Michael Schumacher has said he will be ignoring his past record in Austria and be focussing simply on continuing his run of wins at this weekend’s race.

The German, by his standards has a poor history in Austria. At the first race in 1997 he finished sixth; third in ’98; did not race in ’99 due to his broken leg at the British Grand Prix; retired in 2000, and last year was second having been given track position at the final corner by Rubens Barrichello who was ordered to move over by Ferrari chiefs.

‘I am often asked why I have never done well in Austria,’ Schumacher said yesterday. ‘All I can say is that I don't pay attention to the statistics and therefore I'm looking forward to proving them wrong.’

Schumacher is optimistic going into the race, having won the past three races in a row and knowing his F2002 will again be the ultimate weapon.

‘I hope I can succeed this weekend,’ he said carefully. ‘We can definitely go to Austria with confidence, ready to fight for the win. I don't see any reason why our winning streak should end. The F2002 is such a fantastic car that we should be in top shape again in Zeltweg.’

The 33-year-old made sure that he covered all his bases however, stressing that the team would not become complacent with its advantage.

‘We are not taking the task lightly this weekend,’ he continued. ‘On the contrary, because Ferrari knows better than most that the fight for the world championship is not yet over and there will be some difficult times ahead.

‘Why should we be immune to that? We will be tackling every race with the maximum concentration.’

Schumacher has a 21-point lead in the drivers’ standings over the BMW-Williams driver Juan-Pablo Montoya while Ferrari leads the constructors’ title race by seven points also over BMW-Williams.