Michael Schumacher's manager Willi Weber on Wednesday kept speculation alive that the seven-time champion could return to Formula One.

Weber told the German weekly Bunte that, after the German had to call off his 2009 return to replace the injured Felipe Massa for health reasons, Schumacher is now fit.

"His neck is also completely fine, just like his entire psyche," Weber said. "He could drive for victories."

Triple world champion and German-language commentator Niki Lauda, however, doesn't believe the most successful driver in F1's history is about to stage a full comeback.

Referring to the rumours, the 60-year-old Austrian said: "I don't believe that there is one single grain of truth in them, at least from all the signals that I get."

Lauda said he can understand Schumacher's desire to fill in until Massa recovered this year, "but I cannot believe that he would be up for a full season".

"Why then he did stop racing in the first place?" he told F1's official website. "But that is my personal opinion."

Source: GMM

Triple world champion Niki Lauda believes the rumours that Michael Schumacher will make a Formula 1 comeback next year are highly implausible.

A lingering neck injury forced Schumacher to abort plans to deputise for Felipe Massa at Ferrari during the summer, but he has recently been tipped for a 2010 return with the rebranded Mercedes Grand Prix team.

The fact that the seven-time champion was a Mercedes protégé in his youth, his close ties with team principal Ross Brawn, and the regret he expressed at missing his opportunity to race again have all fuelled speculation that he might be tempted to join Nico Rosberg in an all-German driver line-up.

Schumacher’s spokeswoman has insisted no negotiations are taking place, but Mercedes – which now owns 75.1% of the Brackley-based squad and is likely to have a big say in driver choices – has not denied that it is targeting the 40-year-old.
But Lauda, who walked away from F1 in the middle of the 1979 season and then made a successful return in 1982, finds it hard to believe that Schumacher would make a full-time comeback.
“I don’t believe that there is one single grain of truth in [the rumours], at least from all the signals that I get,” he told F1’s official website.

“There was a window of opportunity after Felipe’s accident and had Michael been fit he would have taken up that chance to race for three or four races – to prove himself, get the adrenaline rush, and see where he stood in the pecking order.

“But I cannot believe that he would be up for a full season.
“Why then he did stop racing in the first place? But that is my personal opinion.”

Lauda believes the Mercedes takeover of Brawn GP will serve the German manufacturer’s marketing interests perfectly, particularly since the team will compete in the iconic Silver Arrows livery made famous in the 1930s.

But the Austrian says that with reigning world champion Jenson Button having defected to McLaren, Mercedes needs a star driver to strengthen its challenge and keep Rosberg on his toes.
“The takeover of Brawn GP was a masterly achievement,” said Lauda.

“Now it is important to proceed in this same manner by having a very close look at the important issue of the driver line-up.
“With the Button departure, Rosberg is at the moment their only driver - a good man for sure, but good men get even better with a team mate that gives them a hard time 24 hours a day.

“That is positive, performance and development-wise.
“They have to be very careful now in their selection, trying to get a top man for the second cockpit.

“Otherwise the advantage will be on Red Bull’s and [Sebastian] Vettel’s side - and they might find themselves riding on Red Bull's coat tails.”

For months it’s been merely an option. Now it looks set to become a reality. Kimi Raikkonen will take a one-year sabbatical from Formula One racing in 2010, to bridge the gap from one competitive car to another - or so he hopes. Some fear the recent Abu Dhabi Grand Prix may have been the Finn’s last race, and that would be a shame - seeing a great character leave the paddock with no further ado. Then again, the ‘Iceman’ can usually be relied on to surprise…

Q: Kimi, we learned yesterday that you are thinking of taking a year off from Formula One racing. What is the state of affairs?
Kimi Raikkonen: Yes, that appears to be the case. I could not agree terms with McLaren so I have decided to take a one-year sabbatical.

Q: You always said that your staying in Formula One was dependant on having a competitive car. Presumably you now feel this is not achievable for 2010?
KR: Yes. I felt McLaren offered the best opportunity to win races and challenge for the drivers’ championship and if that would not work the one-year break is the result. And to be honest, I will only return in 2011 if a competitive drive is available.

