Michael Schumacher officially returned to Formula 1 today as he took to the track in the brand new Mercedes GP W01 for the first time.
Nico Rosberg took the initial duties of shaking down the title challenger in the morning completing 39 trouble-free laps.
Schumacher toyed with journalists down the pitlane as they patiently waited for his F1 return, lifting the garage door slightly, raising hopes before slamming it down again.
The seven-time world champion was delighted with his afternoon, “It was a perfect rollout for the new car today. I felt totally comfortable and really had a feeling that everything was very natural.”
He went on to admit that he felt like a kid again climbing back into the cockpit, “It felt just like at the very beginning of my career in 1991 when on the first lap, I thought ‘wow that was really fast’ and then on the second lap, I was just extremely excited. I feel like a young boy again and really enjoyed myself out there.”
Schumacher was impressed with the reliability of the car and how the team performed today.
“We did a good job today, just making a few control checks, and the most important thing was that the car ran reliably. With Nico and I covering 79 laps between us, it was a superb job by the team.”
