Sky Sports reported today that Michael Schumacher has admitted to the fact that he is no longer the driver he was when he was young, but that he has insisted that he is still good enough for Formula One.

Schumacher, who is now 42, has been a world champion no less than seven times and it would appear from his recent statements that he is still very determined to go after the top spot in the races that he participates in.

He has spent much of the past 3 years as a test driver for Ferrari after retiring, but has now returned to the racing seat for Mercedes for the Australia 2011 Grand Prix. Schumacher did race for Mercedes last year too but failed to win a race. His last win was in 2006 when he raced in 18 Formula One races and won 7 of them. He was driving for Ferrari that year, whom he had been with since 1997.

Schumacher’s seven world championship titles were won in 1994, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004. He also has a total of 91 wins under his belt throughout his career. Statistically, Schumacher is the best ever Formula One racing driver in history.

Last year was a difficult year for Schumacher, after his fellow racer Nico Rosberg outperformed him but he says he’s ready for a comeback now and is aiming for the podium and some Grand Prix wins as well.

The drivers he is going to be up against include some of the best young drivers of our time. Lewis Hamilton is hungry for the title and is 16 years Schumacher’s junior, giving him the upper hand.

Also Sedbastian Vettel who holds the 2010 Championship title is very strong at the moment and it’s likely we’ll see an excellent performance from him too. Another much younger rival is Fernando Alonso who has been showing signs that there may be an outstanding performance up ahead.

The Australian Grand Prix event kicks off on Thursday 24th March when there will be warm ups, practices and qualifying races. The Grand Prix practices don’t start until Saturday 26th March, and the actual Grand Prix final event race takes place on Sunday 27th March.

These four days will see a whole host of activity including races with Porsche, Mustang and Lotuse as well as helicopter shows. The sponsors of the event are Qantas Airlines – and they will also be offering a display by flying a full size jet very low over the race track for spectators. The final day will also end with a two hour concert until 9pm – all other days the gates close at 8pm.

There will also be refreshments and entertainment for the spectators as well as a howl variety of fun races such as the Ultimate Speed Demonstration which does what it says on the tin. Not only that, due to the new regulations we will see a whole host of new cars such as the F150 from Ferrari which have all been newly designed.