Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
Welcome to The Pit Lane. We hope you enjoy your visit.


You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free.


Join our community!


If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features:

Username:   Password:
Add Reply
IMO MS will bring this to Ferrari in 2009
Topic Started: Jul 30 2009, 04:57 PM (673 Views)
Steelstallions
Member Avatar
Driver
[ *  *  *  *  *  * ]
Shumi has not returned to F1 in the sense that he is starting a season and wants to be WDC again.

He is driving Massa's car until Massa is well enough to drive.

Only an idiot would make fun of him if he is a second or so off the top speed in Spain.
His biggest hurdle to achieving the top times are not only that he as not raced competitively since 2006, but under current regulations he is not allowed test drive this years car until race week. I doubt there is a driver on the grid today who would relish that challenge with the world watching in anticipation.

But, the big plus IMO having MS back behind the Ferrari are

1. Even if MS is off the pace, imagine the feed back he can give the engineers and the power he has to shape events in Ferrari. If he said we need to develop a certain area in the car this year not for next will Ferrari ignore him? What does Kimi do after a race or when he retires from a race, fill his face with ice cream and F off back to his trailer. MS would spend all night feeding back what needs to be done to the car
IMO Ferrari will develop a better car for him racing in it and learning more than he ever could in limited testing.

2. Massa knows this driver will give him back his seat and no matter how well he does will not be doing it to secure Massa's drive for the future. Massa's recovery will not be plagued with the stress of will i or will i not lose my seat to MS.

3. MS is more or less the same age as the test drivers, but without belittling the very important work they do, they are not a patch on his pedigree and have only tested under the limited new rules

4. The Forums have exploded into life with this news, what other driver could have done that? I expect advertising on his car to be at a premium plus rate and the race in Spain to be a near sell out. If he does well and shows he can get better, the rest of the races might just sell out for the whole weekend not just race day. I myself who had no intention at all to watch a live F1 race this season is thinking of going to Spain and Italy only because he is racing.

I doubt MS would have volunteered if he really thought he was as past it as the poor return of the over weight Mansell was all those years ago. They had to remake his seat as he out grew the one they started with.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
ELUSIVEJIM
Member Avatar

Forum Host
Yes agree about the test drivers.

Same age with NO experience of racing in a F1 race.

Any driver can drive quick on a track without other cars.

MS is the only person who can do the job for Ferrari but i am sure he will not be off the pace at all.

Remember Nigel Mansell was 41 when he won his last GP and he is not MS

I would not be suprised if other drivers get a shock at MS pace.

Mark my words <thumbsup>
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
sportsman
Member Avatar
Chief Engineer
[ *  *  *  *  * ]
The fact that Michael Schumacher will be driving the Ferrari, is about the last news that any of the current driver and team bosses would want to hear.
With Ferrari's and McLarens and Red Bulls recent improvements in performance the unhappiest man in F1 at the moment is Ross Brawn.
He knows better than most just what MS is capable of achieving, and is probably mulling this over at this very moment.

Even though Schumacher is race rusty and probably not at the same level of fitness as he was when racing, he is still in very good shape. And he has nearly three weeks to work on his fitness.

Ferrari have a state of the art simulator, although with the shutdown he may not be allowed to use it as much as he would like, he will still gert a feel for the car before he drives it on the Friday.
He will shock many of the present drivers, of that I have not the slightest doubt.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Rob
Member Avatar

Admin
sportsman,Jul 30 2009
12:43 PM
The fact that Michael Schumacher will be driving the Ferrari, is about the last news that any of the current driver and team bosses would want to hear

I kinda disagree on the drivers front. No driver w/ the exception of Alonso can say "I went against Shumi and got the best of him." If I were on the grid, I'd be salivating at the chance, and I imagine some drivers are especially Lewis, and Vettel.

I predict this will be one of the hardest driven races up and down the grid in a while
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
sportsman
Member Avatar
Chief Engineer
[ *  *  *  *  * ]

Looks as though you are right Rob. Button and Hamilton are lookng forward to racing him.
According to this report anyway.


http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/77435
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Norbert
Member Avatar

Admin
Didn't someone say a few days ago that only 30000 seats were sold for Valencia out of 70000 or more for race day? Does anyone reckon ANY are left now?

lol
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
sportsman
Member Avatar
Chief Engineer
[ *  *  *  *  * ]
Still some of the more expensive ones left.

http://www.mygpticket.com/f1/eng/race/vale...CFQ-A3godaFND_A

Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Norbert
Member Avatar

Admin
How much??? No bloody wonder there's seats going spare!

<roflmao>
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Lex
Member Avatar
Driver
[ *  *  *  *  *  * ]
Kubica and others recently organized a karting event, MS took part, who was the fastest?

Yup!

The only downside to Michael's return will be his race fitness.

Just hope he remembers to park his car correctly after quali on this street circuit ;)
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Steelstallions
Member Avatar
Driver
[ *  *  *  *  *  * ]
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/for...icle6733847.ece

Quote:
 
Michael Schumacher returns to love that never died
It was for love, not the money, that Michael Schumacher decided to put his sore neck on the line for Ferrari just once more. Sources close to the driver say that he has not signed any special pay deal to make his comeback at the European Grand Prix next month and that this is about La Famiglia, the Ferrari family that embraced the German in 1996.

In a decade Ferrari turned Schumacher not only into the most successful Formula One driver in history but also the richest. Conservative estimates put his career earnings at more than $1 billion (now £606 million) and he is thought to earn about £30 million a year from endorsements.