Q: What would you do in that year off? Rallying? Look for other talents lurking within you?
KR: I do not know yet. I will look at competing in rallying. Again, naturally I want to drive a competitive car. If not I will spend more time with my family and friends.

Q: And how convinced are you that you will be back in 2011? Couldn’t going now mean the end of your Formula One career? Are you ready for that?
KR: As I said, I will only return in 2011 if I can drive a competitive car. I do not want to race just to make up the numbers. That does not interest me. But there’s a lot of time until then, so let’s wait and see what happens in the months ahead.

Q: The McLaren route is now blocked following their signing of Jenson Button. What brought your negotiations with them to a halt?
KR: My management held many meetings with McLaren. Unfortunately, certain issues could not be resolved. We knew in the last three or four days that it would be highly unlikely a deal could be reached. Now we know it is definite.

Q: What about moving to the newly formed Mercedes GP team? Have you put out any feelers towards Brackley?
KR: No, I have not held talks with Brawn. I feel they will run two German drivers next year now that Mercedes are involved.

Q: There was a lot of speculation concerning the role salary played in Button’s switch to McLaren - and lots of reports suggesting the same team were unwilling to meet your pay demands. What is your position on bargaining for salary?
KR: I feel a good driver can make a bigger difference nowadays. If you look at how close the whole grid was this year, if a driver can lap two-tenths faster that is worth many positions on the grid. That could easily be the difference between winning and losing.

Q: 2009 was your ninth season in Formula One racing. Have you achieved what you wanted? Your Ferrari successor Alonso was quoted as saying that after Ferrari he will quit, because after Ferrari any other team is a step down. So you could go out with your head held high…
KR: I achieved my dream of winning the drivers’ world championship. I would like to win another championship, but I can only do that if I have a competitive car. It’s that simple.

Q: How much of a petrol head still lays within Kimi Raikkonen?
KR: I have enjoyed my time in F1 and I still have ambitions. In the right circumstances I am very keen to return. The door is open. Let’s see what the future brings.

Michael Schumacher is poised for a sensational return to Formula 1 with the new Mercedes team, according to BBC Sport pundit Eddie Jordan.

Mercedes want the seven-time champion as their lead driver after taking over title-winning Brawn, Jordan says.

"The possibility is being actively pursued and I believe it is going to happen," said Jordan.

Schumacher's spokeswoman Sabine Kehm told BBC Sport a return was "highly unlikely - but never say never".

The plan is for Schumacher to be a stop-gap before Mercedes can prise German rising star Sebastian Vettel out of Red Bull, Jordan said.

Schumacher could be a stop-gap before Mercedes target Vettel
The move would reunite Schumacher with Mercedes GP team boss Ross Brawn, who masterminded all his seven titles at Benetton and Ferrari.

The German, who will be 41 in January, had to pull out of a temporary comeback to F1 last year as a replacement for the injured Ferrari driver Felipe Massa because of a neck injury.
But Kehm said that while Schumacher had not had any new tests on his neck, it was expected to be healed by the end of the year.
Jordan said: "It started with a meeting between Michael, Ross Brawn and Daimler chief executive officer Dieter Zetsche at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

"At the moment, it is not possible for Michael to drive for Mercedes because he has a consultancy contract with Ferrari.

I understand Michael was due to meet Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo with a view to him being released - and that it will be approved because it is in the interests of F1

Eddie Jordan
"But I understand he was due to meet Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo with a view to him being released - and that it will be approved because it is in the interests of F1.

"I believe that is being planned at the moment.
"I also believe Ross and Michael have spoken in recent times and that Michael likes the idea of driving a Mercedes run by Ross. It's a mouth-watering idea.

"Schumacher was bitterly disappointed he didn't get to come back to replace Massa - he's keen to race again. And this is a dream for both parties.

