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Schumi signs up - Times Announces Contract
Topic Started: Dec 22 2009, 10:33 PM (541 Views)
Bear
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http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/formula-1-news/2...k-this-morning/

Mercedes have a press meeting at 10:30 to announce their second driver ....
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Steelstallions
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Bear,Dec 23 2009
09:14 AM
Steelstallions,Dec 23 2009
09:09 AM
The so called official MS website says nothing  <dunce>

http://www.michael-schumacher.de/?page=news〈=uk

This is all very bizarre, wouldn't they normally have a big PR thing to this?

Something to mark the occasion for them the sponsors the fans etc etc

I think like Alonso going to Ferrari was a sure thing, the news agency's are not bothering for the official announcement as they are so sure its happened. Surprised the BBC have joined in as well.

Will be odd seeing him as a competitor, competing against Ferrari, but this isn't 1993 and Ferrari and the other top teams will be no push over. He's got his work cut out in a new team with only Brawn as a familiar face to work with.
I will always remember the dream team years, but this season is like Luca said a twin of Michael racing. All aspirations for Ferrari fans, as usual, are the team and its current drivers.

The gloves are off when the race is on, but its going to be very weird rooting for Alonso against MS     <blink>

I expect the news papers have broken the story before the PR people would have wished . . . or maybe this gives the PR people two bites of the cherry: a leak and then an official announcement.

Luca said (I'm paraphrasing of course!) they got Alonso in because they needed a team leader. Wonder if that got under Schumi's skin and made him want to go to Merc so he could show Ferrari what they have missed by not using him as a driver (for the last few years). Schumi has said he mainly retired so Massa wouldn't lose his seat.

Only MS knows why he retired earlier than he needed to. He said himself on many many occasions had he wanted to carry on racing he only had to ask and Ferrari would have done anything for him.
Lets not forget, he was still the main man at Ferrari in 2006 and still a powerhouse on the track, he nearly got his 8th title in his last season but for a engine blow out in his penultimate race. He had not waned like Damon Hill who was a relief to EJ when he left the team though EJ would have preferred Damon left earlier but couldnt afford to dump him and hire another driver.
Considering Kimi's poor start to 2007 regardless of the fact he eventually won the WDC in 2007, I don't think i am exaggerating that MS could have approached Ferrari and took his seat from him. Had Kimi not won the WDC in 2007 and MS said he wanted to race again, Ferrari would have dumped Kimi before his contract ended in very much the same way they have now to get Alonso in the team.

I don't for a minute think MS has an axe to grind with Ferrari, but Ross Brawn definitely has, he wanted the top job and he was denied regardless of the year long sabbatical being approved before he joined Honda.
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Bear
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Steelstallions,Dec 23 2009
09:15 AM
Bear,Dec 23 2009
09:10 AM
Rob,Dec 23 2009
05:58 AM
So I guess he passed the physical.

It will be very intresting to see how he comes on this season.

How old was Prost when he won his last title? I know Mansell was 39, and Mansell is no Shumi. However I doubt Shumi will have THE car to have on the grid.

Why do you think that? The Brawn/Merc team isn't strong enough on the engineering side to produce another WDC/WCC winning car? Or you think other teams will just come to the grid with much better cars?

Rob will no doubt answer for himself, but my opinion is that nobody is being hoodwinked on rules this year, so THE car is not likely to be Mercedes especially as teams started development in July 09 for a car that races in March 10.
Brawn concentrated on their car for almost all the season and only paid lip service to next years car, i am sure they will have a good car, but THE car is less likely.
When Ferrari used to have THE car they raced the previous years cars (modified) for the first few races for the extra development time.
Brawn GP had THE car after Honda spent many millions in 2008 after giving up on the 2008 car.

Thanks for that - I can see the logic of the case you make.

Maybe Ross has, Baldrick style, come up with another cunning plan . . . with Merc and Schumi on board they must be fairly confident that they have the engine and car to mount a serious challenge.

Maybe, in the end, they don't need THE car if overall they have THE driver/engine/car/team/management package?

Will be very interesting to see.
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Bear
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Quote:
 

Only MS knows why he retired earlier than he needed to. He said himself on many many occasions had he wanted to carry on racing he only had to ask and Ferrari would have done anything for him.
Lets not forget, he was still the main man at Ferrari in 2006 and still a powerhouse on the track, he nearly got his 8th title in his last season but for a engine blow out in his penultimate race. He had not waned like Damon Hill and was a relief when he left the team.
Considering Kimi's poor start to 2007 regardless of the fact he eventually won the WDC in 2007, I don't think i am exaggerating that MS could have approached Ferrari and took his seat from him. Had Kimi not won the WDC in 2007 and MS said he wanted to race again, Ferrari would have dumped Kimi before his contract ended in very much the same way they have now to get Alonso in the team.