When Schumacher travelled to Ferrari's Maranello headquarters on Monday to discuss standing in for the injured Felipe Massa, he did not even take along Willi Weber, his long-time manager, who has negotiated all his financial deals since he was a callow, teenage kart driver. In fact, Weber had been adamant that Schumacher should turn down Ferrari.

“I advised him against it,” Weber said. “It is good for everyone: the media, the fans and Formula One. Whether it is also good for us, we will have to see.” But Weber was first to admit that he was fighting a losing battle. “Ferrari asked him and he couldn't say no,” Weber said, realising that this was a matter for the heart as much as the head.

In hard financial terms, Schumacher does not need the money. He is already paid an estimated £3 million a year by Ferrari to act as a consultant and an ambassador, and it is thought that money was never mentioned at the discussions. Instead, Luca Di Montezemolo, the Ferrari president, and Stefano Domenicali, the team principal, were gripped by the intensity of his loyalty and determination.

Their only worry is Schumacher's neck, which he injured in a motorcycling accident in February. The key area of stress in a Formula One driver's body is the neck, which has to be strong enough to withstand the G-forces during cornering and braking. But Schumacher was typically forthright and went straight to the gym yesterday to work on strengthening his neck and back muscles before submitting to a physical check.

He is unlikely to fear problems, otherwise he would not have agreed so readily to take Massa's place on the grid for the rest of the season.

His age appears not to be an issue. At 40, Schumacher is not at the peak of fitness, but he could probably put many to shame and is more than happy to be used as an example of a new era in which sportsmen can cross the generations.

Lance Armstrong paved the way with his third-place finish in the Tour de France last weekend at the age of 37. Schumacher will need endurance but not on the Armstrong scale, although he will need his wits and experience by the truckload.

If he is anxious, then his rivals cannot wait for the challenge, headed by Lewis Hamilton, who idolised Schumacher when the German won championship after championship while the young Briton was working his way through the ranks. The pair never raced each other, with Schumacher retiring in 2006 and Hamilton embarking on his Formula One career one year later.

“Michael is one of the sport's greatest competitors and a legend in his own right and it will be great to compete against him,” Hamilton said. “The whole world will be watching his return to the cockpit in Valencia and it will not only be fascinating to see how he readies himself for his grand-prix comeback, but also an honour and a privilege to race against him for the very first time.”

This is the comeback that transformed Formula One in the space of 24 hours. Germany, mildly excited by the emergence of Sebastian Vettel, who has won two grands prix for Red Bull this season, was thrilled at the prospect of Schumacher's return. “The God of racing has come back,” Bild, the German newspaper, trumpeted.

Amid the clamour, the man who triggered Schumacher's return is regaining his strength. Doctors say Massa could be fit to leave the AEK Military Hospital in Hungary as early as Sunday because his recovery from a fractured skull has been so rapid. They believe he will drive again, but not this season - that would intrude on the Michael Schumacher show.


Over the last few years we said MS had had enough and once the motivation had gone then he could never be the same driver, this to me looks like a sportsman who's very soul was being sucked out by retirement and who wants race and race hard. <thumbsup>
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Lex
Member Avatar
Driver
[ *  *  *  *  *  * ]
Hmmm, perhaps a little OTT there SS - but for Felipe's accident, Michael wouldn't even be contemplating a return. As the article says, it's more a question of his loyalty to Ferrari than his own personal desires.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Steelstallions
Member Avatar
Driver
[ *  *  *  *  *  * ]
Lex,Jul 30 2009
10:59 PM
Hmmm, perhaps a little OTT there SS - but for Felipe's accident, Michael wouldn't even be contemplating a return. As the article says, it's more a question of his loyalty to Ferrari than his own personal desires.

I obviously know nothing of MS's personal feelings about returning, but the quote about his very soul being sucked out is in keeping with many a successful sportsman's autobiography that shows just how much they end up missing the very thing that was their life for most of their life.

Footballers can never get the chance MS has in Spain, age for them really is the end, but if a magic wand could give some of them back their youth for a few top flight games, the likes of Maldini, Roberto Baggio and even Gasgoine would IMO play them for free.

I was watching Italian TV when Baggio played his last international, a friendly, in which the other team knowing it was his last international probably gave him more space than they would ever have dared in his prime and let him show the fans a little of his faded football magic.
The post match interview had me nearly in tears for the guy. He so much wanted to play at the highest level but in his own words his body could not match what he knew he could do only a few years before. He really looked like he had suffered the worst of bereavement rather than a guy celebrating the end of a lucrative and successful career.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Lex
Member Avatar
Driver
[ *  *  *  *  *  * ]
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport...one/8176979.stm

this is Jenson's interview about it - his feeling about MS return is very much tempered with the circumstances of his return.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
John
Team Boss
[ *  *  *  *  *  *  * ]
<think> Michael back is good... for his fans... the news I suspect will see last minute ticket sales grow... and it is less of a gamble as Ferrari are no longer competing for titles this season, and Michael is not making a comeback as a challenger.

This is perfect for both Ferrari and Schumacher... but it is no long term solution... I can't wait for the GP now
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Alien_SAP_Fiend
Member Avatar
Chief Engineer
[ *  *  *  *  * ]
Steelstallions,Jul 30 2009
04:57 PM
Even if MS is off the pace, imagine the feed back he can give the engineers and the power he has to shape events in Ferrari. If he said we need to develop a certain area in the car this year not for next will Ferrari ignore him?

Errr, doesn't MS still work for Ferrari?

Isn't he still involved in car development?

Fat lot of good it's done so far. <rolleyes>
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
DealsFor.me - The best sales, coupons, and discounts for you
Go to Next Page
« Previous Topic · Formula 1 · Next Topic »
Add Reply