Michael Schumacher said he would not get carried away by his spectacular start to the Formula One season after he smashed the lap record in today's practice for the Australian Grand Prix.
Schumacher slashed more than a second off the previous record when he steered his new Ferrari around the Albert Park circuit in one minute 24.718 seconds in the second session.
The German could not have made a better start to his campaign for a seventh driver's championship but he said the results, while encouraging, counted for little.
"I am happy with the performance of the car which has matched our expectations after winter testing but we should not read too much into the lap times," he said.
"It is too early to say if this is a true picture of the order of the teams. In fact, I doubt that it is."
Schumacher's performance was all the more impressive because it was not a brilliant drive by his standards. He slid off the track once during the morning session then twice more in the afternoon.
The only driver to get within a second off Schumacher was his Ferrari team mate Rubens Barrichello, who also dipped under the old lap record which he set two years ago.