"Michael and Mercedes go way back - he drove for their sportscar team before he raced in F1, and they were responsible for getting him in to F1. They paid the then Jordan team to give him his debut in 1991.
"He has won all these titles but never driven in F1 for Mercedes."
The Brawn team rose out of the ashes of Honda, which quit F1 in December 2008, and won the drivers' world championship with Jenson Button in 2009, as well as the constructors' title.

Mercedes's takeover was announced on Monday, but the team are looking for a lead driver following Button's decision to move to McLaren for 2010.

Brawn and Schumacher have achieved incredible success in F1
Signing Schumacher would be an ideal way for Mercedes to head off the negative publicity that has arisen from letting the world champion slip through their fingers.

A source close to Ferrari says the Italian team have yet to be asked to release Schumacher.

Schumacher's contract with the company was changed recently to remove him from any links with the F1 team, for which he was a consultant.

He is now an ambassador, consultant and test driver for the company's road car arm.

It is understood that during the summer Schumacher explored the idea of driving a third car for Ferrari on an occasional basis, but this is forbidden by F1's rules.

Kehm said Schumacher had given her no indication that he wanted to make a full-time return.

Vettel, 22, is contracted to drive for Red Bull until the end of 2011 and, while contracts are often broken in F1, Mercedes may not find it easy to buy him out.

Red Bull is owned by the soft drinks company's founder Dietrich Mateschitz who, as a billionaire, does not exactly need the money.
If the Schumacher deal does not come off, fellow German Nick Heidfeld is considered most likely to get the second Mercedes seat alongside Nico Rosberg, another German, whose contract has been signed but not officially announced.

But another possibility for Mercedes might be the highly rated Polish driver Robert Kubica.

He has signed for Renault, but the French company is deciding whether to continue in F1, with a decision due before the end of the year.

If Renault pulled out, Kubica would be on the market, and he might be an attractive option for Mercedes, who have moved to dismiss widespread claims that they are determined to sign two German drivers by describing their new F1 team as "global".

Former world champion Kimi Raikkonen will not be racing in Formula 1 next year after failing to find a drive.

The 30-year-old Finn had been trying to do a deal with McLaren but they would not offer him the salary he wanted, his manager David Robertson told BBC Sport.

"They couldn't afford him," Robertson said. "It wasn't in his interests to race for what they were offering so he's going to go rallying instead."

Robertson said he believed McLaren had already signed Jenson Button.

Raikkonen is trying to find a drive in the world rally championship, Roberston said, although nothing had yet been sorted out.

He made his world rally debut on his home Rally Finland last August, setting competitive times before crashing out.
"He wants to be back in F1 in 2011 but with all the money he has earned he doesn't want to go in a medium-type team for money," Robertson added.

"The same criteria would apply as this year - he'd only go where he feels he has a chance of the world championship."
Asked whether Button's appearance on the market had wrecked Raikkonen's hopes at McLaren, Roberston said: "If they hadn't gone for Jenson, they'd have gone for someone else."
Raikkonen, who won the world title for Ferrari in 2007, was forced out of Ferrari at the end of this season to make way for Fernando Alonso, despite already having a year left on his contract.

Raikkonen is being paid a sum believed to be in the region of 20m euros not to race for Ferrari in 2010, but still wanted to be paid what he felt was a fair sum to drive for another team.
Robertson would not confirm the Ferrari payment, describing the arrangements with Ferrari as "confidential".

Although he won the Belgian Grand Prix, Raikkonen's final season with Ferrari was a disappointment, with a car that was never the fastest in the field.

He said: "Kimi wanted a winning car, only McLaren could supply that and he only had them in his sights. He didn't want another year like this one.

"But they had their issues with Mercedes, Santander and the FIA and from a financial point of view they are not the powerhouse they were. They couldn't afford him."

Mercedes announced on Tuesday that they were selling back their 40% shareholding in McLaren and buying the Brawn team instead.


Spanish bank Santander will sponsor Ferrari next year, although they will still retain a smaller presence with McLaren.

And governing body the FIA in 2007 fined McLaren $100m (then £49m) after they were found guilty of possessing confidential Ferrari technical information.

