Motor Sport: Michael Schumacher today proved he still has what it takes to drive in Formula One. The seven-times world champion was back behind the wheel of a Ferrari in the first part of a three-day test session at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya.
Other than a few demonstration laps at the team's Fiorano test track last month, it was the first time Schumacher had seriously driven the car since retiring at the end of the 2006 season.
As part of a new agreement with Ferrari to help with testing duties, Schumacher was immediately on the pace and eventually posted the fastest time of the day.
Schumacher completed 64 laps, with his best timed at one minute 21.922 seconds, edging out Ferrari's official tester Luca Badoer by two-tenths of a second.
The German will tomorrow have Felipe Massa for company as all 11 teams focus on running their cars without driver aids under new regulations due to be imposed for 2008.
There were a number of new faces on show, notably four-times Champ Car champion Sebastien Bourdais on his debut for Toro Rosso, with the Frenchman finishing 15th-quickest of the 20 drivers.
There were two other debutants in testers Andreas Zuber for Honda and Karun Chandhok for Red Bull, with the duo 14th and 18th respectively.
Force India, formerly Spyker, brought up the rear with Giedo van der Garde and another new boy in Roldan Rodriguez 19th and 20th.