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From autoracing1.com
Schumacher to reunite with Ross Brawn at Mercedes
Seven-time Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher could make a shock return to the sport in 2010 as a driver for the new Mercedes Grand Prix team run by Ross brawn who brought him so many world title at Benetton and Ferrari.
Mercedes this week bought a 75 per cent stake in the Brawn GP team that won this year's constructors' championship with the German car maker's engines, and the company is openly seeking at least one German racing driver for the rebranded outfit.
Nico Rosberg, Nick Heidfeld and Timo Glock have all been linked with the two seats available, though Mercedes has always rued never having a chance to run Schumacher in the McLaren F1 cars it has powered with much success since 1995.
Schumacher retired from F1 in 2006 but was on the verge of temporarily replacing the injured Felipe Massa in a Ferrari last season, only to be forced to reluctantly abandon the plan due to fitness issues regarding his neck.
The 40-year-old has retained a role with Ferrari since retiring, though it has been reported the Italian marque no longer wants Schumacher as an advisor to its F1 team and instead wants him to only continue helping to develop its road cars.
In response to the speculation, Schumacher's spokeswoman Sabine Kehm told Britain's Autocar that "You never say never in this sport".
Schumacher would be expected to sever his close ties with Ferrari if he were to move to Mercedes, the car maker he drove for in sports cars before making his F1 break in 1991 with the Jordan F1 team. We have updated our 2010 F1 Silly Season page above.
Schumacher to reunite with Ross Brawn at Mercedes
Seven-time Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher could make a shock return to the sport in 2010 as a driver for the new Mercedes Grand Prix team run by Ross brawn who brought him so many world title at Benetton and Ferrari.
Mercedes this week bought a 75 per cent stake in the Brawn GP team that won this year's constructors' championship with the German car maker's engines, and the company is openly seeking at least one German racing driver for the rebranded outfit.
Nico Rosberg, Nick Heidfeld and Timo Glock have all been linked with the two seats available, though Mercedes has always rued never having a chance to run Schumacher in the McLaren F1 cars it has powered with much success since 1995.
Schumacher retired from F1 in 2006 but was on the verge of temporarily replacing the injured Felipe Massa in a Ferrari last season, only to be forced to reluctantly abandon the plan due to fitness issues regarding his neck.
The 40-year-old has retained a role with Ferrari since retiring, though it has been reported the Italian marque no longer wants Schumacher as an advisor to its F1 team and instead wants him to only continue helping to develop its road cars.
In response to the speculation, Schumacher's spokeswoman Sabine Kehm told Britain's Autocar that "You never say never in this sport".
Schumacher would be expected to sever his close ties with Ferrari if he were to move to Mercedes, the car maker he drove for in sports cars before making his F1 break in 1991 with the Jordan F1 team. We have updated our 2010 F1 Silly Season page above.
Raikkonen to Brawn Mercedes?
UPDATE (GMM) Kimi Raikkonen on Thursday played down reports he is close to signing for 2010 with the newly Mercedes-rebranded Brawn team.
The Finn's management announced earlier that the breakdown of talks with McLaren meant that Raikkonen, 30, would take a sabbatical next year and go rallying instead.
The 2009 Ferrari driver confirmed the news to F1's official website on Thursday, admitting that a season off before a possible return for 2011 "appears to be the case".
When asked about the reported Mercedes GP link, Raikkonen added: "No, I have not held talks with Brawn. I feel they will run two German drivers next year now that Mercedes are involved."
Earlier on Thursday, his manager Steve Robertson said he could not rule out Raikkonen reaching a deal for 2010 with an F1 team.
The winner of 18 grands prix said: "I have enjoyed my time in F1 and I still have ambitions. In the right circumstances I am very keen to return. The door is open. Let's see what the future brings."
His ties to Ross Brawn pre-date his Ferrari connection (think Benetton), and Mercedes is on record as wanting German drivers.
Plus, he drove sportscars for Mercedes before Jordan gave him his first F1 shot in 1992.
Besides, Vettel is better than Schumacher would be considering the age difference between the two.
