Yes it is true Seven-times Formula 1 world champion Michael Schumacher has come out of retirement after signing for Mercedes (formally known as Brawn GP). Schumacher will partner compatriot Nico Rosberg in the team that won the drivers’ and constructors’ titles in 2009 and with team principal Ross Brawn guiding him through every corner can the 41 year-old German racing god clinch another World Championship? Is it even conceivable to think that he will be able to achieve what he did before retirement three years ago, surely his body cannot cope with the demands of F1 at his age?
Yet in an interview with the BBC Schumacher claims he is in the best shape ever and cannot wait to get involved with the Mercedes Team. Obviously a question was asked about his neck after it prevented him from standing in for the injured Felipe Massa and he stated “I wouldn’t have entered all of this if it wasn’t confident,”
“That confidence comes from some serious training with my neck to make sure it can withstand what it couldn’t in the summer. There is no further issue with the neck – 100%.”
This new hunger for the sport which he left behind three years ago is all down to Ferrari, who asked him to return to racing to help out when Massa was injured. Yet I can’t help to wonder that if he could have raced, would he have signed for Mercedes this year. Or would that half a season have satisfied his need to race again. You always want what you cannot have and is this just another case of an old legend not bowing out gracefully?
Schumacher revealed he had spoken to Brawn in November about a potential return to F1 and that the return of the Mercedes name to the sport proved the final persuasion. Brawn and Schumacher go a long way back to when he won his first title with Benetton in 1994-5. Having Brawn by his side once more must have been a huge attraction for the German as well as reuniting with a Team that originally paid for him to race in F1 with Jordan in 1991. It is almost a perfect story for Schumacher to come a full circle back to the team for whom he was originally racing in sportscars, before his move to F1.
Schumacher had signed a revised contract as a consultant for Ferrari, but he told Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo last week that he was off to race for the Silver Arrows meaning Ferrari had to let him go, reluctantly.
I have been lucky enough to watch Schumacher race around Silverstone and I have seen first hand how talented a driver he is. It will be interesting to see how current and former World Champions Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton deal with the return of the F1 ace whilst they are part of the same team.
I wish Schumacher all the best in his comeback to the sport and it would be amazing if he won another Championship, however I just can’t see it happening. Vettel, Button, Hamilton and if the car is as good as last year Rosberg have to be up there in the title contenders list. With the new points scoring system all I know is that it will be very competitive all season long and I really hope Jenson can win back-to-back titles.
