Though the
F1 veteran registered a pole position and 45 points in his debut season for the Japanese marque back in 2005, and a further 20 last year, the present campaign has yielded just five, courtesy of top-eight finishes in Australia, Canada and Hungary as team-mate
Jarno Trulli has by-and-large had the better of him. Schumacher is determined to add a fourth points-paying finish to that tally in Interlagos.
“I am coming to the end of my time at
Toyota after three seasons,” the 32-year-old acknowledged. “It has been an enjoyable and interesting time in my career, even if I would like to have had better results. It has been a hard season for me and the team, but I am really motivated to get a good result in Brazil so we can end on a high note.
“I enjoy racing at Interlagos, but it is a very demanding circuit. For the drivers it is a challenge because of the bumps, but from a technical side it is interesting as it is important to have mechanical grip in the tight infield, particularly from turn eight to turn eleven, and there is a long flat-out section through the final corners and onto the main straight. We will work hard to find the best set-up to deal with this, as well as the bumps, when practice starts on Friday. After two troubled races in Japan and China, I hope we can bounce back in Brazil.”
Trulli has enjoyed a more successful season than his team-mate, though still one that has fallen some way below expectations. The Italian has qualified inside the top ten on all-but two occasions this year, but Toyota’s inferior race pace has seen results on Sunday afternoons rather more thin on the ground, something he stresses he is keen to rectify in the final race of the campaign.
