Saturday, August 12 2006 15:33 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

London: Michael Schumacher insists that the championship title race is still wide open despite failing to capitalise on Fernando Alonso's retirement at the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday. The Ferrari ace, who fails to finish at the Hungaroring after tangling with Nick Heidfeld three laps from the flag, is given a nominal reprieve following the late disqualification of BMW-Sauber's Robert Kubica.

"Now the gap to Alonso is ten points and we will go into the summer break with this in mind," he said.

"These are ten points that we have to make up in the next five races and I am certain that we can do it. I can say once more that the championship is still wide open." The seven-time world champion is confident that once the summer testing ban is over, Ferrari can make up the points in the final five remaining races of the season.

"We will concentrate all our efforts on this objective. As soon as we can get back to developing our car, we will be focusing on this," he insists.

Schumacher stresses that nothing will be left to chance this time as they prepare for the next round in Turkey. "We should still be in with a good chance. In the last three races we have seen a big difference in performance and, above all, we have seen that changes in the external conditions can have huge consequences. This means that we have to be prepared, consider every detail and fight for each point".