Asked how Raikkonen felt about the temporary end of an F1 career that started in 2001 and in which he won 18 grands prix, Robertson said: "He's one of those guys who moves on quickly - he just said 'now we concentrate on rallying'.

A McLaren spokesman refused to comment on Robertson's remarks.

The first public appearance at Ferrari for Fernando Alonso didn’t go entirely according to plan.



The Spanish champion got stuck in a gravel trap while he and future team mate Felipe Massa were being driven around the Valencia circuit in a Ferrari California by Ferrari chairman Luca di Montezemolo.

They’d been trying to get as close as possible to the 17,000 Spanish fans who turned out to see Alonso’s first appearance for Ferrari. Unsurprisingly Ferrari did not publish photographs of the incident but there’s plenty of pictures from the event below.
Alonso was only able to attend the event after getting permission from Renault at the last minute, as he is still contracted to them until the new year. He told the crowd:

This is a very important day for me, because here I can understand what the world of Ferrari is really like. In 2010 I hope to fight for the world title together with Felipe and that all the fans can be proud of us and our professionalism.
Fernando Alonso
Massa and Alonso were at the Ricardo Tormo circuit near Valencia in Spain for the final day of the Ferrari Finali Mondiali (Ferrari world finals).

They joined Giancarlo Fisichella, Marc Gene and Luca Badoer - Ferrari’s three official test drivers for 2010.

Here’s a collection of pictures of the celebrations which featured many Ferrari F1 cars including the gorgeous ex-Jean Alesi 1995 car number 27 - the last V12-engined Ferrari.

Mercedes-Benz has bought a controlling stake in the world-championship winning Brawn GP team, with the outfit to run as a full ‘Silver Arrows’ works squad from next season.

The German car giant, which supplied engines to the Brackley-based squad in 2009, confirmed the long-expected move on Monday morning – announcing parent company Daimler, and Abu Dhabi-based Aabar Investments, had bought 75.1% of the team in the deal which will see it rebranded as Mercedes GP.
Daimler will be the team’s largest shareholder with 45.1% and Aabar, the biggest single stakeholder in Daimler, at 30%, with the remaining equity to remain with Brawn GP’s current shareholders who include team boss Ross Brawn and CEO Nick Fry.

Mercedes also confirmed that it has agreed to continue to supply engines to long-time F1 partner McLaren until 2015, with the possibility that the relationship could extend beyond that period.
The German firm’s parent company will however cease to be a shareholder of the Woking-based outfit by 2011, with the McLaren Group to complete a phased purchase of Mercedes parent company Daimler’s 40% shareholding in the team.

McLaren will continue to be known as Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, its distinctive silver-with-red livery will remain unchanged, and Mercedes-Benz will continue as both an engine supplier and a sponsor.
Although the completion of Mercedes’s Brawn deal means team principal Brawn’s name will disappear from the squad's official title after just one glorious season, Mercedes cars president Dr Dieter Zetsche said in a conference call that the Englishman had committed to stay at the team for a certain period of time in his current role.

Mercedes-Benz cars president Dr Dieter Zetsche said the Brawn tie-up is the best fit for its F1 involvement in the reduced era of costs going forward, with the carmaker excited by the prospect of competing with its own team for the first time since 1955.

“Mercedes-Benz is the most valued and best-known premium automotive brand in the world," he said.

"This brand looks for competition of the utmost quality in all relevant fields in order to continually improve its performance in the face of such new challenges.

“Due to the new Formula 1 environment, we will face the competition in future on the most important motor sports stage with our own Silver Arrow works team.
 
“Our new Silver Arrow Formula 1 team is a great sporting and technical challenge and we will tackle this with sporting spirit and full of enthusiasm.”

No drivers have yet been confirmed for the newly-rebranded squad, but German driver Nico Rosberg is almost certain to be one of them with the young star having already had his departure from Williams confirmed.

World champion Jenson Button had yet to agree a new deal with the team before the Mercedes takeover was announced, with the Briton and the outfit having yet to agree on financial terms.

Increasing speculation in recent days has suggested he could defect to McLaren, having toured the team's Technology Centre last week.

