Michael Schumacher says he is very happy to have Kimi Raikkonen back in Formula 1, after the Finn completed a perfect comeback to testing on Tuesday.
Seven-time champion Schumacher last raced against Raikkonen in 2006, before the German retired from the sport. Raikkonen, who finished second to Schumacher in the 2003 season, is back in F1 this year after a two-year hiatus, racing for the Lotus team.
"I'm happy for him, very happy for him," said Schumacher at the end of the day at Jerez. "It is the first day and let's see at the end, and then we can make a proper judgment of what those times were worth. But I am really happy for the team and for him."
He added: "It's great to have so many World Champions on the grid. It is going to be a good show for all of us."
Mercedes driver Schumacher completed half a day of work at Jerez today after taking over from teammate Nico Rosberg, who drove in the morning. Despite using last year's car, Schumacher said the test was important to gather tire data.
"Basically to understand the new tires," he said of the point of the test. "To get the basics right, we can obviously do cambers, pressures, and you can understand the tires. Yes ideally you have the new car, but ideally you want to keep the new car in the wind tunnel as long as possible. So it is this compromise, or this strategy in order to perform the best and we chose a different way than the others. Let's say how it pays out."
The German was happy with how the new rear tires performed, and said they were more fun than last year's rubber.
"The rear end tire is certainly better, a real comparison is not possible because we only had new tires on. They are definitely more consistent and more fun to drive."