Michael Schumacher tested his new Ferrari for the first time on Wednesday in a hurried effort to get the car into action and improve on his underwhelming start to the season.
"My feelings are good," said Schumacher. "I realized immediately that the F-2005 is fast. I can already say that it's a step forward and I am without a doubt satisfied."
The seven-time Formula One champion completed 81 laps around the Mugello circuit for a total of 422km.
PHOTO: EPA
Ferrari is desperate to have the car ready for the Bahrain Grand Prix on April 3, or the San Marino Grand Prix on April 24.
Using a modified version of last year's car in the first two races, Ferrari has finished no higher than 11th in qualifying and twice had their cars forced out of the race.
Schumacher was seventh in Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix, more than a minute behind winner Fernando Alonso in his Renault. Barrichello exited the race on the 50th lap.
That has left Ferrari with 10 points from two races -- 16 behind Renault.
"It's always a great feeling to get behind the wheel of a new car. It's an even more special feeling after what happened in Malaysia," Schumacher said.
On Tuesday, Barrichello completed 95 laps -- about 500km -- in the new model before hearing an unsettling noise in the engine and ending his session.
"It is better in every area than the F-2004 and faster," Barrichello said.
Ferrari said on Wednesday that there was no "specific" problem with the engine that Barrichello used after performing a complete check of the machine.
Schumacher used a different engine for his tests.
In the past several years, Ferrari has waited until the fourth or fifth race to debut its new car. This season, the move backfired with offseason rule changes that rendered the old car nearly obsolete.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later
RSS