Schumacher insists he is still good enough for F1

Mar.12 (GMM) Seven time F1 World Champion Michael Schumacher insists that he is still good enough to be competing against drivers decades younger than him.

The 43-year-old is yet to stand on the podium since returning from retirement, two years ago, intensifying speculation that Mercedes might need to move on for 2013.

But ahead of the 2012 season opener, the German great told the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper: "Whether I can still compare myself with my 30-year-old self, I don't know.

"What I do know is that I am still good enough to be here," he insisted.

His team boss Ross Brawn, who worked with Schumacher throughout the ultra-successful Ferrari period, conceded that the record winner of 91 grands prix is now missing a few tenths.

How is he going to claw them back?

"Maybe he doesn't," Brawn told The Guardian newspaper. "Maybe he lives with it and uses his experience and knowledge to compensate."