We can be confident for other races - Schumi

With temperatures in the high thirties, even the ice cool Michael Schumacher had to take a break from the media scrum that surrounded him as he spoke to the media for the first time since finishing second in last Sunday's opening race.

"I was very happy with the result in Bahrain. We were not expecting to be in a position to fight for the win, even if we thought we could be up there looking to finish on the podium," said the Scuderia Ferrar Marlboro driver. "It was very close and we just missed the win, but we can now be confident for other races this season."

A year can make a big difference in terms of car performance as Schumacher reminded his audience. "Last year we had one of our worst races of the season in Sepang and this year we have good reason to be optimistic that we can leave here happy. Tyres will be a key factor this weekend and that is the big question mark. But I think we should be strong here on this front. As for the engine, all we can do is open the vents on the bodywork more to improve cooling." On the engine front, Felipe Massa needed an engine change after the first race and David Coulthard's Ferrari engine also had to be replaced. "Naturally, I am a little bit concerned, admitted Michael. "But we have checked everything and to date, it is looking good. So there is no reason to be worried."

Schumacher's best memory of Bahrain was the return to form which seems to have been confirmed. "Driving the new car was great. It was good to be back fighting again and I liked the new qualifying format. I think those people who were on the podium and Jenson Button, who finished fourth in Bahrain, will be the ones fighting for the championship this year. The fact that we tested in Bahrain in February obviously helped a bit in that we immediately found the right set-up. But the question is did the others have more potential in their cars or not: I don't think so, so the testing we did was not really an advantage in the race. So there is no real reason to be less confident here in Malaysia, other than there are five cars that are very close here, so a little mistake could make the difference between first and tenth. It will be interesting to see."