Don't look like he's lost much speed by having a year off.

Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:21.922 64
2. Badoer Ferrari (B) 1:22.129 76
3. de la Rosa McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:22.687 63
4. Kovalainen Renault (B) 1:22.802 81
5. Kubica BMW-Sauber (B) 1:22.883 56
6. Paffett McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:23.008 46
7. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:23.187 66
8. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:23.332 55
9. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:23.624 46
10. Heidfeld BMW-Sauber (B) 1:23.671 75
11. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:23.847 58
12. Montagny Toyota (B) 1:23.861 61
13. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:24.048 77
14. Zuber Honda (B) 1:24.065 77
15. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:24.193 51
16. Davidson Super Aguri-Honda (B) 1:24.246 70
17. Rossiter Honda (B) 1:24.480 69
18. Chandhok Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:24.896 39
19. van der Garde Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:25.317 84
20. Rodriguez Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:26.973 87


Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher made an impressive return to Formula One action by topping the times on the first day of testing at the Barcelona circuit.

The German driver, who had not driven a Grand Prix car in anger since he retired from the sport a year ago, posted a best time of 1:21:922 in Ferrari's F2007 to edge the Italian squad's test driver Luca Badoer by over a two tenths of a second after 64 laps.

Schumacher, 38, had driven the F2007 in a demonstration run at Ferrari's home track in Fiorano last month, but only for a handful of laps.

The German showed early in the morning that he has lost none of his speed, immediately setting fast times.

"I think there is a guy called Michael. It looks as though he's got a talent. He will make his way to F1," joked Red Bull's David Coulthard.

McLaren's test driver Pedro de la Rosa was third quickest, over seven tenths of a second behind Schumacher's time. The British squad worked also with Briton Gary Paffett, and both him and de la Rosa focused on running without driving aids on the MP4-22 car.

The BMW Sauber team had racing drivers Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica in action, both men concentrating, like most, on testing their cars without traction control. Kubica was the fastest of the two with the fourth quickest time, with Heidfeld down in 10th.

Jarno Trulli was ninth fastest for Toyota, although the Italian had a difficult day as he was suffering from a fever that makes things harder for him. Trulli, working alongside Franck Montagny, suffered an engine problem near the end of the session.

"It was nice to be back behind the wheel apart from the fact I was a bit sick today with a fever, so it wasn't the best way to get back in the car," said Trulli.

"But we managed to go through all of my programme and we looked at developments for the 2008 car, working without traction control and looking at other test items.

"In general it was a smooth day apart from my engine problem at the end, which was a shame. We have two more days remaining so we will continue to work hard and try to make as much progress as possible."

Briton James Rossiter was back testing with the Honda squad, setting the 17th quickest time in an hybrid car. He finished behind Andreas Zuber, who made his F1 debut at the wheel of last year's car.

Fellow F1 debutant Karun Chandhok tested with the Red Bull team and finished in 18th position.

Anthony Davidson was in charge of testing duties for Super Aguri, who were running with a hybrid car. Davidson evaluated the new controls system that will be mandatory next season, posting the 16th fastest time.

The Force India team, sporting their new colour scheme since taking over Spyker, used Giedo van der Garde and Roldan Rodriguez, the duo finishing at the bottom of the times.

 

was never gonna be slow!

Really amazes me how people like him can just jump in and be better than everyone else out there.

 

One year later and he's still the best .

 

he is the BEST F1 driver EVER,,,

 

Senna was so much better.

 

i reckon so!

 

He is Michael Schumacher, Despite all the crap that was said about him in his last couple seasons, He is a brilliant driver. Would'nt mind seeing him give Hamilton a run for his money

 

care to elaborate

 

Certainly,when senna was in an underpowered ill handling car he still managed to get pole and score a win .

 

Michael had a shite car in 94 and still got the championship. even after being banned for a few races. But Senna was an awesome driver, I agree

 

if senna hadnt of died he would of had more title's and i doubt schumacher would had such an easy time of it.

 

How interesting will it be with him against Hamilton?

