Jan 24, 2012, 10:35 GMT
Berlin - Record world champion Michael Schumacher can't wait for the Formula One season to get underway and won't make any predictions until after the first races.
The Mercedes driver Schumacher said in an interview on his website Tuesday that he and the team are on pre-season schedule after he recharged his batteries during a mid-December break with his family.
Schumacher, 43, won seven world titles, for Benetton and Ferrari, and came out of a three-year retirement in 2010 at Mercedes.
The upcoming campaign marks the last in his three-year contract and he will hope to do better than in the past two seasons when he came ninth and eighth, respectively, behind team-mate Nico Rosberg.
'It would be much too early to speak about any kind of forecast now. We have seen prior to last season that the truth is only on the pitch, as they say in football,' Schumacher said.
'You cannot judge the situation properly even after the test days in February. That's why this year I really want to wait until after the first races.
'What I can say in any case is that all our programmes go on full gear, that back in the factory there is no wheel not turning, that we all are working hard in preparation of the new season - and that I cannot wait to get it started.'
The first race is March 18 in Australia while pre-season testing commences on February 7. However, unlike others including champion Sebastian Vettel and his Red Bull team, the new Mercedes won't make its track debut until the second tests later next month.
Looking at his own regime, Schumacher said: 'Since the week after Christmas I am in my daily schedule again, and I think I would not have made it longer without.
'My feeling is that the timing was perfectly right as I am totally on schedule. Saying that, I think the time until we can finally get back into the car is really long this year. My anticipation is growing with every day that is passing; and I am starting to become a bit impatient about it.'
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