Posts tagged Schumacher
Ecclestone tips Vettel over Schumacher for 2010
Jan 2nd
Bernie Ecclestone said that he is looking forward to the 2010 Formula1 season, which will see 4 Formula1 world champions on the grid. The most talked about of these champions of course is seven-time winner, Michael Schumacher, who will return to Formula1 this year driving for Mercedes and has vowed that he intends to record his 8th world title with the Silver Arrows.
Ecclestone, however has tipped a different German driver for the 2010 championship, last years runner up, Sebastian Vettel. Bernie believes that the young German has what it takes to be the champion this year, with Red Bull still tipped to be a strong competitor in 2010.
Michael Schumacher’s return to Formula1 is a very good thing for the fans, media and the sport in general by Bernie’s own admission, however, there are a lot of young drivers who are very motivated to be the 2010 champion.
Bernie knows that Schumacher’s return will not be long lived, whether or not he will be racing in Formula1 in 2011 is still up for debate, however Vettel and the other young drivers will remain in the sport for many years yet and Bernie knows the value of neutering the younger drivers.
Sebastian Vettel has been tipped to be ‘the next Schumacher’ by the German press, he now has the chance to race with Michael and with the world championship at stake, Sebastian will be out to win it. Bernie told German publication Bild “There are five or six drivers that can race for the championship title but I predict that Sebastian Vettel will be the next World Champion in Formula 1.”
With Pre-season testing beginning just next month, it won’t be long before we see how the drivers compare in the new 2010 cars, it’s going to be a cracker of a season.
Montezemolo says Schumacher will drive for Mercedes
Dec 20th
In a bizarre statement, Luca has referred to the “real” Schumacher and to his identical twin, hinting that the real Schumacher would always be part of Ferrari, yet his identical twin plans to return to Formula1 and since Ferrari can’t offer him that opportunity next year, then it may be with Mercedes.
In short he has admitted Schumacher will drive for Ferrari next year, he has said:
“A guy called Michael Schumacher told us at Monza (back in September) he would renew his contract and it looked like his career would finish with Ferrari,” Di Montezemolo said. “But then there’s another one who looks like him, German, same name and decided to do a new career. Everybody in life can do what they prefer, and I understand that there is somebody at 41 years who wants to try again.
“So I think it’s possible this twin, another Michael Schumacher, same age, same capability, some determination and spirit, will drive for Mercedes next year.”
He then went on to say:
The real Schumacher, the one I know, will remain forever part of the Ferrari family. I said it in Monza and I repeated it in Abu Dhabi.
But, it seems he has a twin brother, identical in every way, who seems to have it in his head to go and race in Formula 1 with Mercedes. I don’t know him personally, but it seems we have nothing to offer him: we have two young drivers in Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso, on whom we are counting to deliver a lot next year.
Joking apart, Michael’s current role revolves around the development of our road cars, including the important phase which saw us launch the 458 Italia, which is the essence of technology and owes a lot to research carried out on track with the Formula 1 car. I think that, this summer, when I asked him to stand in for Felipe, after the terrible accident in Budapest, he suddenly rediscovered the desire to race and the fact he was unable to follow through with that, left him a void that we are unable to fill.
I remember how despondent he sounded on the evening of 9 August, when he called me to say that the problem with his neck meant he could not race in Valencia. It’s lucky that, despite the unsporting stance of some, we were able to run him in the 2007 car at Mugello, otherwise Michael would not have been fully aware of his situation. We have tried to move forward with the idea of running a third car, but for the moment, that is not possible.
I don’t know what he will decide for the future, but I extend to him and indeed his twin brother, my very best wishes.
Luca di Montezemolo
By not renewing his contract with the Scuderia Schumacher is free to join MercedesGP, we have already reported that Mercedes do not plan on making an announcement until the New Year, and with Christmas no less then a week away, it seems unlikely that they will announce their second driver until the New Year. Whatever the announcement is, it remains the most anticipated F1 comeback of all time.