Some experts even think that he is better than Schumacher was in his peak years.
The Shop
Anyone that thinks Schuy's slowed down oughta go do their homework on his speed from last/this season's tests.
Not saying I won't watch cause I'd love to see it, but shit, now is the time to enjoy some life.
Schu may be 40, but it aint like he's all shot. Shit, he's in better shape than most Pro Moto guys at 20!
Teams bosses vote Vettel best '09 driver
By Jonathan Noble Thursday, November 19th 2009, 09:51 GMT
Vettel may have lost out on the world title in 2009, but he has been rated as the season's best driver by team bosses in AUTOSPORT's annual top ten.
AUTOSPORT once again enlisted, in total privacy, the driver ratings from all ten of the current team principals to figure out who the key men in the paddock believe was the star driver of the year.
With the rankings then converted into points (on a 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis), the results were collated and have been published for the first time in AUTOSPORT's F1 Season Review, on sale in newsagents now.
And it is Vettel who has come out on top, over world champion Jenson Button - with last year's number one rated driver, McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, coming a close third.
The full AUTOSPORT F1 Team Principals' top ten results for 2009 are:
1. Sebastian Vettel 76
2. Jenson Button 67
3. Lewis Hamilton 65
4. Fernando Alonso 39
5. Rubens Barrichello 35
6= Kimi Raikkonen 30
6= Mark Webber 30
8. Felipe Massa 19
9. Robert Kubica 10
10. Adrian Sutil 8
Vettel was clearly delighted about being ranked as the best driver by team principals, but equally knows that the real target is to achieve the number one spot on track.
"It's an honour to be recognised after such an exciting season with many ups and downs," he told AUTOSPORT. "However, the votes won't help me be faster on the track next year and it will still be down to me to prove myself again next season."
Red Bull Racing boss Christian Horner, who joined in fellow team principals in contributing his own rankings for the vote, was equally happy with the outcome.
"Sebastian had a great year in 2009 and I am certain he has the makings of a future world champion," Horner told AUTOSPORT.
"It's easy to forget how young he is sometimes. He's very mature in how he works with the car and his engineers - and it's remarkable to think that he can only just hire a rental car.
"It's great to see that his talent has been recognised by others and we're very much looking forward to working with him again in the coming seasons."
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/80222
I dont know enough really to chime in on this, but from what is public about him, seems doubtful.
If he wants to drive, there's no room for him at Ferrari. Simple as that. I'm not sure the length of Massa & Alonso's contracts, but at Schumacher's age, he can't afford to wait that out.
I'm sure that Mercedes can (and will) offer him the same kind of retirement gig as Ferrari, and you can't discount the German connection.
I can see him and Nico Rosberg in the Silver Arrows next year.
It all comes down to him, if he wants to drive, he will, and it won't be a red car.
But I too, feel we will see him in a Brawn car next year with ample practice and testing time.
I feel he would have raced in place of Massa had he just a little more time in the car, but with the tight no testing policy it would have been a very hard task to jump right in and live up to the expectations that have come to be expected from Schumacher...so he waited.
But autoracing1.com is saying:
"...This is exactly what they said before it was revealed that he was indeed going to drive for Ferrari (before the doctors put the kibosh to it) ...so we aren't buying it. Especially since we have first hand indications from one of his personal sponsors that they expect him to drive next year. ."
Eddie Jordan said: "I believe the Brawn team will have Michael Schumacher in it next year.
"At Abu Dhabi grand prix, Dr [Dieter] Zetsche [chairman of the Daimler board], Ross Brawn and Michael Schumacher were deep in conversation and I believe it was to do with possibly joining the team as driver for the 2010 championship."
He told the BBC "the possibility is being actively pursued and I believe it is going to happen….” Jordan, a former team owner, pointed out that it was Mercedes who first financed Schumacher’s F1 career, getting him a spot on the Jordan team for his first race at Spa.
He argued Schumacher would make a spectacular return to Formula One in a one year deal, re-pairing the famous Brawn – Schumacher duo which dominated the sport in the late 90’s and early 2000’s.
from autoracing1.com
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