Michael Schumacher finally got to try out the new Ferrari F2005 for the first time yesterday at the Mugello circuit, and immediately expressed himself as being impressed with the new 2005-specification car.

Wednesday saw the third and final day of testing at Mugello this week for the Ferrari F1 team, and Schumacher was on hand to provide his feedback on the new F2005, just twenty four hours after team-mate Rubens Barrichello also got behind the wheel of the new F1 for the first time at the same race track.

“It’s always great to drive a new car and today that applied even more so, after how things went in Malaysia last weekend,” commented Michael at the end of the day. “What I can say after the first day of testing is that the F2005 seems to be a good step forward compared to what we had before.”

The team's Technical Director Ross Brawn stated on Monday that they would be making a decision by 'mid week' on whether to give the new car its debut in Bahrain next weekend, or to stick with the F2004 M. The session at Mugello was swiftly scheduled after the disappointing weekend in Malaysia to allow the team's two drivers to evaluate the new car, building further opinions on top of official test driver Luca Badoer's positive enthusiasm for the F2005.
 

Originally this car was planned to arrive at the San Marino Grand Prix on 24th April, or even as late as the Spanish race on 8th May, two poor performances in the opening two races have sent the Ferrari team into a frenzy. However with Michelin having supplied a clearly superior tyre to the Bridgestone offering in Malaysia it is unclear as to how far the 'interim' F2004 M was at fault for a weekend which saw just two points gained.

Yesterday the German seven times world champion completed a total of 81 laps at Mugello, one on the short version of the track, as he evaluated the new F2005. He set a best time of 1:21.233.

Circuit: Autodromo del Mugello, 5.245 km - short course 2.760 km; Driver: Michael Schumacher; Car: F2005; Weather: air temperature 11/19 °C, track temperature 16/23 °C. Cloudy then clearer skies in the afternoon.