For Michael Schumacher is the Canadian Grand Prix is always something very special hopes – team-mate Nico Rosberg on other Mercedes-progress

For Michael Schumacher is the Canadian Grand Prix “is really one of the highlights of the year. That is not because he is the most successful driver on the Cirucit Gilles Villeneuve. But the Mercedes star cites two other reasons: “One is that he always gives me the opportunity to do outside of Europe, something unusual, something entertaining.”

“The other reason is that one senses here that the whole city the Grand Prix. The emotion and the fans – this is very spectacular. This makes it so special,” said Schumacher. The track itself is not so demanding: “In a way it is a stop-and-go course. But the mood and the track characteristics to allow overtaking, ensure that there is something else.” For Mercedes, the goal is to continue the upward trend heralded in Canada.

“We find ourselves with the team in a construction process that is extremely good. I’m very pleased with the way we work and how we move forward,” said Schumacher. “We have not yet the package to be very front. After the winter testing we had not expected. But when I see where we are moving, which is very good.” The new aerodynamics package that Mercedes was in Turkey this has brought the silver arrows from Ferrari. But Schumacher a limit, “But that does not mean that this will be the case here.”

“We have seen how a team was in front and then back again – it’s sometimes a bit difficult to understand and strange, why is this the case,” says Schumacher continued. “We hope that we stay at the front end and so far we could always get the most from the package. Nico Rosberg did a fantastic job, as he has brought the podium.”

And this weekend, a podium is there? “In a wet race there are many opportunities,” replies Schumacher.

Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg agrees, that the “development process” comes on, the silver arrows, even if it is his opinion, still not gone quite according to plan: “We could close the gap still not quite what we had hoped,” says he. “But we really make good progress. In Turkey, we had the F-shaft, which has brought us a long way forward.”

Rosberg hopes that in Montreal goes even further ahead: “Here we have another route. I am confident that we can cut a little bit better and have a good chance at many points. With any luck, could even a podium or something in there a little. They also depends on the weather. I think it will be an interesting weekend. ”

A strength of the Mercedes, the braking performance. Rosberg sees this as an area that could meet the Silver this weekend, finally, the brakes will be charged in Montreal was stuck above average. “I personally really like the track, hence, I think it may be good,” he concludes.

Michael Schumacher says he ground his first day of trying in a GP2 car useful preparation for his Formula 1 return, even if wet weather meant he couldn’t complete any serious running on dry tyres.

With the returning seven-time champion unable to get back in F1 machiney until the testing ban is lifted at the start of February, his new team Mercedes GP managed to get permission from the FIA for the 41-year-old to carry out three days worth of track testing in the GP2 Series’s next-generation car at Jerez this week.

Schumacher, who has spent the past three years in retirement, hadn’t been behind the wheel of single seater since driving a two-year-old Ferrari last summer as part of his preparations for a temporary comeback bid which he soon had to abort due to a lingering neck injury.

The opening day of his GP2 test, however, in southern Spain was hit by poor weather, meaning the track was too wet to complete running on slick tyres.

However despite the rainy conditions and the fact the GP2 car doesn’t put his now-healed neck through the kind of g-forces he will experience in an F1 cockpit, Schumacher says he still happened the day invaluable – particularly as it proved to him his peerless wet-weather skills were still intact.

“The day today was good especially because after a long time I could drive again in a car that came almost close to a current Formula 1,“ he said on his personal website.