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While Felipe Massa might have set the fastest time on the first day of testing Valencia, talk seemed to revolve around the driver who set the third-fastest time - Michael Schumacher. Schumacher set a time of 1m 12.947 secs in the Mercedes GP car, 0.373 secs behind Ferrari driver Felipe Massa. Schumacher was also faster than his teammate, Nico Rosberg, by 0.596 secs. This was Schumacher's first proper outing in an F1 car in over a year.
One man who isn't surprised by Schumacher's pace is Mercedes GP team principal, Ross Brawn. Brawn declared that it would have been shocking if Michael wasn't on pace, and the fact that he has set good lap times just reaffirms the faith that Mercedes had in him. Brawn also stated that while Michael hasn't yet had any complaints about the car, he believed that as soon as the German got more testing time under his belt, he would be able to pinpoint several areas of improvement required on the car.
Schumacher likened his F1 return to his test debut in 1991, saying the feeling was much the same with him getting more excited with each passing lap.
Meanwhile, Michael's former teammate - Rubens Barrichello has a caveat for the seven-time world champion's current teammate. The Brazilian, now racing with the Williams team, has said that it would be best for Nico Rosberg to get out of Mercedes GP. Rubens believes Rosberg will have a tough time partnering Schumacher. "Get out of there, that's the only thing I can tell him," Rubinho declared.
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