F1: Optimistic Schumacher Ready For Action

Formula 1

F1: Optimistic Schumacher Ready For Action

Michael Schumacher is ready to get the new season started...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted March 09, 2012 Balen (BEL)

Michael Schumacher is feeling good about the upcoming season. (Photo: AFP/Getty Images)

Michael Schumacher says that Mercedes is in a “good position” heading to Australia after a successful winter testing program.

The team had a smooth time in Spain over the past few weeks and did not appear to have any unexpected problems.

“Finally, we can stop trying to read the tea-leaves from testing and actually go racing,” said Schumacher. “During winter testing, we completed lots of miles and built up a really complete set of data, which should put us in a good position for the first race and to develop the car even further in the right direction. We're ready for the 2012 season to begin.”

Meanwhile, Schumacher’s teammate Nico Rosberg is also upbeat: “I had a perfect winter break with plenty of rest, a good training camp and a successful preseason test program where we were able to put a lot of mileage on our F1 W03 car. So we are really ready for the first race.

“After all of the hard work, and all of the speculation, it will be really interesting to see where we are on Saturday afternoon after qualifying.”

Adam Cooper notched up his 27th season as a racing journalist in 2011. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.