Ferrari has just announced that seven-time Formula One World Champion Michael Schumacher will return to the sport. Schumacher will race in place Felipe Massa, who is recovering after being hit by a piece of debris during qualifying at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

“Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro intends to put Michael Schumacher in Felipe Massa’s car until the Brazilian driver will be able to race again,” said Ferrari in a statement. Absent from the series for several years now, the now 40-year-old Schumacher will begin a training program that will ultimately determine if he is ready to race at the European Grand Prix on August 23rd.

Schumacher was humble in accepting the challenge and drew attention away from himself and on to the driver he will be replacing. “The important thing is that Massa gets better,” he told AFP, commenting that he was just trying to help out the Ferrari team any way he could.

Not able to contain his excitement, Schumacher did also say that, “as the competitor I am, I also very much look forward to facing this.”

[Source: Ferrari and AFP]

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Top Gear kicked off a new season in the U.K. with two big stunts. For starters, it revealed that The Stig is none other than Michael Schumacher.

More amazingly, however, the seven-time Formula 1 World Champion piloted his very own black Ferrari FXX  around the Top Gear test track completely obliterating the previous record held by the Gumpert Apollo. The Gumpert’s best lap was an incredible 1:17, while the 800hp 6.3-liter V12 FXX crossed the line in just 1:10. As it’s not street-legal, however, we wouldn’t exactly call this matchup a fair fight.

Ferrari chose this busy automotive news day to release more info on the track-only 599xx. At least it would be new info if you missed our coverage of the U.S. debut of the supercar at the New York Auto Show.

We don’t mind giving you a quick run-through of the details. Besides, it’s a great excuse to look at all the new photos Ferrari released.

The most important bit of new(ish) info is that the 599xx has what Ferrari engineers have termed a “Virtual Race Engineer.” This system essentially uses all the onboard computers to calculate what the maximum level of performance the car can achieve on a race track. To do this it takes every bit of data available, including tire temperature, tire pressure, engine and coolant temperature (as well as many other variables) and determines what the maximum level of performance capable by the car under those conditions is.

Unfortunately, if you’re not Michael Schumacher, getting the car to go that fast is impossible… but here’s where the fun part comes in. The 599XX’s computer can then rate you (the driver) on your performance and tell you how close you are coming to the car’s maximum potential – a humbling experience no doubt.

One way that the 599xx’s computer helps a driver get the maximum performance out of the car is through the Actiflow system, which takes in air from under the car and uses two jets to shoot out air through outlets next to the taillights. This way the computer can control the level of lift/downforce on the rear of the car in accordance with the driving conditions.

In total, the 599xx can create 612 lbs of downforce at 124mph and almost 1,400 lbs of downforce at 186 mph.

As for the rest of the info, well, you probably already know by now that the V12 engine has been modified significantly to produce 700hp at 9000 rpm and that the new transmission control unit can now shift gears in as little as 60 milliseconds.

So what are you waiting for… just check out the gallery.

 GALLERY: Ferrari 599xx

More on the 599xx after the jump:

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