 

Definitely!

Senna was an amazing driver, but he was well past his best by the time he ended up in a Williams

 

It would be awesome, and nothing but good for the sport imo

 

without any shadow of doubt

the guy is second to none....... period

 

Very true m8 i think if you combine sennas driving with michaels tactical awareness re pit stops etc you'd have some fookin driver.

 

Exactly that

 

just remember who was leading the championship in 1994 and who was up Senna's gearbox at the restart when senna crashed!!
Senna's time at the top had passed when schuey got in a half decent car,if he had survived he would have retired pretty soon i reckon....but we shall never really know.
He was still a great driver though,no one can deny that...its just that schuey was better

 

even from micheals early day's senna had a very close eye on him , it was reported that senna said to frank williams "i have my work cut out with the new guy"

 

looks like they used schuey for technical expertise for cars with non driving aids as this article explains:

The 2007 champions are tapping into Schumacher's experience of cars without electronic driver aids ahead of the ban on such systems for next year.

The Schumacher camp have made it clear, however, that the 38-year-old has no intention to return to racing.

"It's probably a one-off," his spokeswoman told BBC Sport when his input in the sessions was announced.

"Michael does not intend at all to go back to F1.

"He's testing just as part of his contract, which is to help Ferrari in whichever area he can.

"He is much more experienced than the other drivers in cars without electronic aids, this will be good input for Ferrari."

 

Such Tunnel vision about the 'best driver' , schuey was good, no doubt, but he never had much to beat, they had to use team orders to keep Johnny Herbert and Eddie irvine behind him, and everyone says how crap Hill was...altho he wasnt, yet Shuey had several close seasons trying to beat Hill.

Also total bollocks about the 94 Bennetton being rubbish, its widely known Benneton were operating outside of the regulations with that car.

Fangio et al


Jim Clark, Senna, Mansell, Piquet, Lauda, Prost ( unfortunately! ) have to be in the top ten. Clark was probably the best all round driver ever, tragically killed before his peak

Nice to see him back in anF1 car tho, the sport needs all the good publicity it can get

Bring it on next year with no driver aids

 

Bang on, reason why Schuey will always be seen as a "lesser" amazing driver. He did it all, but against relatively shit opposition. He's still in my top 3 though, but he ain't no Senna

 

really can't stand the bloke, but respect his talent.

was there a karting season a few years back, where he missed most of the races, due to F1, but still ended up winning the championship? could be hearsay, but can't be arsed to check at the mo.

yes, him v hamilton, WOULD be fun.

 

Schuey - his skill is in bringing a team of fantastic people around him - encouraging EVERYONE and therefore commanding an amazing F1 team who are 100% motivated to make sure he wins - thats is an uber skill and he excelled at it.

Fantastic driver - extremely consistent.

Senna was god in his time too.

Schuey just never ever gave up.

All these guys are amazing drivers. Hamilton is top top quality too

RW

 

Lets be honest here, Michael had a shite car which was damaged after he hit the wall and the only way he could and would have won the championship is by driving it into Damon Hill...he could have been in a damn JCB and still would have the championship by causing an accident

 

Schumi can never ever be described as being the best ever because there was always the question regarding his team mates, Schumi was always contracted to be number 1.. the team mates role was to support him, this has been stated by Rubino, Irvine and others and at various times they have gifted him wins either by moving over or by holding up the progress of the competition thus making his statistics flawed.
Senna never demanded to be number one and he came into the Mclaren team against the standard setting Prost and beat him fair and square.... Who has Schumi raced against in the same team, what team mates of Schumi's have gone on to great things themselves ?

A good driver,a clever driver, a calculating driver... yes... the best NO

A test means nothing as do you not know the test procedure of all the teams or what they were working on, or the fuel loads being used....so what Ferrari did a PR exercise for the sponsors, its no different to when they got schumi to ride the ducati !!!!
I still think Kimi would have beat him if they were team mates !

 

Lewis Hamilton had an oppurtunity to prove something this week, instead he's off doing a book release.

