Ducati Monster Forum

The Man is back.  Just signed with Ross Brawn's Mercedes GP team.  I really wanted to see him in a Ferrari again but it will still be cool seeing him racing again in Montreal next year and hopefully (fingers crossed) Monza.

The return of Schumacher and the exit of Max "make it hurt" Mosley, along with some rule changes make me look forward to F1 next year.

http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpass_news_item.php?fes_art_id=39715 (http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpass_news_item.php?fes_art_id=39715)

Good stuff, should be interesting.

I honestly don't know how I feel about this. I liked that he went out on the top of his game and didn't just fade, but at the same time I am hoping he's still competitive .

With Ross Brawn there is a distinct possibility that he will be competitive.


I totally understand where you are coming from though.

http://www.crash.net/f1/news/155603/1/schumacher_f1_signing_slammed_by_mercedes_board.html (http://www.crash.net/f1/news/155603/1/schumacher_f1_signing_slammed_by_mercedes_board.html)

Ouch. At least Michael isn't getting the $40M+ he was getting as a driver at Ferrari.

I can see their point though. F1 is all fine and dandy for a manufacturer to participate in as long as times are good, but it's become very very expensive to keep up with McLaren and Ferrari. And now that the rules are tighter that Max Mosely's fur covered handcuffs, it's really difficult to "out innovate" on a budget.

Mercedes' purchase of a majority stake in Brawn is an *investment*, probably not the best in the world, but the money's not burned.

The money spent on Schumi, and spent on running the team, well, that's burned, but the return is the advertising they get from it.

I suspect it's Mercedes' way of trying to get a little more traction with younger buyers.
Trying to avoid Cadillac's dilemma...

it's certainly not chump change but i think even in tough times paying schumi $11.2 million is a bargain, considering the press they've already gotten, the amount of interest it'll generate in F1 next year, and ultimately the increased number of brains (even absent-mindedly) thinking "mercedes..."

imagine if some NHL team was able to bring back gretsky for a year.

They still need to lift the ban on testing.

+11tyb

They should have 3 test sessions, 1 per month leading up to the first race in May with public attendance and allow all the teams to share the expense of the track, medical crews etc. That would avoid a little team like Campos or USF1 from getting taken advantage of by richer teams, but still allow for track time to be available to get the cars and drivers dialed in for the first race.

Apply for the job, to regulate that.

 [laugh] [laugh] I'll just call my buddy Jean Todt up.

Don't here much about Shuuuy these days.   :D

They just did a small piece about his comeback at the beginning of qualy coverage this morn.

On one hand he's old and the talent depth in formula one right now is deep, but his car isn't exactly the best on the grid and I believe they ran out of funding for improvements this year.  I think all told he's had a pretty respectable return to the grid.

Where do his fans stand now?

necro!

I'm still fairly happy with his return in general.  He's put in some good qualifying performances, but a combination of bad luck with car reliability and pushing for too much in the races has left him bone dry this year.

Rosberg is slightly better in general driving the same car, but even though they had the one win, the car isn't stellar.  If Michael doesn't incur the grid penalty at Monaco, you very well could have seen him take a podium or even a win there.  However, thats how his season has gone, so it is what it is.