Following Ralf Schumacher's claim that his brother is no longer enjoying his racing and is on the brink of retiring from F1, the seven-time World Champion decided it was time to put the record straight.

"I don't know how he comes up with that," said the Ferrari star. "I speak with him, and tell him how much I enjoy it actually. Even though I'm not winning, you can enjoy it. You don't need always to win to be happy.

"The race last week, the race in Monaco, there were plenty of races, Imola, that were great fun," he continued. "So I'm not lacking fun, neither do I lack motivation.

"There are phases that are not so successful but we have been so successful that I think it's pretty normal. And for me, I knew it would come... as long as you're competitive and not completely somewhere gone and you have no chance, I'm pretty happy to go through this as I'm pretty sure we make our way up to the front again and we'll be there.

"Honestly," he added, with a grin, "I think he has a couple of other things to think about and speak about."