 

Naievety at its best....lol



They are all shaking down different versions of different cars, ie last years car with no driver aids, this years car with some old parts etc

Schumi wouldnt have tested had he known he wouldnt be quickest

The F1 publicity machine rolls on

 

Some of the replies on here are comical, Senna was an amazing talent, but people put Schumacher down for two crap reasons, 1. He is German, 2. He tried to take Damon out. funny thing is these people usually are the same people that love Senna, but their memory is so short cos, oh didnt he take out prost to win the championship? Hmmmm funny that, dont get me wrong I thought Senna was a truly poetic driver, but Schumacher was in a league of his own, forget his team mates cos most of them would have given up even half way through a race that they might not have got anywhere in, and whos on about Irvine??? He was all hype basically sh*t. he only got as far as he did cos he was in a ferrari. Schumacher was/is the best allround circuit racer, this was proved time and time again, look at spain 96 the ferrari was a pile of wank back then yet he pulled it out of the bag, was it 95 when he got stuck in 5 gear all race and still won? Monza acouple of years back from the back of the grid, Imola 06 with again a dog of a ferrari still hassled Alonso from a long way back, and brazil 07 so I dont think that anyone can deny him as the best driver ever, and no im not being tunnel visioned, I was a huge Mansell Fan siverstone 86 what an amazing move on piquet!? there is one thing these drivers have in common though, look at Schumacher, Mansell, Prost, Senna, Hunt, Lauda, all the greats as I know im forgetting a few, They all had the Killer instinct, to go for it and not give up, to make every second/corner/lap count right till the end, it is unfortunately why people like Coulthard and Barichello never won the champoinships.

and sorry MattRS1600i, I disagree with you comment about he would not test if he knew he was not going to be quickest, there are a few people there that have been driving regularly over the last year and should have upstaged him, not that he had anything y\to prove, he is 38 which really is nothing as Mansell was 40 wasnt he? but Badoer should have done him as he has done alot of testing in the last year and De La Rosa again one of the quickest test drivers there and testing all year could have shown him the way, not to forget the BMW's have been quick this year and the closest they got was nigh on a second off his pace,

Long live Schumacher

 

 

Strange that Hamilton was off doing a book signing instead of testing, would have been nice to see the lap times of both him & Michael

 

Good driver, but a cheat FACT!!

 

in what way a cheat?

 

 

Benneton 94 - The car was illiegal
Bashing Hill off to win title
Stopping in Monaco in Quali

Those are the undisputable moments of him cheating that cannot be argued against........there are several other well documented times he's been involved in operationg outside of the regulations but those three are indisputable

 

but he's a tosser driver too, wont let people past, will PUSH past others making it nesecary for the other driver to move out of the way to avoid a collision and pushes every loophole in the rulebook to get the fastest car on the track
(for example i think it was 2 years ago when ferrari had a "loose" rear spoiler, which flexed downwards out of the wind to gain a higher top speed on the streights while still maintaining downforce on the corners
even though the rulebook says no moving parts in the aerodynamic sence
he just has a very smart arse team behind him!

 

whereas hamilton makes every corner every oppertunity everything count!
i remember having time off work watching him at monoco, he hit the wall many times pushing the car around the optimum line in the corners just to get the faster laps, also he has racing ettiquet....
im quite sure there is gonna be a crash between schuey and hamilton next season... and im gonna be there to watch it!!

reminds me of superbike final laps (2 riders battling it out full whack for 1st place, inches (and maybe less) from each others tyres.... i only hope f1 will be like this next season

 

Lewis is no saint either..he does have what shuey does tho, the killer instinct


I dont think there will be an accident between them tho somehow

 

I hope Michael does come back 2 show Hamilton how to win a championship & not lose his bottle with 2 races left

 

Hamilton has only just started his F1 career.

Hardly fair to compare him to Schumacher.

I think Schumacher would intimidate him aswell as being quicker too.

Don't get me wrong I'd love to see Hamilton piss all over Schuey.

Chances of it happening; Slim if Schuey was to race next year