Schumacher to switch chassis for Spain

As well as introducing a raft of updates to the W01 for the Barcelona race next month, which includes lengthening the wheelbase, team principal Ross Brawn has also revealed that Schumacher will no longer be using the chassis that he had for the first four races of the season.

"It's not a new chassis per se, it's a chassis we used in testing," Brawn was quoted as saying by Reuters on Monday.

"The one he had got damaged during the first few races and we repaired it as best we could at the races. But now we are back at base we are going to re-introduce the test chassis and he will be using that in Barcelona."

Schumacher has been out-qualified and out-raced by team-mate Nico Rosberg in the first four rounds of the season, having struggled to get himself comfortable with the understeer characteristics of the Mercedes GP car.

The team hopes, however, that the raft of revisions introduced in Spain will tweak the car's handling more to his liking.