Michael Schumacher returns to Formula One after a three year hiatus with the new Mercedes team and today conducted his full day of running with the new MGP W01 challenger.
Seven times a champion, Schumacher has little to prove to his peers, but at 41-years of age, he is relishing the challenge and is upbeat about his prospects.
"Basically I’m feeling quite good," he said after recording the third fastest time of the day. "The main focus right now is to look at the reliability, do as many laps as you can, and don’t worry too much about the lap times. I guess you look at them, but you need to focus.
“I’m thinking we will be competitive, but whether this is a winning car straightaway or not, that’s another story,” he continued. “For me that’s not so important - it’s a long season. We need to be there and taking points from the beginning.
“I wouldn’t expect to be winning right from the beginning. It wasn’t something that I was aiming for and expecting to be the case. But we need to be strong enough on development.”
Schumacher was asked about the pace of Ferrari – his former team – and the German admitted that the team looks ’very strong’, but then refocused on his current challenge with Mercedes.
“It’s been much easier than I anticipated.... I thought it would need a bit more time but it went pretty quickly!”