The summer break has ended but in fact, no one has told the people who control the weather in Istanbul, as the temperature was a very summery 30 degrees as Michael Schumacher reacquainted himself with the F1 media in the Istanbul Park paddock this afternoon. A quick recap of events in Budapest got things underway. "Everything that can happen over the course of a season seemed to happen in just a single race weekend!" commented the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro driver. "Now we have to look ahead to the five remaining rounds. But Hungary did not end up being so bad for us, because if you look at the race while Fernando was still in it, you could think the championship was over for us. But then in the end we got lucky and I got a point. I can still win the championship and that point could be very vital at the end of the season."

Michael remained positive even though the next question centred on the less than successful 2005 race here in Turkey. "The main surprise last year was that we did not have a competitive package here," recalled the German. "The track here is very challenging and we hope we are better prepared and competitive this year, so that we can put on a good show for all the Ferrari fans in Turkey, who were disappointed last year. I hope this weekend will be better and I believe it will be."

Schumacher would not make any prediction about the outcome of the championships, basing his reluctance on how quickly the situation can spin around. "The championship did not look too good for us up to Indianapolis and some people thought the battle was over," he maintained. "But within three races we turned the situation around and that shows how quickly things change in this sport. We are optimistic about the rest of the season and have faith in our strengths."

Yesterday's ruling from the FIA that mass dampers are now confirmed as illegal to use prompted an opinion in the paddock that this would favour the Scuderia as their direct rivals were perceived to have got the most benefit from the mass dampers. But Schumacher did not agree entirely with this view. "Sometimes in F1 you have to accept unpopular decisions as we did earlier this year when we had to accept some changes on our cars. I think the system benefited Renault or they would not have used it, but developments move forward so quickly in F1 that they will have found a way around the problem of not being allowed to use it anymore."

Tracks, tyres or team-mates? Which would have the biggest effect on the outcome of the title battle? "I don't think you can specify which tracks will suit us and which will suit our main rivals," replied Michael. "But tyres will definitely be the key factor as, although it is quite predictable how much you can develop the car, it is less predictable as to how much you can develop the tyres. It is interesting that McLaren is also becoming more competitive now and we must wait and see if this will work for us or against us. As for team-mates, they could play a key role, but they will mainly be fighting for themselves and in our case, Felipe is keen to fight for third place in the Drivers' championship."
 

Meanwhile fresh from a holiday at home in Brazil and then in Miami, Felipe Massa met the media this afternoon in the Istanbul paddock and began by looking back three weeks to the Hungarian Grand Prix. "It is important not to repeat the mistakes we made in Budapest which was not a good weekend for us," began the Brazilian. "But the championship is still open because of what happened. In any case, although it is true that on a wet track we had some difficulties, in the dry, and even just as the track began to dry, we had the advantage over our rivals."

Massa knows that the recipe for success in the championships is simple. "This weekend it is important that we return to winning and having both of us on the podium to bring home as many points as possible," he commented. "That is our priority and we will be doing our utmost to get it done." Earlier in the season, Felipe had not always brought home as many points as were available to him but that changed in more recent races. "At the start of the year I had a few problems, not just myself but the way I interacted with the team, but then we started to work better together race by race," he said by way of explanation. "The results started to come then and the experience of working with a top team also improved me race by race."

One journalist suggested that the FIA's decision to ban mass dampers implied that the Ferrari men had been fighting an "illegal" Renault, but Massa did not feel the Anglo-French team had done anything wrong. "I think the FIA sometimes takes decisions to ensure that teams do not work in certain ways. For example, earlier this year, we had to change the way our rear wing functioned but there was no suggestion that we had been illegal. We found a way around it and that will happen with the mass dampers too, but I have to say that obviously it will be good for us if the team that suffers most from not being allowed to use this system turns out to be Renault!"

Asked if he felt this would be a difficult weekend because Ferrari did not do well here last year, Massa reckoned there was no reason for history to repeat itself. "You cannot say that because we did not go well here last year the same will happen again now. We have seen several races where we did not go well in 2005 turning out fine this time. There is no point looking to the past, you have to look at the present situation. Over the past few races we have proved to be very strong and we must try and continue in that way and keep finishing ahead of our rivals." In order to help Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro achieve that target, Felipe also revealed that there will be a few modifications to the 248 F1: "we have a new design of turning vane, and modified rear brake ducts which should bring us a slight advantage."