While his teammate Nico Rosberg did only 9 laps in the car early in the session, the 7-time world champion managed to lap the Ricardo Tormo track only 15 times for a best time of 1:16.450, more than 2.5 seconds slower than pace-setter Sebastian Vettel. Nevertheless, the feeling inside the car counted the most on Tuesday, and Schu revealed he finally felt comfortable in his new W02.
“It's a beautiful car, from the look, and inside, we had little running obviously, but the feeling is positive. Tomorrow we have a proper working day and hopefully proper running,” said Schumacher, who continued by expressing his optimistic feelings about the season to come.
“I'm very optimistic about this, absolutely, yes. Nothing has changed from what we have learned through the winter to the couple of laps we did today. I'm not worried in any way that we cannot fulfill our targets, and that is a minimum of podiums and hopefully victories.”
One more aspect that makes Schumacher feel comfy when thinking about the season to come is the fact that he has adapted more quickly to the 2011 racer, as compared to his previous campaign (when he stepped into the W01 car after 3 years of absence). With one season behind him since return, the German now knows exactly what to do at the wheel of an F1 single-seater.
“I've always been top level, and that's no different to the start of last year. Yes, I was rusty. But that's not the case now. I get into the car and I immediately feel at home. I know what to do, I know all the functions of the car, I know how to drive it. But the reference is not there yet. That will build up in the next days, I guess.”
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