Ferrari confident Schumacher's engine will last

SAO PAULO, Oct 21 (Reuters) Ferrari have identified the engine problem that wrecked Michael Schumacher's chances in Japan two weeks ago and are confident the German's Formula One farewell tomorrow will be trouble-free.

''The Suzuka problem was a one-off, we hope,'' technical director Ross Brawn said at the Brazilian Grand Prix, seven-times champion Schumacher's last race before retirement.

''It was a failure of the top end of a valve, where it connects to the collets around the pneumatic piston -- nothing we've seen before.

''So we've been super-vigilant on the build of these engines to try and make sure we can avoid the problem occurring again.

But we don't have a complete explanation for what happened.'' Schumacher, ahead of Renault's Fernando Alonso on wins alone after the Chinese Grand Prix, was leading the race and the championship when his engine went at Suzuka.

It was the German's first such failure during a race since France in 2000.

While he parked up and returned to the pits, Alonso continued to victory and arrived at the Brazilian season-ender with a 10- point advantage and needing just one more on Sunday to be sure of his second title in a row.

Both men have new engines, which would normally have to last for two races, for the Interlagos showdown.

While Schumacher has to go for victory, and may therefore have to rev his engine more than usual, Alonso can play safe and aim only for a solid points finish.

''Our approach is that the performance is there, we'll use it if we need to but we won't use it if we don't need to,'' commented Renault's engineering head Pat Symonds.

REUTERS PM HT1425