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| Why Schumacher won’t race (F1) in 2010 |
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| Written by Kate Walker |
| Thursday, 26 November 2009 17:07 |
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There is only one reason that you’ve seen nothing but Schumacher gossip for the past week, and that reason is Jenson Button. Not that Jenson is going around leaking Schuey news to the world’s media, oh no. But Button’s move to Vodafone McLaren Mercedes took too many of the column inches away from the Brawn GP/Mercedes buy-out, and Mercedes want the inches back. As we learned (again!) last summer, Michael Schumacher’s name is guaranteed to draw column inches, and not just in the sports press. Mainstream newspapers follow Schumacher gossip. My mother follows Schumacher gossip, and she thinks F1 is but a pale imitation of four-legged horsepower. If you can keep people guessing about Schumacher, you can keep your story in the news. Thrice World Champion Niki Lauda this week called the signing of Button ‘a Ron Dennis move’. Lauda told the Formula1.com website: ‘That was a true “Ron Dennis” move - to run a team with two British World Champions. On the other hand, I am sure that Ross [Brawn] was not completely satisfied with Jenson's performance in the second half of the season. But if Mercedes ends up with someone not as good as Jenson, then they've drawn the short straw. ‘ The short straw to which Lauda refers is not just one of driver ability. There are a number of drivers on the grid who are on a level with Button, so in that regard he is not irreplaceable. Positive media attention for team and sponsors is what counts in the off-season. Running two British world champions in a British team loaded with a British title sponsor (Vodafone UK) guarantees national and international coverage when all the teams are fighting to stay in the headlines. Having lost a world champion in the same week that he found a team, Norbert Haug is desperate to get some positive press. Nick Fry and Ross Brawn have been quoted as making some fairly snide remarks about Button in the media of late, and these have reflected badly on the nascent Mercedes GP. The prospect of Schumacher’s return to the grid, however, has led to the Mercedes GP brand becoming associated with the Schumacher magic, whether or not the return ever happens. You couldn’t pay for better publicity, especially when there’s just enough grounding to the story to keep it somewhat believable. Ross Brawn worked with Schumacher during the Benetton and Ferrari years, and was there for all seven of the German’s World Drivers’ Championships. Schuey’s ascent from Formula 3 to Formula 1 came on the back of his involvement with the Mercedes junior drivers’ team. As both men work so well together, there is nothing to stop them from joining forces again to dominate the 2010 grid with the Silver Arrows. Except maybe a sharp dose of reality. If you cut Michael Schumacher (and I’m not suggesting you do!), little prancing horses scamper out in lieu of blood. Were he a tree, his rings would form a familiar silhouette. While he may have got his start with Mercedes back in 1990, that’s half a Ferrari-red lifetime ago. Yes, he’s stepped back from his role as F1 adviser to the Maranello squad, and he’s still to sign his new contract with the team. It’s possible that he will make the move to Brackley, but more likely that he will move to the FIA to work under Ferrari man Jean Todt as an F1 ambassador (or similar). The main reason Schuey won’t be back on the track is that he’s highly unlikely to win. Legend he may be, but preserving that legend for posterity is more important than a few more high-G corners. An intelligent strategist and able driver, it will not have escaped Schumacher’s attention that he won as many championships as he did because there was no one else on the field to compete with. That’s no longer the case. Michael Schumacher is a 41-year-old with a neck injury. He may be in excellent physical condition, but he’s not had a proper examination on his neck since the checks this summer which prevented him from replacing Massa and gave us Luca Badoer in his stead. While it may have improved in the interim, the injury to his seventh vertebrae is unlikely to ever heal enough to be able to withstand 2-hours of G-force for 19 Sundays of the year. Dr Johannes Peil, Schumacher’s personal doctor, described the injury as follows: ‘He had a serious injury to the seventh vertebra of the neck, a fracture of the first left rib and a fracture at the base of the skull, roughly the size of a thumbnail but in a place supporting the whole weight of the skull. There was also a hairline fracture on the left side of the skull.’ It was reported, although not confirmed, that one of the main arteries to his brain was also damaged. Even if these injuries were surmountable, personal pride would not allow Schumacher to attempt a full-time return to the grid. In his last two seasons in F1, the man was slower than teammate Fernando Alonso. His only win in 2005 was the ill-fated US Grand Prix, which Schuey won by being the fastest of six cars to race. Hardly worth writing home about, really. And given that Alonso has since been out-performed by young upstarts Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel, I just don’t see how Schumacher could consider himself competitive in the modern field. Ross Brawn has told us definitively that he doesn’t expect Schuey to be in his car next year. ‘The issue now haunts the media, I know,’ Brawn told German newspaper Bild earlier this week, ‘but there is nothing in it. The media are trying to put together a dream. Michael would have returned to the cockpit for Ferrari but only temporarily. He has no ambitions to start a new career.’ Sabine Kehm, Schumacher’s spokeswoman, has described the possibility as ‘highly unlikely’. The only person still flogging the dead horse? Norbert Haug, who can’t say anything concrete, but is desperate to hint enough to keep the rumour mill whirring. When asked if he could categorically deny Schumacher’s return under the Mercedes marque, he replied: ‘When will you ever say categorically anything in F1?’ I’m saying it right now. Schumacher will not be back on the grid. by Kate Walker for Girlracer Magazine www.girlracer.co.uk
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