still delivered promising performances," he said.
"The characteristics of the Interlagos circuit are not too far away from those of the last races so we can go to Brazil in quite a confident mood. Our fighting spirit is good and we would like to finish the season in a positive way.
Fun track
"So I am looking forward to going to Sao Paulo and hopefully achieve another result that I can be happy with," said Schumacher, who has now raced in 266 GPs over a 20-year period.
Schumacher is ninth with 66 points while his countryman and teammate Nico Rosberg is on 122 and one place ahead in the 2010 standing so far.
Rosberg, looking forward to the next race said: "It was disappointing not to finish the race in Korea from such a strong position but our performance over the weekend was good and we were able to get the most out of the car. It would be nice to continue this and finish the season with strong performances."
"The Brazilian fans are always fantastic and Interlagos is a really fun track to drive so I'm looking forward to the weekend in Sao Paulo.
"The combination of the tight infield and the long straight make the track layout very unique. The fact that Interlagos is at a very high altitude level means that the engine has less power due to the thinner air and the car has less grip and lower downforce which is a challenge.
"There are good overtaking opportunities and the weather always seems to play a part in the race weekend to make it more unpredictable," Rosberg said.
Team Principal Ross Brawn, who led Brawn GP to the Constructors championship and Jenson Button to the Drivers' championship last year, said Mercedes will be challenging for race wins next year.
Recent trend
"We have had a run of strong results recently, considering our relative performance position, and I am optimistic that we can continue the recent trend at the last two races. Of course this is not a position that we are happy with and we are working very hard to ensure that we are back where we want to be next year, challenging for race wins," Brawn said.
