TURKEY: Michael Schumacher chases 90th win as he puts Formula One champion Fernando Alonso under pressure at Turkey Grand Prix.

While Jenson Button lines up as a race winner for the first time in Turkey this weekend, the main spotlight is back on Michael Schumacher or Fernando Alonso. The Formula One title battle has reached a decisive phase, with five races remaining and the only two men on the starting grid who know what it feels like to be a world champion separated by just 10 points. Ferrari's seven times champion Schumacher, the most successful driver ever, is chasing the 90th win on Sunday (August 27) of his extraordinary career to put his Renault rival under real pressure. Schumacher, winner of three of the last four races, was in confident mood at a news conference on Thursday (August 24) in Istanbul. "The circuit is known for us now. We have been here last year, we have the information in order how to drive the circuit, how to use the car for the circuit. But in a way last year as bit of a disaster for us here and we would like to make things up -- that's the biggest challenge for us obviously," he said. Asked the reason for Ferrari improvement in the current season, the German, seated besides team-mate Felipe Massa, joked: "The driver, yes." The Brazilian, who is third in the drivers standings with 52 points, then explained why he thinks Ferrari are having a much better performance than in 2005. "I think last season Ferrari had a very bad year. I think due to many things -- definitely on the car on the tyres. This year I think we put everything, we tried to improve everything that it was not very good last year and I have to say tha the team did a fantastic job. We improved the car a lot, we improved the tyres a lot and the Ferrari came at a very top level. So, that's really amazing to see the team react so quick like that," Massa said. The German feels the title is coming back to him, just as Alonso is confident that he can regain momentum after seeing his overall lead whittled down from a hefty 25 points four races ago. The Spaniard believes Renault will be more than a match for rivals Ferrari for the rest of the season despite being stripped of a performance-boosting damper device. The world champion shrugged off an appeal court's decision to back the International Automobile Federation, the sport's governing body, and ban the 'mass damper' used by the title-winning team since September last year. Schumacher reminded Ferrari was also punished for using a similar device earlier in the season. "At the beginning of the year, we had an issue that we had a clever rear wing solution which gave us an advantage and the FIA (International Motorsports Federation), although it passed al tests, everything was perfectly legal, they were saying 'you cannot use it anymore.' so, we had to take it away, even at this moment I was not very happy about it. Now, something happens after antoher team McLaren protested the solution that Renault was using and they had simply have to accept that situation which that's the way sometimes the sport goes." Schumacher, with Ferrari's home Italian Grand Prix looming after Turkey, could have slashed Alonso's lead in Hungary had he driven tactically rather than fighting aggressively for position. Instead the German banged wheels with compatriot Nick Heidfeld while fighting for third place, retiring but collecting a lucky point when Poland's Robert Kubica was disqualified for having an overweight car. Facts and figures for Sunday's Turkish Formula One Grand Prix: CIRCUIT DETAILS Name: Istanbul Speed Park Total distance: 58 laps of 5.338km/3.317 miles (309.356km/192.233 miles) 2005 pole position: Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) McLaren one minute 26.797 seconds. Lap record: Juan Pablo Montoya (Colombia) McLaren 1:24.770 The undulating layout is one of three anti-clockwise tracks in the championship (the others being Imola in Italy and Interlagos in Brazil). Likened to Spa in Belgium, it has 14 turns -- six of them right-handers -- and four straights. The total seating capacity is 130,000 people. The Hermann Tilke-designed circuit is located on the Asian side of Istanbul, to the north of the TEM motorway linking the city with the capital Ankara. 2005 RACE Raikkonen won from pole position while Alonso finished second, leaving the Spaniard 24 points clear of the Finn with five races to go. He was helped by McLaren's Juan Pablo Montoya, who spun on the penultimate lap while his team were heading for their first one-two finish in five years. The Colombian finished third. Ferrari's Michael Schumacher collided with Williams' Mark Webber and retired. Top six Formula One drivers standings: Fernando Alonso (Renault) 100 Michael Schumacher (Ferrari 90 Felipe Massa (Ferari) 52 Giancarlo Fisichella (Renault) 49 Kimi Raikkonen (McLaren) 49 Jenson Button (Honda) 31

ITN Source | August 24, 2006

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