More than a year after his retirement, seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher stole the show on Tuesday, setting the pace, as F1's first post-season test kicked off in Barcelona.

At precisely 9:01am, the Schumacher rolled onto Circuit de Catalunya in a Ferrari, and by lunch he was trailing only McLaren's Pedro de la Rosa for the quickest lap. A banner in the grandstand read: 'Schumi, we've missed you so much'.

Later in the day, Schumacher improved his own best time and moved to the head of the timesheets with a best lap of 1:21.922s two-tenths clear of regular Ferrari tester Luca Badoer.

De la Rosa ended the first day of testing with the third fastest time for McLaren with former DTM champion also in action for the Woking-based squad with the sixth fastest.

Heikki Kovalainen may not know where he is racing next season, but today the Finn was back on track with the Renault squad, setting the fifth fastest time ahead of the leading BMW Sauber of Robert Kubica and Paffett.

Kazuki Nakajima, now confirmed in the race seat with Williams Toyota for next year, was next up in seventh position ahead of David Coulthard in the Red Bull Renault. Jarno Trulli was ninth for Toyota, despite feeling unwell, ahead of Nick Heidfeld, Nico Rosberg and Franck Montagny.
Cliquez ici...


Over at Toro Rosso Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel was joined by Champ Car star Sebastian Bourdais for the first time, recording the 13th and 15th best times respectively. GP2 front-runner Andreas Zuber split the Toro Rosso duo in his all-white Honda. Anthony Davidson was back on track for Super Aguri Honda with the 16th best time ahead of James Rossiter running this week for the works Honda team.

Karun Chandhok made his F1 test debut with Red Bull Renault, setting the 18th best time ahead of Force India, formerly Spyker, which powered onto the Spanish venue with the 2007 car re-painted from orange to white and burgundy, and team owner Vijay Mallya's 'Fly Kingfisher' sponsor logos appear to have been switched from the Toyota garage to a new home. Giedo van der Garde and Roldan Rodriguez brought up the bottom of the timesheets.

Testing continues on Wednesday.
Barcelona* - 13/11/2007
1 . M. Schumacher - Ferrari F2007 - 1:21.922 (+ 0.000 ) - 64 laps
2 . L. Badoer - Ferrari F2007 - 1:22.129 (+ 0.207 ) - 76 laps
3 . P. de la Rosa - McLaren Mercedes MP4-22 - 1:22.687 (+ 0.765 ) - 63 laps
4 . H. Kovalainen - Renault R27 - 1:22.802 (+ 0.880 ) - 81 laps
5 . R. Kubica - BMW Sauber F1.07 - 1:22.883 (+ 0.961 ) - 55 laps
6 . G. Paffett - McLaren Mercedes MP4-22 - 1:23.008 (+ 1.086 ) - 46 laps
7 . D. Coulthard - Red Bull Renault RB3 - 1:23.159 (+ 1.237 ) - 55 laps
8 . K. Nakajima - Williams Toyota FW29 - 1:23.187 (+ 1.265 ) - 66 laps
9 . J. Trulli - Toyota TF107 - 1:23.624 (+ 1.702 ) - 46 laps
10 . N. Heidfeld - BMW Sauber F1.07 - 1:23.671 (+ 1.749 ) - 75 laps
11 . N. Rosberg - Williams Toyota FW29 - 1:23.847 (+ 1.925 ) - 58 laps
12 . F. Montagny - Toyota TF107 - 1:23.861 (+ 1.939 ) - 61 laps
13 . S. Vettel - Toro Rosso Ferrari STR2 - 1:24.048 (+ 2.126 ) - 77 laps
14 . A. Zuber - Honda RA107 - 1:24.065 (+ 2.143 ) - 77 laps
15 . S. Bourdais - Toro Rosso Ferrari STR2 - 1:24.193 (+ 2.271 ) - 51 laps
16 . A. Davidson - Super Aguri Honda SA07 - 1:24.246 (+ 2.324 ) - 70 laps
17 . J. Rossiter - Honda RA107 - 1:24.480 (+ 2.558 ) - 69 laps
18 . K. Chandhok - Red Bull Renault RB3 - 1:24.896 (+ 2.974 ) - 39 laps
19 . G. van der Garde - Force India Ferrari F8-VII - 1:25.317 (+ 3.395 ) - 84 laps
20 . R. Rodriguez - Force India Ferrari F8-VII - 1:26.297 (+ 4.375 ) - 87 laps.
*Times courtesy of Circuit de Catalunya

I bet a 100 bucks Kimi will keep the title 

LOL... i'm not old as Mika, but i'm one day older than Nick Heidfeld

Heikki on track !

Nice.

Any F1 SIM nearby?