As Scuderia Ferrari wrap up three days of testing with the new 248 F1 at Fiorano, which saw the new car running more than 300 laps, Michael Schumacher has expressed confidence that they will be able to mount a serious challenge for the F1 title this year.

“All in all, I’m absolutely satisfied with where we are at,” said the seven-times F1 World Champion this week, adding that "there is still no reason to be less than optimistic." Continuing his upbeat assessment of their chances, the German driver said: Of course, we encountered a few small problems during our tests but finding them is what testing is all about. But in general things are looking good. Renault seem to be the strongest team at this time, but we and Honda are not far behind. That’s my view right now.” Schumacher is very anxious to be able to challenge for the title in what could be his last F1 season, as he has publicly stated that he will make a decision on whether to continue mid-season.

Meanwhile, after all the media hype that surrounded MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi's first public test for Ferrari at Valencia in Spain last week, it was down to work for the Scuderia at their private test track at Fiorano from Monday to Wednesday this week.

The three-day test kicked off on Monday when Felipe Massa gave the second example of the new 248 F1 to be built, its first outing, initiating a programme centred on development of the car. The Brazilian driver covered a total of 100 laps in bitterly cold conditions, three of them on the short version of the track. His best time on the day was a 58.242.
 

Michael Schumacher took over driving duties from his new Brazilian team mate for the second and third days of the Fiorano test. On Tuesday he continued with development work of the 248 F1, completing a total of 121 laps. The German's best time on the day was a lap of 57.652 seconds. Yesterday saw Schumacher continuing with development work on the new car, completing a total of 76 laps, two of them on the short version of the track. His fastest time was a 57.647 seconds.

The Scuderia will resume track testing on Monday 13th February at the Sakhir circuit in Bahrain when driving duties will fall to Luca Badoer and Felipe Massa.

Test Details, 6-8 February: Circuit: Fiorano track, 2.976 km - short course 1.413 km; Monday: Driver: Felipe Massa; Car: 248 F1; Weather: air temperature 1/5°C, track 3/10°C. Sunny. Tuesday: Driver: Michael Schumacher; Car: 248 F1; Weather: air temperature 0/5°C, track 1/9°C. Sunny. Yesterday: Driver: Michael Schumacher; Car: 248 F1; Weather: air temperature 0/5°C, track 1/8°C. Partially cloudy.