Schumacher accepts below par start.

No podium finishes after two rounds of the new Formula One season may be looked upon as a bad start for defending world champion Michael Schumacher, but the German remains phlegmatic when it comes to assessing his - and Ferrari's - performance in Australia and Malaysia.

The first race of the year, at Melbourne's Albert Park circuit, saw pre-race rain cause chaos among a grid determined by the first qualifying session to be held using race fuel levels. Ferrari admitted later that it got its strategy wrong and, having set the pace in the early stages, Schumacher found himself battling for third place towards the end. A frenetic scrap with Kimi Raikkonen also saw the world champion go off the road, damaging his car.

One week ago, at Sepang, Schumacher was again in the wars, this time collecting Jarno Trulli's Renault during the frantic rush into turn two. Not only was the F2002 damaged, but its German pilot was also assessed a drive-thru' penalty for his error.

During a break in testing last week, Schumacher took time to look back at the first two races of the season - and the criticism of both him and the team that followed.

"When you make mistakes, you cannot expect to be praised," he admitted, "The criticism is not hard to cope with, especially as I think there will be races on tracks which will suit us better and where we will have the upper hand."

Asked if McLaren's performance had surprised him, Schumacher claimed that he had been expecting greater competition from the Woking team, but refused to be drawn on the chances of others - such as leading Sepang qualifiers Renault.

"We had predicted that [McLaren] would do well over the winter, and that is pretty much how things turned out," he confirmed, "However, it is hard to assess the Renault performance - they were undoubtedly competitive in Malaysia, but how much of that was down to the characteristics of the track and the conditions there?

"Williams, are they the losers in this early part of the season? At the moment, one can say they are not the winners, but they could have been in Australia. I am sure they know what they have to do and the laps times over the last few days in Barcelona have proved it."

Despite being beaten with its older F2002 in both Australia and Malaysia, Ferrari looks likely to continue with the proven package at Interlagos this weekend. The Brazilian track was the scene of the F2002's debut last year, when Schumacher campaigned the new car alongside Rubens Barrichello's 2001 version. The F2002 won on debut.