Michael Schumacher foresees blooming season for Mercedes GP
Michael Schumacher looks forward to a blooming season for Mercedes GP with the new 2011 Formula 1 car, W02. The driver set the fastest lap time on the second day of pre-season test session at Jerez on Friday.
The day was busy yet bright for the German, as he covered 112 laps at the Spanish track, marking the best-paced lap of the day in 1:20:352 seconds as the team worked closely on the system checks. At the first practice session in Valencia and similarly at the first day of practice at Jerez on Thursday, the team’s car showed some reliability issues and was also off pace. Although some reliability issues were detected at the second day practice as well, the driver believes that the car is improving with every lap and by the time the season opener at Bahrain kicks off, a completely refined and tuned new car will be ready.
Schumacher’s best lap time was chased by the Ferrari driver Felipe Massa, who was 0.0061s adrift the German. Massa stood at the top of the time-sheet at Thursday’s practice, after poor ending of the first practice session earlier this month. At Valencia, the Brazilian’s car caught fire at its rear and did not allow the driver complete many laps before he had to go back to the paddock. The third fastest lap of the day was marked by the 2009 champion Jensen Button, who tested the new McLaren car for the first time on the track.
At Friday’s session, Schumacher tested shorter runs in the early part of the day while tyre evaluations were done in the later half. Both medium and super soft Pirelli compounds were tested, as the driver covered some longer runs.
As the day came to a close, the 42-year-old talked to the media, "It clearly was a productive day, and obviously I am happy about that. We were focusing on long runs and being able to produce such a lot of mileage is positive in terms of reliability. It also gives us good data for the test days to come and for the developments we are working on.”
The seven-time World Champ had an abortive comeback in 2010, as he joined the grids after an absence of three years. Because of immense criticism all through the year, many believed not seeing the driver again on the track; however, the German decided to stay and prove his mettle once again. Earlier this year, he claimed that he had returned to the series with a three-year project. He wants to bag another championship before quitting the sport.
After Friday’s test, the racing icon stated, "We (Mercedes GP) are moving forward, as we should during the testing period but at the same time, we are aware we have to keep pushing."
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