'A further walk to the garage in the morning' - Schumi

Seven times World Champion, Michael Schumacher, started this season in the same way he has done every year for the past few years, taking part in the Thursday FIA Press Conference. Schumacher is ready to race after a long period of testing.

"Yes, I'm up and ready for the challenge this year," Schumacher began. "For sure, testing here in Bahrain has been useful, but it is difficult to quantify until we are all running on track at the same time. It was useful to stay here for a long time, as we have a new V8, new aero configuration and different types of tyre and we definitely made progress. However, the other teams all know this circuit and it will not take them long to get the information they need. Also, when we were here, it was not as hot as we would have liked."

Apart from the better weather in Bahrain, the German thought there were other advantages to the time spent out in the desert. "With many new untried cars on the tracks in Europe, there would be many problems and so the days would be interrupted by a lot of red flags, which made it hard to complete the programme. The opportunity to test freely here was very important for us."

Tyres played a defining role in last year's championship battle and the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro driver had this to say on the subject: "Bridgestone has worked very hard and we have improved, but until the first race, we will not know if we have improved enough."

And finally, what difference does it make to Michael not starting the year as World Champion for the first time since 2002? "I have a bit further to walk to get to our garage in the morning," he joked.