More to follow...

Kimi Raikkonen’s management team visited McLaren’s Technology Centre on Wednesday as guests of Martin Whitmarsh, itv.com/f1 has learned.

Steve and David Robertson were seen in conversation with the McLaren team principal while walking around parts of the squad’s Woking base.

Former world champion Raikkonen has been heavily linked with a return to McLaren since reaching an agreement with Ferrari to end his contract with the team a year early so that it could make room for Fernando Alonso.

But although the Robertsons’ McLaren visit suggests McLaren is indeed making a serious bid to re-sign the Finn after his three-year stint at Ferrari, itv.com/f1 understands that other candidates remain in the running for the seat alongside Lewis Hamilton in 2010.

Raikkonen has made it clear since his Ferrari departure was confirmed that he is only interested in remaining in Formula 1 next year with a team that will give him the chance to challenge for a second world championship.

Amid speculation that disagreements over money had slowed the progress of his initial talks with McLaren, Raikkonen told reporters at the season finale in Abu Dhabi said he wouldn’t be compromising on any deal just to stay on the grid.

"I have options and I still want to be here [in F1], but everything needs to be perfect," Raikkonen said in Abu Dhabi.

"I have no reason to make any contract that I don't feel 100 per cent happy with.”

The 30-year-old has previously hinted that he could take a sabbatical from F1 or switch to the World Rally Championship if he does not secure a drive he is happy with before next season.

Raikkonen has appeared the most likely driver to become Hamilton’s 2010 team-mate for weeks, although Whitmarsh has previously not ruled out the prospect of Heikki Kovalainen retaining his drive despite his disappointing results this year.

Fernando Alonso got his Ferrari campaign underway yesterday when he paid his first visit to the team's legendary Maranello headquarters.

In the most talked-about driver move of this eventful 'silly season', the double world champion is leaving his long-time home Renault to make his long-rumoured switch to Ferrari.

Although Alonso cannot test for Ferrari until the winter ban ends, he met his mechanics and had meetings with team boss Stefano Domenicali and chairman Luca di Montezemolo.

He also checked out the latest progress on the 2010 car in the windtunnel, as well as sorting out his seating position in the car.

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel and seven-time Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher proved a winning combination during the first day of action at this year’s Race of Champions (ROC) event in Beijing on Tuesday.

The duo clinched their third successive Nations Cup victory for Germany in the Chinese city’s spectacular Bird’s Nest stadium, after beating the Team GB pairing of new Formula One world champion Jenson Button and three-time World Touring Car champion Andy Priaulx in the finals.

Schumacher beat Button in the final's first heat, while Vettel was beaten by Priaulx in the second. However in the crucial tiebreak decider, crowd favourite Schumacher took victory driving the unique Race of Champions Car.

“We had a nice fight - I just come back to this event to use whatever there is left of a talent,” said the former Ferrari driver. “With this track, it's just a case of watching where the other guy is to know how hard to push. Of course, the racing is the highlight but the other stuff that goes on around that is part of the relaxed atmosphere of the Race of Champions that we all enjoy.”

Vettel and Schumacher had already defeated teams including China and Finland to reach the semi-finals. There, they competed against American rally drivers Tanner Foust and Travis Pastrana. But, despite a heroic effort by Foust to beat Schumacher, Vettel's two wins took Team Germany to the final once again.

Vettel, who finished runner-up to Button in this year's F1 championship, was equally thrilled with Team Germany’s success, saying: “To win three times in a row is something that no one has done before, so it's a real reason to be proud.”

After his first taste of the ROC Nations Cup finals, Button was disappointed not to win: “To be out there celebrating being the first loser is never best, I don't like finishing second. It was a lot of fun - I spent most of the evening trying to hang on to my team mate's coat tails.”

The Formula One drivers were less successful in Wednesday's individual Race of Champions contest. Schumacher beat Vettel in the semi-finals, but then lost in the final to former DTM champion Mattias Ekstrom, who had earlier knocked out Button in his semi-final showdown.

Source: Formula1.com