LONDON - Michael Schumacher and his Mercedes team plan to gamble on a heavily revised 'new' car next week in a bid to reignite his F1 comeback at the Spanish Grand Prix - and save their season.

LONDON - Michael Schumacher and his Mercedes team plan to gamble on a heavily revised 'new' car next week in a bid to reignite his F1 comeback at the Spanish Grand Prix - and save their season.

The 41-year-old seven-time world champion has been outpaced and outraced by his Mercedes teammate, fellow-German Nico Rosberg, in all four of the season-opening races.

But, according to his long-time friend and team boss Ross Brawn, he remains determined to defy his critics - and the march of time - with a fresh bid to recapture the old magic in Barcelona.

Brawn, the bespectacled boffin who has been the pit-wall maestro behind all seven of Schumacher's world titles and who master-minded Briton Jenson Button's title success last year, said: "It's foolish to say Michael is where he wants to be, but he's very determined to succeed.

"I think these frustrations are just going to make him try even harder. We've not had a fantastic start, but we are still in there because no one else is really dominating and there is plenty of opportunity yet."

Few observers expected to see Schumacher so comprehensively upstaged by a driver 17 years his junior in a new team built around his comeback this season, but Rosberg has done so. - Sapa-AFP