Schumacher confident that fight is still on

(27-Jul-98) - Michael Schumacher is confident he can still fight for this
year's world championship despite losing ground to Mika Hakkinen during
Sunday's Austrian Grand Prix.

Schumacher was lucky to bounce back from a trip across the gravel trap to
take third place as Hakkinen raced on to victory. The points gap between
the two is now eight ahead of Monday's appeal over the British Grand Prix
which is being heard by the FIA.

"The race continues," said the Ferrari driver. "I am sure
there will be more competitive races to come from us and I am extremely
positive. The team is working hard.

"Tyre developments are coming all the time and that means I am looking
forward to going to Hockenheim next weekend."

Schumacher's hopes will be boosted by the introduction of the
long-wheelbase version of his Ferrari F300 which was around four tenths of
a second quicker than the standard version of the car in testing at Monza.

McLaren boss Ron Dennis, who saw his team take their first 1-2 since the
Spanish Grand Prix in May, claims that he is not going to get too
optimistic that Ferrari's title challenge is over.

"I think there is a feeling of euphoria at the moment, but we will
only enjoy that until tomorrow," he said. "We will be resilient
because the worst thing to be is optimistic. In Formula One, that is a
weakness.

"We have to be disciplined and we are not going to be frivolous.
Ferrari are not stopping their development and nor are we. We've got a
major step coming at Hockenheim and are hopeful that it will help."

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