yep and i laughed out loud allen calling him moron. Ferrari wont make any troubles for Schumacher. Period.

Gonna be epic season.

Just doctor confrim the neck is ok and im buying spot at the top of Eau Rouge at SPa gonna fork ou 400-500 €

Hasn't this been touched on before?

sorry i misinterpret, and yeah that statement was definitely a false alarm

'That contract' is to do with Ferrari's road going cars not their F1 cars

Eau Rogue isn't what it once was.

Grab a spot at Pouhon.

Much cheaper.

Better spectacle.

Sure Schumi can think he´s no longer a big part of Ferrari Scuderia, in fact, he´s not, a huge investment has been made to bring Alonso, expectations are very high, but I couldn´t imagine a better PR picture for Santander than Schumacher and Alonso together, and sure Alonso would have valued a lot the presence of Schumacher around, at the end of the day Schumi is the one who could help him more...specially because Ferrari wants Alonso to be their new Schumi.

I don´t think this is about Alonso or Santander at all, suddenly it seems they control the F1 team when sure they have no vote on this, Ferrari might feel Schumi is no longer needed and Schumi sure feels the same, also he might be feeling "it" again, racing i mean, after his aborted comeback this 2009.

Michael will be in Kerpen tomorrow for a karting race with Sebastian Vettel.

he needs to sign for 3 seasons! 1 to develop and bring back the speed, 2 to add another WDC and 3 to overhaul Rubens in the record books!

Also for the chance to have 10 WDCs! and 100 wins.

Anyway, I've got £50 on him for the hell of it. And another £50 on Lewis - for profit.

Can someone translate today's article in the Gazzetta?

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=QAKZ8UOA

makes you wonder if this was mercedes plan all along to get schumacher in mercedes. since they knew how well brawn and schumacher work together.

Schumacher close to Mercedes deal?
12 December 2009

Reports of Michael Schumacher making a Formula 1 comeback continue to strengthen in Germany this weekend, with the 7-time World Champion now believed to have a verbal deal in place to race with the Brackley-based Mercedes team next year.

Although Schumacher renewed his Ferrari contract as a supervisor for the team as recently as in September, it is thought that the German is now in negotiations to bring an end to what had been established as a 3-year deal at Maranello.

Current reports from Bild state that the 40-year-old, who will have celebrated his next birthday by the time the new season begins in March, is now only a signature away from signing a 1-year deal as Nico Rosberg's team-mate, which would also see him reunited with Team Principal Ross Brawn following ten seasons together at Ferrari between 1997 and 2006.

Source: GPupdate.nl

Pino Allievi says that the Circus believes the Schumacher's comeback and Ferrari will not object.
According to Gazzetta, Schumacher should have a test lst week with KTM in Valencia but he didn't. If he agree to return in F1, Mercedes will stop him from racing bikes.
The article continue talking about the fee: 30 million euro for one year (with right of first refusal for the 2011 season) and the first driver status. Schumacher wants the last word on the technical direction.

Sounded about possible until that boldened part.
- Merc won't pay 30 million, 7 maybe.
- Nico will never agree to be number 2 driver

schumi needs first driver status against Rosberg (who did not win a race)??? ....if this is true he is a real coward!!

You believe everything you glean from the press? We've already had a dozen contradictory stories about MS/Merc in the last 10 days. It's staggeringly obvious that many journos and a couple posters here are indulging heavily in the old policy of 'if you don't know, make it up', making rock solid claims that are patently untrue.

Bild and Gazzetta

That has nothing to do with "did not win a race" The best driver cannot win a race if he had no winning material. I think the first driver status is bullshit. Don't waste your time with such speculation.

I still can't understand what has Schumi to gain from coming back to F1.

BTW he will be the oldest driver to attend a race since Mansell in '95, I think.

30 mio?

That's half of Merc's official 2010 budget.