I don't for a minute think MS has an axe to grind with Ferrari, but Ross Brawn definitely has, he wanted the top job and he was denied regardless of the year long sabbatical being approved before he joined Honda.

I wonder if Ferrari now regret not giving Ross the top job?

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Steelstallions
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Bear,Dec 23 2009
09:28 AM
Quote:
 

Only MS knows why he retired earlier than he needed to. He said himself on many many occasions had he wanted to carry on racing he only had to ask and Ferrari would have done anything for him.
Lets not forget, he was still the main man at Ferrari in 2006 and still a powerhouse on the track, he nearly got his 8th title in his last season but for a engine blow out in his penultimate race. He had not waned like Damon Hill and was a relief when he left the team.
Considering Kimi's poor start to 2007 regardless of the fact he eventually won the WDC in 2007, I don't think i am exaggerating that MS could have approached Ferrari and took his seat from him. Had Kimi not won the WDC in 2007 and MS said he wanted to race again, Ferrari would have dumped Kimi before his contract ended in very much the same way they have now to get Alonso in the team.

I don't for a minute think MS has an axe to grind with Ferrari, but Ross Brawn definitely has, he wanted the top job and he was denied regardless of the year long sabbatical being approved before he joined Honda.

I wonder if Ferrari now regret not giving Ross the top job?

Not sure. He took a year long sabbatical in 2007, the new management won the WDC AND WCC that year and in 2008 he wants to come back and take the job of the guy who just won them both titles!

Brawn could have named his money at Ferrari in any other job and had he introduced the famous diffuser at Ferrari for 2009 I am sure he would have got the job he craved for eventually.
So IMO of course, Ferrari and the fans would love to have had him at Ferrari.

BUT ousting someone in charge of the team who had just won the WDC and WCC in 2007(something they had not done since 2004 even with Brawn working for them 2005 and 2006) would have had a very negative impact on the team.

Ferrari did want him back, they did not want to oust a younger winning person to do so.
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everythingoes
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Bear,Dec 23 2009
02:44 PM
Luca said (I'm paraphrasing of course!) they got Alonso in because they needed a team leader. Wonder if that got under Schumi's skin and made him want to go to Merc so he could show Ferrari what they have missed by not using him as a driver (for the last few years). Schumi has said he mainly retired so Massa wouldn't lose his seat.

James Allen mentioned on his blog that Schumacher was carrying a back injury that was bothering him at the time he retired. It was obviously kept under wraps, but it was a factor.

At that time, he probably didn't have as strong an urge to carry on and the Massa situation became the deciding factor in the decision.

Now, he probably misses racing and has decided to take the plunge again. He's got Ross on his pitwall again and that would have been a tempting reunion. I guess he had told Ferrari about his desire to race again and that might explain Ferrari's (or Luca's, in any rate) push to run a third car. Since that didn't happen, he's gone with the Merc-Brawn combo.

I doubt its got anything to do with any rancour he feels towards Ferrari. He's got to reason for resentment. Ferrari did all they could to give him a race seat, short of dropping their regular drivers.

Apart from Ferrari or Merc - Brawn team, MS wouldn't have raced for anyone else.
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Brave_Lee_Flea
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Steelstallions,Dec 23 2009
09:15 AM


Brawn concentrated on their car for almost all the season and only paid lip service to next years car, i am sure they will have a good car, but THE car is less likely.

Maybe I have misunderstood; this is totally the opposite of what Ross himself has stated.

He said they more-or-less stopped development on this year's car to start work on next years very early and that they took a calculated gamble on Jenson's lead being large enough to bring the title home without any further development.

Ferrari also gave up early on last years car, whereas McLaren clearly continued to develop last years car late into the season. Of course Brawn didn't have the same level of resources as those two but I expect them to be competitive.
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Pasta
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Petra Lead,Dec 23 2009
11:32 AM
Steelstallions,Dec 23 2009
09:15 AM


Brawn concentrated on their car for almost all the season and only paid lip service to next years car, i am sure they will have a good car, but THE car is less likely.

Maybe I have misunderstood; this is totally the opposite of what Ross himself has stated.

