Michael Schumacher Back to F1 in 2010?

Picture by Schumigirl1956




Rumours are rife that seven time F1 World Champion Michael Schumacher will be lured back to Formula 1 next season behind the wheel of a Mercedes following a sabbatical as "advisor" to Ferrari (and mentor to Felipe Massa).

Dear old Bernie Ecclestone's little piggy eyes have lit up already at the thought of the extra cash that would be generated.

He has already been reported in the media extolling the virtues of a Schumacher return to F1 action.

Ferrari boss di Montezemelo has stated that they would not stand in the way of a Schumacher return with rivals Mercedes and that his return would be a good thing for Formula 1 in general.

Whether it will actually happen remains to be seen. After all we have been in this position before a few months ago...

When Felipe Massa was injured at the Hungarian GP, Schumacher was lined up to replace him for the remainder of the season.

However, due to a neck injury he had to abandon the plan and there then followed the sorry debacle of Luca Badoer and Fisi - surely one of Ferrari's most embarassing seasons ever.

So what do I think (assuming it actually happens)?


I have to say that I am not one of Michael Schumacher's biggest fans.

He is undisputedly highly skilled behind the wheel and can read a race tactically much better than many of his rivals.

However, in my opinion he has a crossed the line on too many occasions as to what I would deem to be appropriate behaviour on the track.....


OK, maybe I'm being too polite here - I mean he has a propensity to cheat when things aren't going his way!

Having said that, the prospect of the current World Champion Button competing with no less than three former World Champions (Hamilton, Alonso and of course Schumacher) could make for an entertaining season.

For Mercedes, pairing up Schumacher with a fellow German driver Rosberg, in a German car with a German engine, would be a marketing dream.

It would be interesting to see how Schumacher would fair in the Mercedes after a long absense from F1 and without the familiar Ferrari team around him.....

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Fisichella's Ferrari Swansong

Ferrari have finally bowed to the inevitable and showed Luca Badoer the door after two embarsassing outings as replacement for the injured Felipe Massa.

Following his recent heroics in the Force India car at Spa (first pole for the team and second place finish behind Kimi Raikkonen), Ferrari have snapped up the services of Giancarlo Fisichella for the remainder of the season.

Fisichella has been announced as Ferrari reserve driver for 2010 which would appear to mean it will be hi's F1 swansong, unless Massa suffers a setback in his recovery or Raikonnen/Alonso have an accident (God forbid).

On the subject of Alonso it would appear that his switch to Ferrari, one of the worst kept secrets, is close to being confirmed. As a precursor, McLaren main sponsor Santander has signed a new five year sponsorship agreement with Ferrari.

It doesn't take a genius to work out why a Spanish owned bank would suddenly take an interest in Ferrari!

Meanwhile back at Force India, Liuzzi has been promoted from reserve driver to replace the departed Fisichella.

Today in the second free practice session in Monza for the Italian Grand Prix, Adrian Sutil was fastest for Force India while Fisichella in the Ferrari propped up the time sheet.

It looks like Force India will make another good showing at Monza. My prediction is that Sutil will make it through to the top ten shoot out and I'm sure that Fisichella will improve and probably qualify around 13th/14th.

Even Raikkonen was off the pace today and the gap back to Fisichella was around 0.7 seconds - already a marked improvement on Badoer.

Ferrari - Face Facts - You Can't Polish a Turd!

There is an old, if somewhat vulgar, saying here in the UK - "you can't polish a turd".

Ferrari seem to be trying to do just that with poor old Luca Badoer....

They are keeping him in the car for the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa this weekend despite his woeful performance in qualifying and at the race in Valencia, apparently in the (vain) hope that he will improve.

Let's face it, if he couldn't get to grips with the bland Valencia circuit, how is he going to cope with the rigours of a track like Spa?

It seems to me that Ferrari have completely written off the 2009 season.

They are showing absolutley no ambition despite the fact their car in the right hands, is clearly competitive at some circuits as evidenced by Raikkonen's podium in Valencia.

I would not be surprised if Raikkonen gets another good result at Spa.

There must be dozens of drivers who would give their right arm to replace Badoer as Massa's stand in for the remaining Grand Prix of the season.

When Michael Schumacher broke his leg in 1999, Ferrari drafted in Mika Salo. He did a great job as stand in and would have even won a race, if he had not dutifully ceded the lead to his team mate and championship contender Eddie Irvine.

I would like to see Piquet given a chance and do well.

Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to see him outperform Renault and rub Briatore's nose in it.

On the subject of the perma tanned lothario, I'm just wondering how long it will be before he prematurely ends the career of Romain Grosjean who's first F1 outing did not exactly set the earth alight.....

Schumacher rules out F1 return

Just when it looked as though we might have a bit of added spice for the rest of the F1 season, Michael Schumacher has decided against returning to Ferrari on medical grounds.

Schumacher sustained injuries in a motorbike accident earlier this year and suffered neck pain (some will say he has always been one of those!) when test driving a 2007 Ferrari on track. It is feared his injury would be further agravated if he were to temporarily replace Felipe Massa as reported previously in this blog.

Instead of the mouth watering prospect of the Red Baron returning to the track we have, err, Luca Badoer. Luca who? - Luca Badoer.

He has been beavering away behind the scenes at Ferrari for many years as one of their test drivers and last raced an F1 car around ten years ago so don't expect him to set the world alight.

I suppose given the very short notice this was probably the only option Ferrari had to replace Massa now that Schumacher has also stepped back.

It would appear that Ferrari have written off this season to concentrate of next year.

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