Michael Schumacher thought his Shanghai curse was about to strike again when the rain fell on the qualifying session for the Chinese Grand Prix.

But instead it was third time lucky for the Ferrari driver as he ended his drought at the Shanghai International Circuit on Sunday, winning at a track where he had failed to finish among the points in F1 two previous visits.

Schumacher's victory took him to the top of the drivers' championship standings ahead of Fernando Alonso with just two races remaining as he finally buried his Shanghai hoodoo.

In 2004, at the inaugural Chinese Grand Prix, Schumacher finished a distant 12th while his team-mate of the time Rubens Barrichello won the race.

And 12 months later the German spun out of the race, embarrassingly while under the control of the pace car.

"The last two years weren't very good for us," said the man chasing his eighth world title.

"Lucky is not the right word because Rubens won the first year and I had a bit of an unlucky moment there losing time, and last year we were just simply not competitive and it was very straightforward.

"I thought (on Saturday) that the way the weekend was going it may be one of the unlucky ones again when things don't work out for you, but obviously the pendulum of luck has swung the other way around and hit me.

"I am naturally very delighted about it for having another win for the championship and for the conditions altogether, just beautiful, and particularly if you don't expect to win a race and just think to keep the damage as small as possible."

Schumacher now goes into the final two races with the slimmest of leads possible. Both he and Alonso are on 116 points after 17 races, with the German ahead by virtue of his greater number of race victories.

And with Japan's Suzuka circuit the next stop on the calendar this weekend, Schumacher is preparing for one of his favourites races of the season.

"It is very difficult to predict the characteristics of a circuit and then to draw conclusions for the cars, which one it is going to suit better to the circuit and so on," he said.

"In terms of driving style and so on, I love Suzuka. It is a fantastic circuit.

"Our car has been good and we have to see if we can manage the tyre situation as we have done in other circuits and we have to take it from weekend to weekend because it is difficult to make predictions."