Michael Schumacher pleased with new Mercedes

Michael Schumacher has declared himself happy with the 2012 Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 W03.

The German had his first outing in the car during today's pre-season testing session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona.

Speaking after the session, Schumacher believes that the new model is an improvement on what he competed in last year.

"My initial feelings with our new car are certainly good. I'm happy with the different evaluations that we have done over the last week, but obviously with the rule changes, we won't know more until later," he told reporters.

"It's certainly an improvement and we have worked hard on the areas we had defined last year.

"The aerodynamics figures look good so I'm not worried about the shape of the nose! Even though we had the hydraulic problem today, I'm pleased with all the mileage we have achieved so far with the new car."

Schumacher has won the Formula 1 world championship on seven occasions.