Talking to The Times, F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone (right), says that he is confident that Michael Schumacher will not retire at the end of the current season.

For much of 2006, indeed for much of the last couple of seasons, the German's future has been the main topic of conversation, and with an announcement due to be made at Monza next month the annual 'game' of 'musical chairs' is in limbo, as drivers, sponsors and team bosses wait on the seven-time champion's decision.

"Of course it's better if he stays, he's the superstar, and it's good to have superstars," says Ecclestone. "Even if he won or lost the championship, I don't see any reason why he should stop.

"He's still bloody competitive, that's for sure. Any idiot can see that and I can't see why he shouldn't feel anything other than motivated," adds the Englishman. "If he didn't win the championship and he was close to winning it, he'd probably want to have another go and if he does win it, he'd want to defend it, I would have thought."

However, Ecclestone is adamant that should the German retire, F1 would not suffer, it would continue: "When Ayrton Senna died people said to me 'F1's finished' but I like to believe that F1 is perhaps a bit bigger than any one individual. In any case, the public at large like to see young guys come through. Think of Alonso - nobody had heard of him until three years ago - and there are plenty of new kids out there at the moment."