Did Mercedes have an option on MS all along?

Certainly this is a discussion that cannot be proven by any of us however I thought it worthy of dialogue. I'll start by saying that anyone offering comments on this subject should have a little bit of a background knowledge that if it were not for Mercedes Benz the world would very likely have never heard of Michael Schumacher. Mercedes invested millions of dollars into his career very early when no one thought anything special of him and funded his entry into F1 with Jordan in 1991 (If you're racing for Google and Wikipedia, now may be a good time to exit). As such it would be a logical assumption to think that Mercedes signed Schumacher to a lifelong option contract should they enter into F1. I remember when Sauber got Mercedes engines (well Illmor Mercedes) in the early 90's that there was talk of a Silver Arrows team and that Mercedes would call in their option on Schumacher. I suspect that the only team with which Schumacher could have driven assuming Mercedes was on the grid was MB. Any thoughts?

 

I'm going back to 1991 here NOT the past few months. The recent past would only be Mercedes cashing in on something that took them almost 20 years to get around to.

 

McLaren had Mercedes engines and it is not since 1955 that Mercedes has entered the World Championship as a constructor.

 

When you invest millions into someone who has not yet produced anything you can write a contract that lasts as long as you like. Starving upcoming racing drivers will sign anything. Hang around this game on the inside for a while and you will know what I mean.

There is a big difference between engine supply and being a manufacturer. In the early 90's MB was considering being an F1 constructor and has not until now. I really do not see why it matters when they do it and if I had been MB with the money I spent I would have owned MS for life. As far as we know MS could have been on loan to Benetton and Ferrari all these years.