Schumacher still in training for 2009 comeback

Michael Schumacher has not stopped his new physical training programme even though he called off his Formula One comeback.

"Michael thinks 'I am back in the rhythm so I might as well stay in it'," his manager Willi Weber told the German newspaper Bild.

Neck and other injuries sustained in a February motorcycle testing fall meant Schumacher, 40, had to cancel his planned return in Felipe Massa's car at Valencia.

But speculation is now rife that the seven time world champion, to be trackside at the Spanish port city street circuit this weekend, is still trying to prepare for a 2009 return.

"He was really pushing very hard," said Luca Badoer, Ferrari's Italian test driver who will instead be at the wheel of Massa's car number 3 until further notice.

"He was training a lot, he spent a lot of time (doing that) because he wanted to come back.

"He did everything, he tried everything, he lost three kilos in seven days, he was really pushing one hundred per cent because it was sort of his dream to come back and drive in Formula One again," Badoer said in Valencia on Thursday.