'I’ll try to beat the guy in front', Michael Schumacher

Three-year rest has not diminished Michael Schumacher’s hunger for success. The seven-time world champion tells Rajesh Pansare that he’s ready for the challenges

‘Mr Nasty’ tag has returned with your comeback. How will you react to such comments?
You know, it is just very simple — every driver fighting for the championship will face difficult duels. Even Lewis Hamilton or Fernando Alonso have experienced that. I was lucky enough to have been involved in a lot of championship fights, and I think if you consider that, the ratio of critical issues is quite low actually.

F1 has one of the strongest drivers’ line-up for 2010 season with the likes of Button, Hamilton, Alonso among others starting besides you. What will be the most challenging part to take on the above mentioned guys?
The most challenging part is about our performance. We are all Formula One drivers, we all are thinking the same way — we want to beat the guy in front of us. I really don’t care about who will be in front of me, as long as I try and beat him.

You have made your intentions clear of making a comeback — winning the championship. What challenges will you face in achieving your eighth drivers’ title?
Well, this is a sport, and competition is the nicest part of it, so I will be approaching the season as I had approached all the other seasons before. I will try to play out my best, fight hard and try to win. You cannot plan ahead for the full season; you should go race by race. I’m really looking forward to competing again, I love competition and I love challenges.

If not for Ross Brawn would you have made a comeback with Mercedes?
Obviously Ross played an important role in it, no doubt about that. We know each other for so many years, and he was the one who actually called me. But I always had a link with Mercedes. Before entering F1, I was racing for them, and they supported my entry in F1.

How hard you had to work to make yourself race fit?
My planned return to F1 in summer (when Schumacher was suppose to replace Felipe Massa at Ferrari in 2009) did not end due to fitness problems. In fact, I was extremely fit considering the time I had to train. It ended due to an injury which had not healed 100 per cent as it was too close, time-wise, to the accident I had in February. Fortunately, I had kept myself in shape after the attempt to return in summer, so it was not too hard to get my shape back now.