Ferrari test driver Luca Badoer has revealed that Michael Schumacher continues to keep a close eye on what is going on with the Scuderia despite his retirement from Formula One following the conclusion of the 2006 season.

Schumacher brought the curtain down on his glittering career at the Brazilian Grand Prix back in October with Ferrari bosses moving quickly to offer the seven time champion a new role within the team – possibly as a 'super-assistant' to Jean Todt, his former team boss and new Ferrari CEO.

However, while currently relaxing away from the F1 paddock, Schumacher continues to have access to all the Ferrari data during end of season testing, with Badoer revealing to Gazzetta dello Sport that the situation isn't too dissimilar to recent years – when Schumacher tended to miss testing at the end of a season to relax before returning to the cockpit after the New Year.

"I continue to hear regularly from Schumi," Badoer said. "And he constantly keeps up to date with what we are doing because he receives in real time, on his computer, the data that we gather.

"He can see at any moment the telemetry data. So from that point of view, little has changed. Let's just say that he's only a little more removed because officially he's still in a period of rest."

Schumacher will be replaced at Ferrari next season by Kimi Raikkonen, with the Finn currently waiting to get behind the wheel of his new car for the first time.