The Associated Press

Jaques Lazier, who broke his back during the Firestone Indy 255 in April, tested his Team Menard race car at Kentucky Speedway last weekend and can't wait to resume his Indy Racing League career.

"It was great. We picked up right where we left off," Lazier said Monday. "The team was excited. My biggest concern was how my back would respond; it felt fantastic."

Lazier, younger brother of 1996 Indianapolis 500 winner Buddy Lazier, was fourth in the IRL standings at the time of the April collision with Tomas Scheckter at Nazareth (Pa.) Speedway. Eight titanium screws were put in Lazier's back, and he spent the next 14 weeks in a back brace.

The 77 laps of testing in Kentucky was his first time on a track since his injury.

"We did a lot of things to see how it would react, like leaving the pits hard, braking hard down pit lane, and I felt great no problems whatsoever," the driver said. "The test was more about me than it was the car, and I have to say it was very successful."

Lazier was to have driven on the 1.5-mile Kentucky track on Friday, but the test was delayed a day by rain.

"I was a little disappointed because I was so ready to get in the car," he said. "But I figured, 'Hey, I've waited six months to get back in this car, what's one more day?"'

FORMULA ONE: The head of Ferrari racing called Formula One's plans to introduce a handicapping system next season "insane."

Ferrari president Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, whose team won 15 of 17 F1 races this season, made his remarks one day after five-time champion and Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher completed the most successful season in circuit history.

"These insane proposals put Formula One's image at risk," Montezemolo said. "I don't think they'll go forward because a sense of responsibility will prevail."

Bernie Ecclestone, the head of Formula One, and Max Mosley, president of FIA, the sport's governing body, have recommended adding weight to a car if its team builds an early points lead next season.

Other big-budget F1 teams have also criticized the proposed handicapping system, which would involve drivers swapping between teams or adding 2.2 pounds of extra weight to a car for each point its driver is ahead in the standings.

Schumacher won a record 11 races this season, clinching his title in July with six races remaining.