I don't think he needs the money. I would guess his first priority is to win another championship. Not gonna happen with BMW.
There's no way he'll go to BMW imo. His career is coming to a close and he's already in a winning car. On top of that, he and Ferrari are one in the same. The two are pretty much inseparable now. Going to BMW just for the money would be a slap in the face to Ferrari imo because they have given Michael so much more. Some guys would give up everything they have to have a race win, let alone 5 consecutive WDCs.
He's worth like $900m, pulling down at least $80m a year at Ferrari... I doubt money is motivating him these days.
Everybody has a price tag. If he can double what he is got in one year - that something to think about.
But what price do you put on winning? He will likely not win with BMW for two years, and its doubtful he will race F1 beyond 2007.
I don't think he expected to win in the first year after he moved from Renault to Ferrari, and BMW wants him for the same reason - to build the best team.
I think Schumi will be tempted by Bmw. But i dont think Schumi will take the bait. Ferrari has developed the entire formula 1 team with Schumi all testing and car development. If Schumi did leave whom would take over Schumi place?? No driver in F-1 has Schumi skills. Ferrari has too much invested in schumi, i dont think ferrari will let him leave. Also Ferrari knows Schumi contract is comming up for renewal. Its going to be a huge fight over Schumi. Ferrari or Bmw.. I would hate to see Schumi leave for BMW. I guess in life all good things come to an end. we can only hope schumi will stay with Ferrari. john
My thoughts on this issue, as I posted them elsewhere... Bearing in mind that Schumacher's cut would be far less than $1B (the article stipulates $100M plus endorsements)...he doesn't need the money. It would make more sense for him not to take it. It is widely speculated that he has already made roughly $1B in the sport...and from what I've read of him, he knows how to mind his hand in poker. He knows he doesn't need any more money, and he knows how idiotically risky that would be -- trying to compete with a team and a car that he has no experience with presents almost zero potential for gain and an unfathomable potential for loss. It makes more sense for him to pass up the billion dollars and be remembered for doing that at the end of a career highlit with victories than to take the offer and potentially end one of the most amazing racing careers of all time on a sour note.
After spending that much money on Spoonface, this is all they'd be able to build for him to race Image Unavailable, Please Login
Even assuming this story is true, how much of the Ferrari team will follow MS? If the engineers stay @ Ferrari and don't follow MS, it will be the biggest waste of money since the Yankees got A-Rod; even if they go it will be 2 years before the car will be a winner..... Engineers win championships nowadays; Enzo's 50-50 formula is LONG gone (sadly)......
I think what we seeing is a change where driver becomes driver\manager, so like with CEOs of big companies team (except Honda) are starting to look for a right kind of management who can help them to build a team that can build a fast car. No doubt Shumi helped to bring Ferrari where it's at, but not only as a driver, i think his contribution on management level was also very high.
Need to know what the incentives are... 100M guaranteed... extra 900M if you win the DC and MC for BMW.... And the odds of that happening in the next 2 years are....
BMW-Sauber is technically behind the McLaren-Mercedes. If the German argument comes into play, MS is much closer with Norbert Haug than with Dr. Theissen. So if we'd bring the nostalgic "German champ drives a German car" into the list of arguments, I see him rather leave to McClonk. But quite frankly I don't see him leave to anybody. Not for the money, not for the friendship and not for the Vaterland. And as I said before I don't see the point of BMW wanting him so badly unless it is for propaganda, but I don't think they'd sell any more Ms with a MS in a midfield F1.
The point now is his age. He would not be able to win in the BMW, so I can not see MS racing beyond 2007 just to build a team. If that was his only motivation, he is already there with Ferrari. Besides, if one were to look back at their F1 racing career, I think it would be better to finish a winner at Ferrari, not a bilionaire from BMW.
