MUGELLO: Michael Schumacher completed his first practice laps in a Ferrari Friday since announcing his comeback to Formula One as temporary replacement for the injured Felipe Massa.
However, as in-season testing is banned under new F1 rules, the 40-year-old was only able to get some practice hours in Ferrari’s 2007 car at the Italian marque’s Mugello circuit.
“Although I can’t drive this or last year’s car, I still want to drive as much as I can and this is a good option,” Schumacher said on his website www.Michael-Schumacher.de.
The seven-time world champion completed 20 laps before lunch as security personnel kept the prying eyes of the media away.
Schumacher announced Wednesday that he would return to Ferrari in the wake of Massa’s accident during qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix last weekend in Budapest which left the Brazilian hospitalized.
While the sun shone for Schumacher as he practiced in the F2007 at Mugello, Ferrari sent a letter to the other F1 teams asking for their permission to let the German have one day in this season’s car before he races in the European GP in Valencia on August 23.
Although testing is banned, Ferrari are hoping to make use of a FIA regulation that permits driving for a public relations appointment to give Schumacher a chance to familiarize himself with the F60 car.
Schumacher is certainly facing a battle to get up to speed in time for the European Grand Prix in Valencia on August 23.
“He will try to drive as much as possible to familiarize himself again with the challenges of driving in a Formula One car,” said Schumacher’s spokeswoman Sabine Kehm.
Schumacher flew Thursday from his home in Switzerland to Ferrari headquarters in Maranello to check the steering of the 2009 Ferrari on a simulator as well as getting measured for a specially molded seat in the F60.
“I obviously also used the time to get further advice from the engineers about how we should progress,” said Schumacher, whose last F1 race was the Brazilian GP on October 22, 2006 in Sao Paulo.
Despite Schumacher’s long time out of F1, Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo told German television station ARD in an interview in Rome that he was sure the German would cope.
“When I called Schumacher into the office, I saw the fire in his eyes,” he said.
Massa going home
Meanwhile in Budapest, injured Formula One driver Felipe Massa is doing “very well” and will be flown back to Brazil on Monday, his personal physician said on Friday.
“Felipe continues to improve. He is doing very well and we already decided to go back home (Brazil) on Monday,” physician Dino Altmann told reporters in front of Budapest’s AEK military hospital.
“I think this decision says all you need to know (about his condition),” he added.
Altmann said Massa, last year’s championship runner-up, needs rest and the plan is that he will return to Formula One but no timetable has yet been set.
Massa, 28, fractured his skull in an accident during qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix.
He spent several days in an induced coma and on a respirator but was released from an intensive care unit at the Budapest hospital on Wednesday.
