Zoom Schumacher on hand to run the Ferrari FXX

Michael Schumacher was unmasked as the BBC car programme Top Gear's mysterious 'The Stig' on Sunday night. Well, sort of.

The enigmatic white-overalled, gloved and helmeted figure, who for years has anonymously tested cars for the TV show, appeared on the floor of the British programme after breaking its test-track record at the wheel of the Ferrari FXX supercar.

Asked by host Jeremy Clarkson to take off his helmet, The Stig reluctantly obliged, revealing F1's now 40-year-old seven time world champion Schumacher.

Clarkson jokingly asked the famous German what his name was before he became famous as The Stig, but Schumacher answered: "You have to have some secrets. "

However, the true identity of The Stig was unmasked by the press earlier this year as 33-year-old Ben Collins, although the speculation was not confirmed by the BBC and it remains rumoured that the character is actually played by multiple drivers.

A spokesman for the British broadcaster, meanwhile, confirmed that Schumacher was The Stig for the Ferrari segment, but that otherwise the truth would remain ‘a mystery’.

“I don’t think Michael Schumacher is The Stig. I think we made it up,” said Clarkson.

E.A / F.D © CAPSIS International
Source: GMM