Will MIchael be wooed by BMW

The Managing Director of BMW has said he would welcome Michael Schumacher to BMW next season (quoted on SPEED) if he wants to drive for a German team. Is this just Mario posturing or is he serious? Would Micheal turn down a 1 or 2 year contract to drive for a team in his home country and how much would he get paid if he decided to postpone his retirement.

 

Not knowing what Michael's contract stated, it is hard to tell what he can or can not do in his Ferrari after-life. It has been stated repeatedly by various sources, all the way up to Luca Montezemelo, that Michael will be part of the Ferrari team in 2007, in some sort of capacity. In MS's post race interview where he did announce his retirement, he was very clear that he is retiring "from racing", not mentioning Ferrari by name in that sentence.

I watched an interview of Willi Weber, Schumacher's manager, last night on a German TV show called Euromaxx. He also stated that Michael will be with Ferrari in some capacity for the next few years.

From all of this, I really doubt that Michael Schumacher will be going to BMW. But stranger things have happened.

 

If Schumi wins the championship.....no wories. If not, who knows.

 

As a driver at BMW? I really doubt it. I wouldn't be surprised if he's hired as some type of manager or something along those lines.

 

I'm always curious about the flow of information and offers... I wonder if every team on the grid has actually called Willie in the last year to offer jobs to MS... I mean, why wouldn't you call and ask, the worst they can say is No!

 

Or more appropriately, "NEIN!"

It seems as if there's a lot of suspicions about Michael's post-retirement position with Ferrari. It makes me wonder if he's arranged an undefined deal where he's guaranteed money for 2-3 more years to, if nothing else, NOT get enticed into a deal elsewhere.

 

If that's true, I feel bad for the guy. I really thought he loved being with Ferrari and could leave on his terms. I guess there are no happily-ever-after stories in F1. I still get the feeling he was pushed by Luca to retire and he didn't look like he was ready to go. I hope he does whatever he wants without being pressured by those who don't have his best interests in mind.

 

Other than money.... going with BMW would be just downside for MS

 

I hope he doesn't go, but by looking at the dramatic increase in performance of BMW, who knows.

 

If ironically MS ends up at BMW it's be nice to see him perform better than Villeneuve.

 

The "secret talks" with Willie Weber and senior BMW directors apparently involve hiring MS for 2008 only with billing that season as a "Bye-bye Schumi" year. "Bye-bye Schumi" - themed Pit Lane Parks; special edition road cars - i.e. "BMW M3 Schumacher", apparel and the likes. A retainer of $100 M plus gigantic bonuses for merchandising, product endorsement. A further incentive would involve bringing from Ferrari whomever he liked. Bernie's take on this is that MS will stay with at "home" with Ferrari. Will BMW's dream come true - probably not but you never say never!

Carol

 

no. i seriously think Michael's done, and he's never gonna comeback.

 

why does schumi have to do that? robert proved to all of us whats he's capable of. JV is crap.

 

It really wouldn't make sense. MS's franchise as the driver for Ferrari will go a long way with whatever he chooses to do in future. I see MS as the "Arnold Palmer" of racing and franchising his name all over the place. So making sure his reputation stays intact is important. Going against the "Ferrari Family" schtick would tarnish the MS franchise IMO.

 

Unless they really did "persuade" him to retire as has been suggested in numerous threads about the subject.

 

Why would Micheal want to drive for a lesser car company like bmw ? They have no real race history and if you compare any racing they've done to Ferrari's.......my god Ferrari kills them.

 

Luca did say, in an interview, that he had hoped MS would remain for at least one more year. I believe that MS's decision was "pressured" only because he knew that Massa needed to know what to do about his career. Ferrari would have released him, and run with MS and Kimi next year. Time was getting thin, so MS needed act ... or Massa would have had to go else where, just to ensure a job. Kimi was coming to Ferrari, one way or another.

Or so goes the jist of several interviews ...

 

I think MS felt that the timing was right for a lot of reasons. I doubt that Massa possibly hanging in the wings had much to do with it.

 

I agree, I think he realised why not go out on top, and perhaps as 8 times champion.

 

If he did go to BMW, it would be the dumbest move he could make... they are still a long way from WC material, and it would do severe damage to his some what - shall we say - less than stellar reputation. I think he is most likey tied up legally in some kind of contractual way to Ferrari if he decides to retire, keep secrets from other teams etc.... and when he is sufficently useless to Ferrari... 2 seasons max he can do what he wants... but lets face it after two seasons... why would you come back? only Lauda and Prost have come back from the past and been any good - and Prost only for 1 year.

I'm sure the cost for BMW getting Schumacher to move is far in excess of a Billion.... considering all the misc. people they would need to bring over.... he is successful, but its not all him.... ie.. Brawn, Byrne, Todt, Stephny, Tomasini, et al.....

 

It been mentioned several times that MS has some contracural ties to Ferrari past his current contract. That has never been verified and makes no sense. How old was his contract? 4 years, 3 three years? It's over at the end of this year. Why would someone of MS stature and wealth sign a contract with strings at the end of it. I don't think he had to, and I don't think he did.

Will he go fishing? I doubt it. Will he work for Ferrari in the future. We don't know, but the body language of all parties after the checkered flag waved at Monza tells me no. I think his language on announcing his retirement was that of smart businessman who burnt no bridges.

 

That is exactly what I thought watching the post-race interviews. Absolutely brilliant.

I wish Michael all the best, no matter what he does or where he goes. I'm just happy that I was able to see him race in person at Montreal, Indy, and Monza. And, maybe if I can convince my wife, there's still three more races and three more chances for us to watch him in person again.

Mark

 

I could see him driving for a German company, but I don't think it is at BMW.

Some people here seem not to remember who gave him some of his first rides that got him started at this level...

 

Oh lord, wont you buy me a ?

 

Here's some comments contrary to any BMW thoughts - perhaps wishful thinking on their part:

Ferrari, a team he has likened to a second family, will remain a big part of his life but that role will not be defined before the end of the year when the new team structure is announced.

"His relationship with Maranello will continue, albeit in a different form and I am very happy about that," Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo said at the weekend.

There have been suggestions that Schumacher could have some sort of managerial role, perhaps working for or alongside team boss Jean Todt.

He could work with the team's drivers or even help with testing, an idea mooted already by chief race engineer Luca Baldisserri who is technical director Ross Brawn's number two and heir apparent.

"I have already asked Todt and (Stefano) Domenicali to convince him to test our cars, after all driving is what he most loves doing," he told the Gazzetta dello Sport.

Equally he could become a global ambassador for Formula One's glamour marque.

He could even trade the Ferrari prancing horse for real ones, having once joked that he could devote himself in future to supporting his wife's equestrian career and mucking out stables at their home in Switzerland.

Carol