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Schumacher finds support, critics
Michael Schumacher could find it hard going when he makes a Formula One comeback with Mercedes next year at the age of 41, former rival Damon Hill warned on Thursday.
Michael Schumacher could find it hard going when he makes a Formula One comeback with Mercedes next year at the age of 41, former rival Damon Hill warned on Thursday.
“At some point the season is going to get very tough and is going to get unpleasant and it might bring back memories of why you retired in the first place,” Britain’s 1996 world champion told BBC radio.
“We’ll have to see. A season is a long time and it will put Michael through a severe test of his ability.”
Hill, who battled with the seven times world champion repeatedly in the mid-1990s, said Schumacher had plenty going for him, with close friend Ross Brawn running the team that won both titles this year as Brawn GP.
Since Schumacher retired in 2006, Max Mosley has also been replaced as head of the governing International Automobile Federation (FIA) by the German’s former Ferrari team boss Jean Todt.
“There’s going to be a lot of interested viewers watching the sport for that one, because the suspicion was always that Michael got a little bit of favouritism from the FIA,” he said. “I think the FIA are going to have to be on their toes to make sure that there is no suspicion of that in the coming season.”
Former champion Niki Lauda, who retired in 1979 and then returned in 1982 to win a third title with McLaren in 1984, said rivals would be looking for signs of weakness from the sport's most successful driver.
“Apart from Gilles Villeneuve...it was more a case of the young guys eyeing me warily and thinking 'is the old fart up to the job any longer?',” the Austrian wrote in the Guardian newspaper.
Wife offers support for comeback
Michael Schumacher’s wife voiced support on Thursday for the seven-time world champion’s Formula One comeback and said the 40-year-old simply needs the challenge.
In comments posted on the German driver’s Web site, his wife Corinna acknowledged that his decision is “turning our family life upside down.”
But “Michael simply needs challenges _ that’s just the way he is,” she added. “I can really understand his decision and, to be honest, I actually think it’s great.”
Schumacher is coming out of retirement after three years to drive for the Mercedes team, which has taken over world championship winning team Brawn, in 2010. Norbert Haug, vice president of motor sport at Mercedes, portrayed the comeback as a useful investment for the company.
Schumacher’s return “will sell a great many cars and draw a great many people’s attention to the quality of the (Mercedes) star,” Haug told Germany’s ZDF television late Wednesday. Financial terms were not disclosed, but Germany’s Bild daily has reported that Schumacher would earn euro7 million ($10 million) under an initial one-year contract.
