Webber confirms Schumacher talked with Mercedes
November 23, 2009 by SJ Skid
Filed under Prime & Option
Bear with me on this news just a second.
The Telegraph is reporting today that Michael Schumacher’s manager, Willi Webber, confirmed on Sunday that there have been at least some kind of talks between the former champ and Mercedes GP: “I know that Michael spoke with Dieter Zetsche and Norbert Haug at the season’s finale in Abu Dhabi.”
Zetsche is Daimler’s CEO and we all know who husky Norbert is.
OK. So this is effectively weeks old news, although the confirmation by Webber is something for the Telegraph to peg the story on today.
The reason I’m passing it on is because this was the genesis of Eddie Jordan’s comments about Mercedes wanting Schumacher and that he thought it would happen.
So, here we have at least one part of Jordan’s comments proving true. I’m certainly not saying that means anything else he’s added — such as that it “will happen” — is also true, but on this issue at least he’s got some credibility.
I’ve got to wonder who else saw Schumacher and the Mercedes folks at Abu Dhabi, and why they didn’t come out with mouths gushing. It certainly has given Jordan plenty of press.
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SJ – Correction – Schumi’s manager is Weber and not Webber.
With all the built-up, hope the 41 yr old doesn’t leave his die-hard fans (thats not me) dissappointed.
This second driver signing is Mercedes (aka Silver Arrows) has become story of a fancy wedding reception in your extended family/friend circle, if there is one really fancy reception, then the next person who gets married has to one up this one. Now that McLaren have swooped their incumbent WDC, they have to come up with a better scoop and it can’t be anything less than Signing Schumi.
But of course Ross can sign Heikki and send out the message “I am magnificient and not my drivers” and its his car and not defector that was the factor in 2009 championship.
I’m 484% this is not true.
I disagree 100%. I miss the days when a team came up with a different idea and the cars actually looked different. What if when Jim Hall showed up with his revolutionary wing they told he couldn’t use it because nobody else has one? PLeeeeese these cars all look like they came out of the same cutter because of the strict rules. Instead of more rules there should be a reduction of them so we can see creativity again.
I agree, I was watching the 1988 season review a couple of days ago, and the innovations on the cars were awesome to see. Something simple like having a fuel tank on top of the gearbox is opposed to most others on the grid, but interesting because its different. We don’t see that today.
I have said it before and I will say it again. IF the rumours are true that MS is coming back, he will of course be playing them down so the hype or fanboys dont get over stimulated, just in case it falls through again.
Mick Betsch will test the Mercedes GP on a young driver test to determine if the car is worthy. He will then tell Ross Brawn that one day, he will drive F1 races in his car. Ross will tell Mick to get back to him in 2019.
We’ll do a Ferrari and effectively run just one car in 2010!
Am I the only one who thinks a Schumacher return would be bad for the sport? I don’t mean bad in the short term, attention getting, sponsor generating sense, but bad for what it says about the state of F1 and potentially bad for Schumacher himself. Bringing Michael back says that F1 has run out of tricks and is going back to the well of the last decade to try to recycle one of the few things that “worked” for them. Aside from a few bright spots, everything else has failed and unless I’m missing something, there doesn’t seem to be anything very exciting on the horizon. We’ve got a couple interesting drivers (one of which apparently won’t be driving in F1 next year) and some new teams…but aside from that, lets face it…the cars and most of the talent are bland at best. From a technical perspective, isn’t it frustrating to know that something better, faster, more efficient could be used but isn’t. The engines they run now, have the ability to rev higher and produce more power, but eidently that would be bad…if you ask the FIA. So instead of new interesting technology and new exciting drivers, we look backward to Michael. We don’t need Michael Schumacher we need the next Schumacher and as far as I’m concerned we need the next “Turbo era” as well… Come on F1…give us something new to be excited about. As for Michael, it would seem to me that the downside would be worse then any upside.