JANUARY 3, 2002

Schumacher back in action on January 19

MICHAEL SCHUMACHER is still enjoying his winter break and is not expected to be seen back at the wheel of an F1 car until January 19 when he is due to test at Valencia. Earlier testing work will be done by the team's test drivers Luca Badoer and Luciano Burti.

The first serious testing will begin in Barcelona on Monday but there are still worries about the weather in Europe with much of the Continent hit but sub-zero temperatures in recent days with temperatures dropping to minus 10 in some parts of Britain and France. The low temperatures will mean that even in Spain most of the testing will be fairly meaningless (specifically tire tests) although teams will be able to run reliability and engine tests.