In his new role of developing Ferrari’s Formula One machines, seven-times champion Michael Schumacher will take control of the 2008 car next week at the final group test prior to the new season starting in March. Schumacher has been lying low recently, following his tests in the F2007 late last year. At that time the German demonstrated some handy skill, setting decent lap times and showed the world he still had some pace. Schumacher will take to the Barcelona track with reigning champion Kimi Raikkonen in the sister car on Monday, the first time both drivers have been on the same circuit in the same car. Schumacher will hand over the reins to Felipe Massa for Tuesday and Wednesday. Continue Reading
The return of Michael Schumacher to the cockpit for a recent test session has apparently sent shock-waves through the Formula One media. I must admit, I don’t think the shock-waves have reached me, but it has certainly caused a few members of the paddock to suggest the German might want to make a comeback. Mika Hakkinen and Alan Jones have each said that the seven-times world champion might be missing the competitive racing aspect of Formula One, and knowing he can still set decent lap times could be enough to lure him out of retirement. Continue Reading
Day two of the first post-season test at Barcelona got underway this morning, and by the time the sun set over the south of Spain, Michael Schumacher was once again the fastest man on track in the gizmo-free Ferrari. Lapping almost 0.4s faster than McLaren tester Pedro De La Rosa, Schumacher popped in a time of 1m21.486s, 0.5s quicker than his previous effort on Tuesday. Out in force in the sister F2007 was full-time driver Felipe Massa who took over duties from Luca Badoer. Massa ended his day in fourth, just behind Renault driver Heikki Kovalainen. Continue Reading
The first post-season testing session got underway earlier at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona, and somewhat surprisingly Michael Schumacher went fastest in the F2007. Schumacher was given the task of testing the throttle systems on the car since traction control will be outlawed in 2008. With Schumacher’s knowledge of driving cars without TC, the seven-times World Champion is the ideal person to test this. The 38-year-old went around the track 64 times and managed to top the timing sheet with a respectable 1m21.922s. Second in the table was long-time Ferrari tester Luca Badoer, setting a time 0.2s shy of his German team mate. A banner in the grandstand simply read: “Schumi, we’ve missed you so much”. Continue Reading
Ferrari have announced that seven-times World Champion Michael Schumacher will come out of retirement next Tuesday to test the 2007 challenger, the F2007. The Italian team will be at Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain, and Schumacher is scheduled to run the title-winning car with few driver aids to help the team understand how it will work without traction control and other electronic devices. Michael is scheduled to run on Tuesday and Wednesday. Continue Reading
In his new role of developing Ferrari’s Formula One machines, seven-times champion Michael Schumacher will take control of the 2008 car next week at the final group test prior to the new season starting in March. Schumacher has been lying low recently, following his tests in the F2007 late last year. At that time the German demonstrated some handy skill, setting decent lap times and showed the world he still had some pace. Schumacher will take to the Barcelona track with reigning champion Kimi Raikkonen in the sister car on Monday, the first time both drivers have been on the same circuit in the same car. Schumacher will hand over the reins to Felipe Massa for Tuesday and Wednesday. Continue Reading
