London, England - Michael Schumacher is celebrating his 37th birthday today but says he is hungry already for a year that could see him bid farewell to Ferrari and his last shot at an eighth Formula 1 championship.
"Let's hope for a better season," he said on his website after the dominance of 2004 translated into a depressing, one-win, 2005.
"It's not looking too bad... there are many things pointing in a good direction.
"Most of all I see the same fighting spirit at Ferrari that I feel," he added. "We're all on the same page; we want to play a major role in the fight for the title (in 2006). So we're going to go for it again."
As the oldest driver on the F1 grid - and the most successful with 84 wins, 142 podiums and 1248 points - he knows he cannot defy time for much longer. Renault and McLaren dominated in 2005, Toyota is spending heavily to move into contention so the German faces an uphill challenge.
Only three men aged 37 or older have won a championships since the 1960's. The last was France's Alain Prost who was 38 when he won the title in 1993, his final season.
Finland's former champion Keke Rosberg, disagreeing with plenty of other insiders who believe tyre and engine rule changes will help Schumacher, told F1 Racing magazine last month: "He won't win another World championship.
"The world - and the World championship - now belongs to the young ones."
Ferrari has said Schumacher is welcome to stay after his contract expires at the end of 2006 and he has said he wants to continue for as long as he is enjoying himself but World champion Fernando Alonso's surprise move from championship-winning Renault to McLaren for 2007 has complicated the situation.
Schumacher, however competitive he remains, is entering the twilight of his career and has a clear successor: Kimi Raikkonen. Ferrari has openly admired the Finn since he finished runner-up to Schumacher in 2003 and paddock speculation suggests he has an agreement with the team.
Raikkonen's McLaren contract will expire this year and the 26-year-old is now the hottest property on the F1 market. With 24-year-old Alonso spoken for, Ferrari needs a star for the post-Schumacher era and cannot wait much longer to see what their greatest champion wants to do.
Brazilian Felipe Massa has signed with Ferrari, but only for 2006, so Schumacher and Raikkonen could be paired in 2007 - but their salary bill would be colossal. Raikkonen will not move unless guaranteed at least equal terms on the track with Schumacher and that would terminate Schumacher's current pre-eminence.
If Raikkonen stays with McLaren? Then Ferrari would have to contend with a "super-team" reminiscent of McLaren's Ayrton Senna-Prost pairing of 1988-89.
Schumacher has said repeatedly that he will not drive for another team after a decade at Ferrari but, as Alonso and McLaren showed, F1 has a habit of springing surprises.
Some in the media have already wondered whether the German might be tempted to join Ferrari-powered Red Bull for a final fling in an Adrian Newey-designed car in 2007.
Now that would be something. - Reuters