Formula One burst back to life Monday with Michael Schumacher presenting his new Mercedes and Ferrari's Felipe Massa back on track six months after suffering life-threatening head injuries. Completing a hat trick of comebacks, veteran Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa made his first appearance in three years as a fully-fledged racing driver when he tested the new Sauber. Schumacher, coming out of retirement at the age of 41 and three years after his last race with Ferrari, had to watch as team mate Nico Rosberg was given the honor of starting the first test since the 2009 season ended in November. The seven-time world champion will try out the new W01 ‘Silver Arrow', an evolution of last year's championship-winning Brawn with a fuel cell doubled in size to satisfy the ban on refueling, in the afternoon. Massa cemented his return with his first competitive session since he crashed at the Hungarian Grand Prix in July after being hit on the head by bouncing debris from compatriot Rubens Barrichello's car. Barrichello was also out on track in the new Williams, making a low-key debut with the team deciding against a formal launch. Britain's Gary Paffett gave the sleek-looking new McLaren its test debut, before world champion Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton get their hands on it later in the week. Poland's Robert Kubica made his Renault debut, after moving from BMW-Sauber while Switzerland's Sebastien Buemi gave the new Toro Rosso first run. The STR5 is the first car Red Bull-owned Toro Rosso have built and designed separately from the Red Bull Racing team, in line with new regulations banning “customer cars”. Principal Franz Tost hailed “a landmark year” for the Ferrari-powered team. “After four years of working in collaboration with Red Bull Technology, the STR5 is the first car that 100 percent down to our own endeavours,” he said. While others shrink, Toro Rosso have taken on an extra 80 staff and expanded their facilities as well as commissioning a wind tunnel in Britain that was bought from Red Bull. “Making predictions ... is a dangerous trap but if pushed, I would say we must aim to finish in the top eight in the constructors' championship,” said Tost. None of the four completely new teams are attending the Valencia test, with Virgin Racing due to unveil their new car online Wednesday and Lotus firing up their car's engine for the first time next Friday before a launch on Feb. 12. Spanish-based Campos Meta have yet to name a partner to Brazilian Bruno Senna while the North Carolina-based US F1 team plan to carry out their first tests in Alabama. Red Bull, last year's overall runner-up, are also missing the opening test to give themselves more time to push development as are Force India.
