Lewis Hamilton has said that driving on track with Michael Schumacher feels "unique and special", as he prepares to fight the German for the 2010 title, with the Brit also unnecessarily bragging about passing him once during testing.
Hamilton has never raced against Schumacher in Formula One, after making his debut in 2007 following Schumacher's retirement at the end of the previous season. But with Schumacher returning to spearhead the Mercedes GP challenge in 2010, the 2008 champion will get his chance this season.
And after enjoying a brief on-track tussle with him during testing, Hamilton says that racing with the seven-time champion feels more special than with any other F1 driver.
"I had really good fun," Hamilton grinned about the incident at the Barcelona test last weekend, "I was on my long run, on my last stint, and I caught Michael up.
"Rather than backing off, I thought, 'let's have some fun and see if we can get close to him!' It was really, really hard work and good to experience what the new car is like when behind people. So I was challenging, I was learning new things and thinking I need to get past him really quick."
He then went on to brag that: "I managed to get up in the inside of him on one of the corners, and I think he had fun as well - but we were clearly seconds of difference in time [pace-wise] because he was heavier with fuel and I was lighter. But it was really cool."
He added, as he lapsed into talking like a 12-year old discussing Wayne Rooney, that he considered Schumacher to be a "legend", adding that thinking about the fact that the German had seven titles made him think "wow, that's cool".
"It was a unique and special feeling to see Michael Schumacher ahead of me – and know it was him," Hamilton gushed, "It feels different compared to coming up against any other driver, because he is a seven-time world champion. He is a legend!
"You are a legend if you have got seven world championships! One or two [titles]? Respect. But seven, it's legendary! You look at it, and think, 'wow, that's cool.'"
In terms of the new season, Hamilton also said that he was confident that the new McLaren would be competitive in Bahrain next weekend, saying that there was "more to come" from the MP4-25.
"I didn't really know what I wanted to come out with from Barcelona," Hamilton mused, "I did want to know I had a good package and felt comfortable going into the first race, which I have come away.
"I wasn't expecting to be quickest that day – and we didn't even go out and think, 'boom, boom, we need to do practice and qualifying runs'. We did a couple of runs on different tyres and I just got that time – rather than trying to nail a better time. So, there is definitely more time to come – which is positive. It is nice to come away from it on the right foot."
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