Schumacher in record form

The Ferrari ace, who could manage no better than 12th in Shanghai after a spin in qualifying and an incident-filled race, set a best lap of 1m15.650 seconds - around half a second faster than the previous benchmark time set by team-mate Rubens Barrichello.

Schumacher's blistering performance, which came on the fifth lap of a run, will be bad news for Ferrari's Michelin-shod rivals because the German was testing tyres being evaluated for next month's Brazilian Grand Prix. The Michelin teams have yet to get anywhere near his time despite also evaluating rubber for the Interlagos event.

Following the dramas of the previous two days, the final day of the test has proved to be less incident-filled. Enrique Bernoldi was the only driver to have any kind of major problem after he understeered off the track at the first corner.