Mamola: "A great moment"

Randy Mamola was completely unaware that the Ferrari legend would be at Mugello that Sunday morning and was busily preparing for pre-arranged runs with three VIP guests - including Miss Italia - when Michael Schumacher suddenly strolled into the garage. Mamola tells the story.

"I heard a rumour that he was coming on Friday but this rumour wasn't coming from the Italian press or from Ferrari so we didn't know whether it was true or not, and then on Saturday I heard that he was riding down from Switzerland.

"Mick Doohan also mentioned that he was coming. They are very good friends because when Michael goes the Australian Grand Prix, he stays at Mick's place, so he mentioned that Michael was coming before going back home on Saturday.

"It was only at 9:30 on the Sunday morning that we knew that he was coming on his Harley and at 09:45 we have the warm-up and I was getting ready because we already had three booked passengers before the 125cc race at 11am

"When I went into the garage to put my leathers on, I saw Michael standing there and he said to me that he wanted to go out on the two-seat bike."

"I told Michael before getting on the bike that I really wanted to show him the amount of grip that these bikes can generate through the corners. I pulled a long wheelie down the straight and blue smoke came off the tyre as I put it down

"I pushed it fairly hard through corners 1 and 2 to show him the lean angle and the pressure produced by this type of bike. I really wanted to show Michael the performance of out bike: the braking, the grip, the acceleration.

"He patted me a few times during the two laps to remind me that he had the British Grand Prix at Silverstone next week and the Ferrari F1 Director Stefano Domenicali also warned me not to hurt him."

"The helmet is a funny story because prior to this weekend I helped Michael when he rode the Ducati in October last year. I was there to help set up the bike and show him the ropes and it was then that I asked him if it would be possible to have one of his helmets for my collection.

"He gratefully accepted but he couldn't give me the helmet he was using at the time and I couldn't give him mine so at the start of this year we went out to a F1 test and I signed off one of my helmets to him and he told me that I'd have to wait a little for his. I didn't see him for a while and then he handed it to me, live on air, at Mugello, which was an emotional moment for me."