I agree. With or witouhs the number one status he won't be able to match with Rosberg. Schumi is 41 year-old, and he missed 3 seasons. This perioud too much. Lance Armstrong was great this year but he couldn't match with Contador.

Faz reports, more credible than Bild

http://www.faz.net/s/Rub8C6F3503328B4FC284...n~Scontent.html

And when did he say that he wants to return to F1? Did I miss something?

He gets to drive an F1 car? Isn't that enough?

I don't know if he is coming back but certainly hope so.

As for being too old- I certainly don't think so at all. It is a physically demanding sport but not so much that being 41 is a handicap- there is plenty of time to recover between races.

Has it gone straight?

I'd like to compliment fosters35 for starting this thread when a lot of people thought this was a foolish thought.

Actually, Allen was speculating on the reasons reasons why Schumacher may not leave.

Quote:


"It seems that Ferrari boss Luca di Montezemolo is not so keen. He has been saying privately that Schumacher, who has a three year contract with the Scuderia, is going nowhere"

Has there really been any speculation about any other drivers getting the place at Mercedes?

If they didn't want Schumacher to have the spot then there would be far more rumours than Kubica (who has already signed for Renault) and Heidfeld who is only been rumoured because he's German.

If Schumacher wasn't going to get the drive there would be a lot more news about up and coming drivers who were trying to get that spot.

Good for Schumacher if he gets 30 million and number 1 status. If his employer, Mercedes, decides that he is worth both the status and the money then what can you say, it is their money and their team.

Kind of curious why people think 40 is too old. Lots of fighter pilots his age experiencing even greater G forces.

4 WDC on the track at the same time, should make for great season.

He means in the sense that you can now take it flat out every time, whereas once the drivers used to have to judge just how much throttle they could give it.

Don't think either one is true though. The German press only talks about 5-7 million. And no word about Nr 1 status.

Well financial workers and company men are a mass of invisible people that have no face, they might be the random guy in the expensive car or he who walks in a suit. You can kick em and accuse them of greed and destroying economies easily because of that.

Sportsman however do good and cool stuff and it's like you know the people personally since they are everywhere you look. You can easily get dragged along with their careers and thus feel pretty good for em when they seal a big $ deal.

Or something

Probably not 30 million in todays economy, that Mercedes has chosen to stay in F1 is surprising enough. What Shumacher does end up with, provided he does sign, is between him and the team. Cracks me up when posters complain about him getting more cash or higher status within the team. If he gets it good for him and I would think that he will get number 1 status. Ross B. knows how the game is played, Mercedes will be anxious to capitalize on a 7X WDC, and they will all put everything behind MS.

they could pay him one symbolic dollar/euro/pound and let him take 100% of his merchandise income and personal sponsors... that'll be more than enough anyway.

IF the package is similar to what Jenson had been offered, he is allowed to have his own merchandising / sponsorship. And I am sure W. Weber is happy.

IIRC Forbes once quoted his personal merchandising / sponsorship deals was estimated at $45 million.


This is a quote from another link: Luca di Montezemolo

However, the fact remains that Ferrari’s star employee’s merchandise sales are much higher than its own. It is clearly a sore point and di Montezemolo bristles visibly. He is horrified at the comparison. He is said to regret the deal Ferrari signed with Schumacher allowing him to use the Ferrari brand on his own merchandise.

He says Willy Weber’s (Schumacher’s manager) selling techniques are completely different to his own. Weber is looking at the short-term, quick gain. Di Montezemolo is thinking long-term, because he does not want to dilute the brand. He says: “We are not pushing on the merchandising to do everything, Ferrari is far more exclusive. A driver can sell everything because his career is not for so long, so he has to take the opportunity at the right moment to sell everything. We have a very exclusive catalogue with not so many products. It’s a different target and a different mentality of people.”

It is fair to say that when the contract was signed with Schumacher more than five years ago, the value of the Ferrari brand had not been realised and it is not di Montezemolo’s fault that the value has now rocketed.

