Schumacher - Back On Track

in DRIVERS F1 2010 by admin — March 13, 2010 at 7:20 am | 0 comments

SCHUMACHER BACK ON TRACK!

Introduction:

That’s official: Michael Schumacher, 41, will drive for the “silver arrows” in 2010. Actually Mercedes GP gave a real Christmas gift to itself on 23 December, when it unveiled a contract of 3 years with the hotshot German pilot, holder of the majority records in Formula one with seven titles and 91 GP victories. The latter will be a permanent pilot for one year or more if he can struggle for victory. Afterwards, he will be an advisor for Mercedes and will represent the trademark all around the world for marketing. After powering the last world champion stable, i.e. Brawn GP, the German manufacturer bought off the team in mid-November, becoming the main shareholder with 75% of the capital.

I: Summary of his F1 career:

Michael Schumacher began his F1 career in 1991 by a one-off appearance with the Jordan team, and moved on with the Benetton stable. During this period, he already had worked with Ross Brawn, the current technical director of Mercedes GP. He finally won his two first titles in 1994 and 1995, but he decided to join Ferrari for a new challenge in 1996, bringing with him Ross Brawn.

In fact, the rearing horse was in trouble but the new staff, featuring Ross Brawn, technical director, and Jean Todt, team principal, worked hard, and Schumacher was about to win his first title in red in 1999 when he had a horrific crash at the British GP that broke his legs and that prevented him from being champion. He came back three months later to secure the world champion constructor title to the team. Then, he aimed at developing the 2000 car which will allow him to be world champion at last. Next, the “red devil” walked off and was world champion 5 times consecutively, from 2000 to 2004, but the new switches in the regulation and the emergence of new young talents such as Kimi Raikkonen and above all Fernando Alonso forced him to retire in 2006, at the age of 37. He kept a role of advisor for the Scuderia but he didn’t have a real impact on the measures taken within the team.

II: Relationships between Schumacher and Mercedes over the last 20 years:

Undoubtedly, Schumacher’s enrollment permitted to Mercedes to come full circle. Actually, the German manufacturer trained the pilot at his very early debuts, as he was part of the Mercedes Junior Program at the end of the eighties. In this way, he was involved in a few races of DTM and in the World Sportscar Championship, on a Sauber powered by Mercedes. The German firm let him try his hand with the Jordan F1 team and Benetton, hoping they could enlist him when he was seasoned.

Nevertheless, they failed because of the success of Schumacher with Benetton, but when he took the decision to leave this stable in 1995, Mercedes tried to employ him within the McLaren team, powered by the German engines. Eventually, Ferrari offered the “red baron” a bigger wage. None of the following attempts of the Stuttgart Company would succeed, such as during the Schumacher smash in 1999, due to numerous kinships with Ross Brawn and Jean Todt, which permitted to Schumacher to get on well with them.

Finally, Mercedes succeeded in enrolling him for the 2010 season, because the contract linking Schumacher and Ferrari lapsed last year. On the one hand, the German pilot claimed that he was bored of not racing. The latter, on the other hand and not officially, was also disappointed with the treatment he had received from Luca di Montezemolo, the Ferrari chairman, not only after his career, putting him in a petty role of consultant just to lure sponsors during GP events, but also when he completed it: in 2006 Schumacher had been kicked out because the Italian chief executive wanted to hire Raikkonen, thinking that Schumacher was at the end of his career.

III: Reasons of his comeback:

First of all, experts tend to believe that Schumacher is very interested in meeting again old fellows such as Ross Brawn in Mercedes GP, and in getting back behind the wheel. Furthermore, he will represent the shooting star of The three-Pointed Star, a whole German team.

However, the main problem concerned the Schumacher’s neck. Actually he had a serious crash during a motorbike race in February that prevented him from replacing the Ferrari pilot Felipe Massa, heavily injured at the Hungarian race in July. At that time, Schumacher still underwent the aftermaths of his fall, and wasn’t capable of being on the grid of a F1 GP. But from now on all these issues are solved and he declared that he has a new stimulation, - a new “vital spark” as he said - and that he would do his utmost for the next season.

Numerous former pilots reacted to the return of Schumacher. Firstly, Niki Lauda, a three times world champion, believes that he will be able to struggle for the victory, and to beat younger pilots. It’s true that the Austrian champion did two comebacks during his career: one after a horrible crash in 1976, - like Schumacher in 1999 - and one after a two-year retirement, in 1984, that led him both times to the title. Secondly, Alain Prost, the only one French world champion with four titles, claims that nothing will be quite so easy for Schumacher, because he‘s old and he isn’t used to handling current technologies and rules. For sure it’s not the point of view of Nigel Mansell, who did a comeback in 1994, at the age of 41, - like Schumacher next year - winning a race. Besides Damon Hill, another former world champion announced that people should analyze the behavior of the Fia – Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile. Indeed, the new director of the institution is Jean Todt, a good folk of Schumacher since they worked hand-in-hand during the Ferrari successful era, so the German pilot could take advantage of this.

Conclusion:

Bernie Ecclestone, the Formula one tycoon, is very happy and pretends that it will be good for F1 because it will attract countless spectators, on TV but also on GP venues. Yet, the Mercedes company staff was on strike the day after the announcement of Schumacher’s enlistment. In fact, the manufacturer trade union denounced the cost of the contract: the seven times world champion will be paid seven million Euros a year, over three years, while a part of the touring car, in particular the Mercedes class C output, is relocated in the USA, lauding a costs slump. Norbert Haug, the Mercedes chairman replied that the aim of Schumacher’s enrollment is to draw the attention of people on the quality of the firm. But several car experts highlight that the commitment of a constructor in Formula one such as Mercedes isn’t profitable in this time of crisis. Ferdinand Dudenhoffer, who is a professor at the Duisbourg-Essen University, Germany, showed that each car should be sold between 200 and 300 Euros higher to underwrite the F1 project of Mercedes. It is true to say that all the rest of the constructors have retired since the beginning of the crisis, like Honda, BMW and more recently Toyota.