where would he have to finish not to tarnish his legacy?

if the car is dog then its schumachers fault
if the car is fast straight out of the box then schu is lucky.

haters will always find a way to bash

Just a quick reminder on Schumacher's very last race: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNqMa1QFqX4

If he could only go on with that fading form of his, I'll be fine with that.

yes, but x-mass don't last for whole December, why wouldn't they do it at the begining of the month? there was plenty of time. (gp2 car or old honda car)

or you suggesting that Schumi is waiting for Merc's F1 car to test it and see if it is fast enough, this means that we will have to wait till end of January..

There was nothing special about that race. Well.. let me put it a different way. It was good but it wasn't superhuman. Do you know where Massa was in that race? Way out in front reading a magazine because the Ferrari was so good that day. Michael did good overtakes no arguements, so did Button this year. In 2006, there were races where the Ferrari was in another class. More so then we have seen in the last season. Remember Hockenheim 06? Every other car was a backmarker compared to the Ferrari. It was a good drive, but it was the circumstances which made it great. Not superhuman driving. Annoys me to even have to explain it, because to me it's common sense. And I will probably be called a basher for stating the obvious.

You're not a member of mensa are you? I'm not talking about 'finishing' a marathon, I'm talking about being competitive at the sharp end of a given sport: in F1 getting uber fit in a gym is likely to give you an edge over someone who doesn't, but so long as you don't eat 20 pies a day and drive the car/race regularly to maintain 'in car fitness' (things like neck muscles) you still stand a chance of being competitive; whereas a marathon runner who does no practice running or gym work stands absolutely no chance at all of being at the pointy end of a 26 mile race; it's integral and quintessential to their sport.
I'm not suggesting that you said MS would not be 'preparing', I'm replying to your inference that F1 is much more difficult now than it was 10 years ago because the drivers did 'no where near the same amount of prep' as they do now. I'd happily bet you that if you teleported AS from 1990 or MS from 2000 onto today's grid they hold their own just fine.

Reading Luca's comments it seems very likely to happen. F1 will be good in 2010. There will be alot of tears though. No overtaking in the pitstops will create some drama, sort of like 2005 with the one tyre rule. Like when Trulli jumped the chicane at Monaco hairpin and Fisi went from 5th to 11th in 2 corners.

that was the race of the decade for me, the man was crazy, all those overtakings, fastest lap on his outlap, etc.

great pic!

perhaps the 2 main contenders of 2010...
(with an age gap of almost 20 years)

Thanks; I've not watched any MS clips for 3 years so it put a big fresh grin on my face

and Vettel will beat Schumacher. If anyone has a good chance of beating Schumacher, that's Adrian Newey.

Bla-bla-bla-bla.

It's F1. For almost all drives we consider great the driver needed a great, if not the best car, under those given circumstances.

Plus it's almost as if you are trying to convince yourself, because nobody said that drive was "superhuman".

Hmm, Newey vs Schuey all over again

well the RB will be top notch, i'm not sure of the renault engines tho..

I can only hope that his neck injury prevents him from doing something stupid. He was head and shoulders above the rest, but you shouldn't try to turn back the clock.

rotfl. This obsession with age is a joke.

I started watching F1 because of Nigel in 1986 aged 10. If he wasn't too fat for Macca, why couldn't he even fit in the car till the third race?

What is the explanation that McLaren had to supersize the McLaren before Nigel could even fit in it? That the McLaren was designed for size zero bullemics?

Nigel WAS too fat for the car in 1995, and despite being a massive fan, at least I can admit it.

I definitely want to see more of those "not so special" races. It was one of the best and most aggressive performances I have seen at what appeared to be the end of a great career. MS alone was worth watching the race. Clearly, the Ferrari was good, but MS was doing fastest laps, which were amazing and overtook quite a lot of drivers after his puncture. He made one or two mistakes, but otherwise was faster than anyone else on the track (including his team mate).

What a strange course of events.

Schumacher's return, means that the archrival of one of my favourite drivers(Mika, Kimi), is suddenly the one I am left to support in F1 after all is said and done.

Amazing.

Be aware Hamilton and Alonso fans.

The real King is Back.

Excellent!!

whoa. just imagine of the suspense of the first test days in february. this forum will be going berserk.

Well...

MS in a German Silver Arrow in need of publicity with so many other German Drivers.
Brawn in charge of the German Silver Arrows

And now Todt in charge of the whole show

I hope no strings start getting pulled to make a show.....

