He still knows how to do it.

[Skybird]

Michael Schumacher was testing for Ferrari in Barcelona. And although he hasn't raced for over a year, he outclassed the whole field of drivers and marked the best round, being ahead with over 1 second, which is much in formula one. Different to most of today's (young) drivers, he also knows by race experience how to drive an F1 car at competitive speed without traction control (next season it will be deactivated again after, i think, 11 years).

Needless to say that there were some wide grins to be seen and some biting comments to be heared this weekend in Barcelona!

Speculations that he could eventually return to active racing, were again rejected with determination. there is only a chance that he eventually will do testing again.

[Prof]

Originally Posted by Skybird

Michael Schumacher was testing for Ferrari in Barcelona. And although he hasn't raced for over a year, he outclassed the whole field of drivers and marked the best round, being ahead with over 1 second, which is much in formula one.

The gap to 2nd was actually less than 0.4 seconds. That's quite a lot, but testing times mean nothing. We have absolutely no idea what test programmes the other teams were running, or what 2008 components they had on the cars.

Different to most of today's (young) drivers, he also knows by race experience how to drive an F1 car at competitive speed without traction control (next season it will be deactivated again after, i think, 11 years).

Traction control has only been allowed since the Spanish GP in 2001. It was last banned at the end of 1993. That didn't stop Schumacher and his Benetton team running it in 1994 though.

[Konovalov]

Originally Posted by Prof

The gap to 2nd was actually less than 0.4 seconds. That's quite a lot, but testing times mean nothing. We have absolutely no idea what test programmes the other teams were running, or what 2008 components they had on the cars.

True. However it is a mighty impressive effort for someone who has had such a limited amount of time in the car. David Coultard was blown away by Schumi's effort and said, "For those who doubted Michael's quality even for a moment, he has lost nothing."

For the record I do not believe that Michael Schumacher will return to F1. He has nothing to prove anymore. I was never a Schumi fan but the fact remains that he is one of the greatest drivers ever in the history of the sport.