By SALVATORE ZANCA

Associated Press Writer

SEPANG, Malaysia (AP) Four-time Formula One champion Michael Schumacher confirmed Thursday that he'll still be using last year's model Ferrari for this weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix.

But if he does as well with it as he did last time, he can look to his third consecutive victory here.

Schumacher has been virtually unbeatable in Malaysia. At the debut Formula One race in 1999, he came back from a three-month layoff due to a broken leg and won the pole. He was in the lead before purposely giving way to then-teammate Eddie Irvine, who was still in contention for the season title.

In the last race of the 2000 season, Schumacher helped Ferrari clinch the team title after winning the driver's championship a race earlier. In 2001, it was more of the same - Schumacher leading a 1-2 Ferrari finish.

At age 33, Schumacher is unquestionably the dominant force in Formula One. He won the last two driver's titles, with a 58-point gap last year over McLaren's David Coulthard.

At this season's opener two weeks ago in Australia, he again won handily in his quest to win a fifth title, tying Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio.

Still, Schumacher tries to put himself in a competitive mindset

"I love competition and if I can be the winner, that's fine with me," Schumacher said Thursday. "I don't think I have been over-dominant. If you take last year, I don't think we have seen so many different winners in one year."

Five different drivers won some of the 17 races in 2001. But Schumacher beat all the other four combined, with nine victories.

Schumacher remains unsure when Ferrari's 2002 model will be ready. Ferrari plans to test it in Barcelona, Spain, before the next Grand Prix in Brazil on March 31.

"Although testing has gone very well there always remains a certain amount of conservativeness, especially after the amount of performance we have been able to do with the old car," Schumacher said.

"We want to be 100 percent certain that nothing goes wrong. I would assume we will race the new car in Brazil. But it is not fixed."

Schumacher said that the older model has been updated since he raced in Malaysia a year ago, with a few aerodynamic changes and improvements to the engine.

It was good enough to win in Melbourne, where Schumacher emerged from the wreckage of a major pileup on the first corner and went on to win his third consecutive Australian Grand Prix.

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