Having topped the timesheets for two successive days at Barcelona, despite not having driven an F1 car in anger for over a year, Michael Schumacher had admitted that he surprised himself with the ease with which he re-found his pace.

"Obviously being out for so long raised some question marks for me," he told reporters. "It took me a bit of time, maybe two laps, and then I was back into the groove. And I have to say I surprised myself that I was so quickly on it again."

With (Williams co-owner) Patrick Head admitting that he would not be surprised to see the German return to racing, possibly as teammate to Lewis Hamilton at McLaren, followed by the news that Schumacher would participate in the test - even if partly for pleasure - there has been mounting speculation as to whether race fans might witness the return of the legendary seven-time champion. His pace over the last two days has only added to the speculation. .

"I don't miss F1 because I've always being involved in F1," he said. ""I did miss a bit to get behind the wheel and that's why I'm here today. I had great fun yesterday.

"I don't have the times that were done here during the grand prix weekend," he continued, though the last two days testing have been done with 2008 electrics and are not therefore comparable, "so I have no references. But now you have to consider that it's winter time and always in winter you are quicker, it's the end of the season and the car is developed compared to what we had here at the beginning of the year. So it's normal that things improve and therefore look better than you expected."

"Traction control obviously makes a difference," he added. "They have to work to improve the feeling of the car without traction control."