That part sounds so arrogant. I would think the technical direction has already been sorted to the tune of a drivers and constructors championship.

Without an explanation it is difficult to know what is meant by "technical direction". I don't really get the arrogant part, if technical direction means tailoring the car to his driving style, if he can get it why is that arrogant? Ask for the moon and see what they offer. If you have a problem with this wouldn't it be better to fault Mercedes for giving it to him?

What would be wrong with every F1 driver entering negotiations with any team on the gird asking for number 1 status? How do any of us know that that is not exactly what happens. Hey, I'm Takuma Sato and I will drive for you but I need number 1 status, 30 million, and the final word on "technical direction". Number 2 status, I bring 10 million, and drive what you make? Okay, where do I sign?

This is MERCEDES team, if they want to give it to him then what is wrong with that? Nico may not like it but that's life.

Yeah I agree, MS should ask for test driver status, a free lunch on race day, a chance to make Niko's coffee and to drive the hotel bus to the track.

Do you actually see where I'm going with this?

The point is: Mercedes doesn't have to pay Schumacher 30 million euro's because Schumacher can earn that money easily if he returns by having a personal sponsor who locks out his overal, cap and etcetera.

He is 7 times WDC yet attends Karting races, does the ROC and races a bike.

Doesn't it twig on you that he may just simply love what he does?

Part of his competitive nature, he knows what he is worth even if he doesn't need it. Works both ways as well, you give someone $30 mill and then you make damn sure you give him what he needs to ensure your own returns from your investment.

When Nico signed, he looked likely to have the new world champion as his team-mate so his contract will probably say that he'll have equal status to the other driver. I doubt he'd have left Williams to be Jenson's contractual number 2.

It's also said that it's in Nico's contract that the other driver can't earn more than him.

It's probably smarter to just settle for #2 alongside Schumi. Not because he's unbeatable, but Ross will end up doing his tricks eventually... might as well get it out of the way.

If it's true (at all) I reckon it wouldn't mean that Schumacher get's extra ten minutes with the CAD software or in the windtunnel after the designers/engineers have finished. Rather it would mean IF there's a choice ("Shall we go with more or less oversteery design" for example) he might/could say which he'd prefer.

If I had signed a 7WDC driver, I'd rather listen to what he wants. That's not arrogance, that's common sense.

- IF Nico would, Keke wouldn´t allow that!!! That´s for sure.

OK let's make something clear. There is no way he will accept to come back while having an equal status with Nico that also seems to be quite good. The guy avoided equal status and good team mates when he was young and strong, you think he will go for something like that now?

I don't think he has anything to worry about from Rosberg in that respect. If he were partnered with Alonso or Hamilton, it might be a different story, but Rosberg? No chance.

Michael is in Kerpen with Vettel participating at the Kart Club's Winterpokal (although they don't race in the same cathegory). Of course, a lot of journalists are there trying to get some info out of Michael regarding the Mercedes rumours. Once again he refused to deny: "Sorry, I cannot say anything at the moment." And he added: "You guys are long enough in the business to know how things like this go."

Also Vettel refused to deny the rumours that after Schumi's turn, in 2011 he could replace him at Mercedes. He just said: "2011 is still far away."

OK let's make something clearer.
MS can and should ask for number 1 status, EVERY driver should.
Very few get it, most don't.
A 7X WDC does not avoid anything, he dictates what he wants and in the case of Benneton/Ferrari, they gave it to him. Because he held a gun to their heads? No because THEY thought he was that good and THEY decided he should get it.
or
He is too smart to get caught up in a Lewis/Fernando situation. To win he wants the team committed to him.

I have no idea how good Rosberg is but probably better than drivers like Herpert, Irvine and Barichello. If he is not in Lewis level he must be at Button level.

And let's not forget Mercedes ain't Ferrari were everyone kiss his feet and little Nico made the agreement first under the condition he will be there to go for a championship. He is not gonna agree to let Shumi become his sugar-daddy like Massa.