As confident as we can be - Schumi

Michael Schumacher was a late arrival at the "Gilles Villeneuve" circuit on the Ile Notre Dame outside the city this afternoon, but he had a good excuse as he had been at a press conference organised by Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro technical partner, Shell in downtown Montreal.

The seven times world champion and indeed, a seven times winner here in Canada, looked fit and very relaxed as he entered the paddock surrounded as usual by a host of photographers and cameramen. In fact, Michael, his wife Corinna and a group of friends have been in North America since just after the last round of the championship, the British Grand Prix, flying to America on Sunday night after the last race.

"The post-Silverstone test at Paul Ricard was not on my schedule, so I thought we would come for a holiday in the States, which as you know, I enjoy very much," explained Michael Schumacher. "We had a lot of fun doing all sorts of things and for the second time in my life, I went parachuting. It was very exciting. We also went quad-biking and so I feel very relaxed."

The German might not have driven at Paul Ricard, leaving that task to his team-mate Felipe Massa and the Scuderia's official test driver Luca Badoer, but he still knew all about the work programme in the South of France. "I kept in contact with the team during my break, so I am fully aware of all the test results, in terms of the data we acquired with the low downforce aero package and modifications to the rest of the car and engine."

Schumacher laughed when the media asked him what he thought could be the outcome of Sunday's race here. "You know I don't like making predictions," he reminded them. "But I see no reason why we should not be competitive again at this circuit. We can be as confident as we can be, given that we don't know yet how the car will run here, nor how our closest rivals will go here in Canada."