He said they more-or-less stopped development on this year's car to start work on next years very early and that they took a calculated gamble on Jenson's lead being large enough to bring the title home without any further development.

Ferrari also gave up early on last years car, whereas McLaren clearly continued to develop last years car late into the season. Of course Brawn didn't have the same level of resources as those two but I expect them to be competitive.

I read that too Petra. Brawn was working on the 2010 car after maybe 8 races. So they should have a good car and, while I don't think creative interpretation of rules equates to cheating, once again in 2009, Brawn showed why he is the best. He also said that the 2009 car was a complete fluke, given the lateness of confirmation of the Merc engine.

I also caught the tail end of an interview with Michael and my girlfriend told me he confirmed in the interview he had signed a contract with Mercedes and would be driving this year. It was on the BBC I think, so not sure why no one else saw it.
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Steelstallions
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Petra Lead,Dec 23 2009
11:32 AM
Steelstallions,Dec 23 2009
09:15 AM


Brawn concentrated on their car for almost all the season and only paid lip service to next years car, i am sure they will have a good car, but THE car is less likely.

Maybe I have misunderstood; this is totally the opposite of what Ross himself has stated.

He said they more-or-less stopped development on this year's car to start work on next years very early and that they took a calculated gamble on Jenson's lead being large enough to bring the title home without any further development.

Ferrari also gave up early on last years car, whereas McLaren clearly continued to develop last years car late into the season. Of course Brawn didn't have the same level of resources as those two but I expect them to be competitive.

http://www.brawngpnews.co.uk/news/brawn-to...ri-go-for-2010/

Quote:
 
July 13th, 2009 

Brawn to up development race while Ferrari go for 2010
The Brawn GP F1 team are to up the speed of their development of the 2009 Brawn BGP-001 car, even at the cost of the 2010 car.  While commentating on the German Grand Prix where both Brawns were beaten out right by the Red Bull’s Martin Brundle revealed that Ross Brawn had said, if they needed to move development time off of the 2010 car to make the 2009 car competitive they would.

Upgrades are already planned for Hungary in two weeks time.

Jenson Button said “We’ve got to kick some arse in Hungary (on July 26) and that’s what we are going to try and do,”

He also added “Let’s pray that we are quick there because if we are not we’ve got a problem,”

Brawn team principal Ross Brawn said “The problem we have is to get quicker, We are not quick enough and we have to respond. Because if we don’t, we will throw the championship away.”


While they may have spent time on the 2010 car (as no doubt every team would do to varying degrees), on their own website on July 13th, 2009 they were talking about how they had to stay ahead of the game by concentrating on the 2009 car. Did the couple of upgrades in July suffice all season?
Would Brawn really gamble on sacrificing the 2009 WDC and WCC for what was then the pie in the sky trophy's of 2010? I think not and this article IMO reinforces that. By July 13th, 2009 Brawn were getting worried about other teams development. He is too smart to say they were battling with everything they had got to keep their advantage on a shoestring budget.
A stronger sound bite statement is to say "yes, other teams were catching up, but only because we concentrated on the 2010 car". Not, we hoodwinked the lot of them at the start of the season and then we fought with everything we had to secure the WCC and WDC. That shows them as a weaker team than they would like. IMO
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GordonB
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And this link:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/f1mole/2009/11/...-gran.html#more

Says different.

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Brave_Lee_Flea
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Steelstallions,Dec 23 2009
02:05 PM
By July 13th, 2009 Brawn were getting worried about other teams development. He is too smart to say they were battling with everything they had got to keep their advantage on a shoestring budget.
A stronger sound bite statement is to say "yes, other teams were catching up, but only because we concentrated on the 2010 car". Not, we hoodwinked the lot of them at the start of the season and then we fought with everything we had to secure the WCC and WDC. That shows them as a weaker team than they would like. IMO

It's possible that you're right but there are plenty of interviews with Ross and Jenson after they had won the titles in which they say they stopped development on the 2009 car believing that they had enough in hand to win the title.

Personally I believe it but I could understand if Ross was telling a few porkies in order to attract stronger sponsorship for next season.
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John
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we'll know come Bahrain <thumbsup>
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Brave_Lee_Flea
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John,Dec 23 2009
10:17 PM
we'll know come Bahrain <thumbsup>

well, maybe ..... As BMW and Honda (several times) have shown, starting to develop next year's car early does not always guarantee that it will be a good one.

A sly dig at BMW aside, the point is that even if the Mercedes turns out to be a midfield car it does not prove the argument one way or the other.

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