Schumi comes back

[xpensive]

Head on the nail scarbs! Just as there are good journos, bad journos, journos who have their own idea of what they are talking about and those who just follow media mainstream.

[DaveKillens]

probably a stupid question, but what are the rules regarding drivers from other teams being able to compete for points using another team's car? is it FIA rule that a driver must only compete in one car all season? or is it a manufacturer contractual thing? I ask this because it would be very interesting to see Alonso step into that car for Valencia.

There is no such thing as a stupid question. If we don't ask, we learn little.
The regulations state that each team must declare their two primary drivers, and two test/reserve drivers.
Secondly, a driver change such as this would violate so many contracts it makes my head spin. Alonso is contracted not only to Renault, but other sponsors and advertisers. This is a part of Formula One we see little of, but it's huge. If Alonso suddenly showed up at Valencia driving a Williams, what becomes of his contract to Renault? What would ING think of the fact that a business competitor, RBS is displayed on the side of a car driven by a driver who receives a lot of money from ING?

[ESPImperium]

I can see Schumacher getting the 276 chassis (Kimi started 2009 with this one and Masa used it for a couple GPs as well) for Valencia then he will get the 278 one (that number hasnt been used yet) for the rest of the season. He will start with the gearbox that was in the car that Massa crashed in Hungary, also the egine in the back of that engine is pretty fresh, just under 1000km on it, whitch will mean it has at least 1.75ish GP weekends still on the clock, realistically 1 more race weekend and then use as a Friday engine.

BUT... I have a question, whos gonna be Schumis race engineer??? Rob Smedly probably wont want to do the job till Massa is back, and Chris Dyer, Schumachers old race engineer, now is Kimis engineer.

Things that have changed since 2006 for Schumacher:

Slicks - Altho 2 of his WDCs came on slicks tho
Reduced Downforce - Less downofrce, more lovely rear of the car
No Traction Control - We will see the prowess of his left foot now
KERS - Never raced with the "Special Button" as Vettel calls it
Adjustable Aero - Has never raced with adjustable aero, flexible aero yes, adjustable no
Quali and Rules - No Fuel Burn section of Quali and Lapped cars now can unlap themselvs behing the Saftey Car. He will also take on Massas engine allocation as well.
Rivals - He hasnt raced against 8 of the class of 2009 as of Hungary
Team Mate - He hasnt had to look at Kimi accross the otherside of the garrage
Ferrari Personell - No Todt and Brawn there, altho Dominicali has warmed the Ferrari look.
Tracks - Michael hasnt raced on 3 of the remaining tracks, Valencia and Singapore, in whitch will be the first time since 1991 Le Mans he has raced at night. Yas Island for the season finale is the same for every one. Hes got 3 tracks he enjoys as well in Spa, monza and Suzuka as well.

[bidong]

Will he actually get a go in the latest car then or will the first time be FP1?

I thought its a 4 week break but only 2 week testing ban?

a simulator in italy is overheating and the town of maranello is buzzing in 18,000 digital RPM. I'm sure schumi now, is experiencing multiple G's and practicing Valencia in Ferrari's simulator. Whether it would be close to Raikkonen's time, I don't know. but he's definitely trying to shatter the lap record in the simulator. It's schumi on the wheel.

let's hope he doesn't get hit on the head by flying debris; that would be death to F1.

[kilcoo316]

why did they choose schumacher?

Easily the best available from pretty much every angle you want to look at it.

why not badoer or gene. surely they know the car better and can extract more performance out of it with short notice. t

Give Schumacher one set up change and he'd be getting more from the car than those two.

Now imagine he has 3 or 4 entire race weekends....

[djones]

I wonder how close the simulator is to real life?

I mean presumably it can only rock side to side so it cant do the full G force for a start.

[tk421]

I think this will be the biggest story of the 2009 season along with Webber, Button, or Vettel being our new world champion.

A lot of people think Kimi will blow him away, and he might in Valencia, but there's a good chance Schumacher will finish the season--that's 7 grands prix. Does anyone doubt that Schumacher won't perform before then? Personally, I think he'll be on form after 2 races. I'm very excited by this news--both emotionally and sexually--and can't wait for the European GP!

By the way, should we merge that "WHY SCHUMACHER" thread into this one?

[RacingManiac]

Gene have raced at Le Mans being his most recent outing(and won), but MS has been racing bikes, which can also be tremendously physical.

You'd be kidding yourself to think the G loading experienced on bikes and in race cars (and the corresponding fitness requirements) are comparable. They're way off.

I'd still take MS over Gene on racecraft alone.

But had there been no FOTA war/BMW fckup/no FA in Valencia/general poor image in F1... you'd see RK or FA start a few months early.

G loading is not the same, but to ride a bike fast is definitely a very physical exercise, as the rider have to physically affect the weight transfer on a 400lb bike under all manners of condition to get the best out of the tire and the bike. You don't get to be a fat guy to race a bike properly, where as you can be considerably out of shape to drive a race car, albeit not at the level of professional.

[ESPImperium]

Some people call him the best ever, Its said that he has re written the record book... Al we know is that he could race with a all white helmet????

[timbo]

Those who think Mark or Luca could be better alternatives than Michael because of his age should remember that both are not a young guys by F1 standards either (35 and 38 respectively).
Alonso could be a nice probability but to many things are up in the air - it's only at August 17th that we'd know whether he's free or not.

[marcosp]

According to the press here in Brazil, Felipe isn't just doing better, he's taking showers by himself, eating normal food (chicken, pasta etc), calling people on the phone (he's called Barrichello and joked "did you have to throw those parts right on my head??"), walking around.. I wouldn't be surprised if he could drive in Belgium.
But seeing Schumacher drive again will be a treat, whether he's successful or not.

[Richard]

I admit that I have to eat my hat on this, I thought it media hype.

I suppose the reason is the ban on in-season testing. A normal test driver with hundreds of hours under his belt in the latest car would have been a no-brainer. Thats how many drivers got their first drive. Nowdays a test drive is a dead end, they simply sit in the garage and listen.

I thought Coulthard was a good example... but even then he had to give way to Mansell coming back from Indy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Coul ... ormula_One

So perhaps the return of Schumacher isn't that odd after all?

[jddh1]

Some people call him the best ever, Its said that he has re written the record book... Al we know is that he could race with a all white helmet????

Too much Top Gear I see.

[Ray]

Is there confirmation he's back for the rest of the season, or just for Valencia? I've read multiple reports over the past day that say both. Does anyone know for sure?

[Ciro Pabón]

I merged the topics (threads) of "Schumacher confirmed for rest of 2009" and "Why Schumacher?" with this one, by popular request.

This announcement comes after Ferrari recovered part of its speed during last race. I wonder what would had Mr. Schumacher done if the car were still so far behind Brawn.