Correction The old MS fans will go berserk, everyone else will carry on as normal.

whatever. nevertheless, the tests will be more interesting than usual. not only because MS.

Yep. Although it will be nice to see him back, and also nice to see the Schumacher fans posting again.

In terms of seeing what the new teams can do I would agree, but Schumacher's return will give the general press a story or two.

when a person says F1 driving is not physically demanding other than on the neck its time to use ignore as clearly they have very little to add to any discussion about F1.
Hint ask alonso how he felt when he finished and nearly fainted last season i think he will point out how wrong you are

^ If you'd said 20 or 25 years you might have had a point, but not 10 years. You know who raised the standard for drivers fitness, right?

Mika Salo

BTW, age is no obstruction to drive at top: http://www.ts.fi/f1/uutiset/97415.html

Pertti Kuismanen is 66! He will propably get former Finnish F1 driver as co-driver.
Bets on both Mika's are valid! Oh, one of links leads to their car, great car by the pic!

No, Ricardo Rosset.

Ricardo Rosset. Please....

Perhaps you can remind yourself how dominant his car was and not get too excited about his form then and now.

Michael recovered from being lapped by Massa at one point of the race to reach 4 position which was not very far behind the first position of Massa at the end of the race.
So his performance in Brazil 2006 was exceptional no matter how good Ferrai 2006 car was.

according to Mika (not Salo) Mansell's arms were badly banged up from driving the Macca, and that was the problem. He did fit into the car (at least his mid section did) but his broader shoulders and "manhandling" style meant he need more room up higher.

Why do you think he was able to fit in the williams, when he would have been fatter?

Insightful contribution, excellent.

Actually You seem to be much more excited (annoyed) than me. Relax!

His form was brilliant at that race BTW, however good the Ferrari was, those constant fastest laps and ruthless overtakes were amazing to watch, full stop.

Nobody has suggested than F1 driving isn't physically demanding for God sake; it's patently obviously a question of relativity. Are you being deliberately obtuse, or do you just lack the capacity to discuss this sensibly? Your 'black or white' reasoning and abject failure to think about the points proffered and address questions rationally tends to suspect it's the latter.

odds for schumi shrinking further to 13/2

Your wasting your time trying to tell anti Schumacher people that his last race was nothing short of brilliant. You just need to be a racing fan though to see that it was.

according to the german bild, michael could get up to 17mill € of sponsor money from his overall

or a MS fan, who tend overexaggerate everyting to do with him.

And Massa was not pushing, he was leading comfortably and extracted just enough to win. In 2007 both Ferrari drivers didn't push yet they ended up almost a minute ahead of the 3rd car, I guess they were exceptional or there is something about the Ferrari - Interlagos combo?

Not really, I am just putting things into perspective. MS is a great driver but his car was outstanding that race. And it was dominant the following year as well when Ferrari duo almost lapped the field without even racing each other, so if MS was actually pushing a 100% to recover from his earlier mishaps, he did exactly what he should have done and performed within the capabilities of the car.

im not a betting person, what do these numbers mean?

you can win 13 € for every 2 € you place on Schumacher

LONDON (Reuters) - Michael Schumacher can still be a winner in Formula One even at the age of 41 if he makes a comeback with Mercedes next year, according to former champion Nigel Mansell.
"Age will not be a factor in Michael's story," Britain's 1992 champion told the Mail on Sunday newspaper.

"It wouldn't surprise me if Michael challenged for another world championship."

Schumacher, a seven-times champion and Formula One's most successful driver, retired in 2006 but has told his former Ferrari team that there is a "very, very, very strong possibility" of his racing for Mercedes in 2010.

Mercedes have taken over this year's title-winners Brawn GP, with Schumacher in line to replace Jenson Button after the world champion moved to McLaren. The German, who took his 91st race victory in China in 2006, will be 41 in January.

"It doesn't matter what age you are as long as you are professional, committed and focused," said Mansell, who won his title aged 39 and competed in Formula One until he was 41.

"People have written Michael off as over the hill, I look at it differently.

"Michael has tremendous experience and talent, and Mercedes will provide him with a fantastic package. He is extremely fit and we can take his commitment and professionalism for granted.

"For me there is no downside to this. He's won enough titles, so what does he have to worry about losing to anyone? It may take a few races to get to grips with his car, but after that it wouldn't surprise me if he was to challenge for his eighth title."


YEAH BABY !

Age might not factor into him winning, but 4 years out, how good the car is and how good other drivers and cars are, will do.

I guess that's the same for the rest of the field.