Michael Schumacher to Mercedes.
The good news is he'll be easy to spot. It's a Mercedes, it will be broken down on the side of the track.
If Massa doesn't win, then I'd be happy with Schumacher taking it. Anything, as long as Alonso falls flat.
Stay loyal? Like Schumacher did with Ferrari? Alonso in 2010. My grandparents were from Spain. I don't mind if Schumi podiums and M-A-Y-B-E one win,but that's it. I'm still a fan of the bastard anyway.HaHA.
I now believe MS defeat to M&B must have been in the works since a while ago. To be precise, I am convinced M&B must have been behind the bothced return of MS to Ferrari F1 races after the Massa incident and subsequent excuses as why he could not do it. M&B must have made an "offer he could not refuse" to race for them and the fact Ross Brawn is now the head of the racing team, must have been the icing on the cake for MS. I am truly disappointed with MS and I am worried about Ferrari. I still believe MS is an outclass on the track and I am convinced Ferrari does not have a winning combination as far as car, drivers and race team director are concerned. Luca di Montezemolo must not have very restful nights. F1 races and the stories behind the scenes, resemble more and more soap operas.....
Schumacher said he was offered the job at the Abu Dahbi race, then again later. So yeah, maybe that's why he didn't drive with Ferrari. In any case he a traitor. Like the Dodgers leaving Brooklyn for L.A. I wish him well, but want Alonso to beat them all. Arriba Fernando!
kinda sucks... but i wish him the best. So many changes to motogp and formula... tough to keep up these days.
They get what they ask for, and sadly for Massa, Alfredo I think you are correct. I do not give a rat's ass about Alonso. Money talks, namely Santander, so the Ferrari team was "bought" who cares about the Tifosi. I question the b*s*a*ds character. Actually a rumor I had heard approximately one year ago was the some of the money that Ross Brawn came up with to "buy" the Honda team came from a good friend. His first name was Michael. Schumacher had no intention of returning to F1. His interest was peaked when he was asked to subsitutute for Massa. Unfortunetely, there is a clown named diMontezemelo that runs Ferrari, and he failed to maintain that interest in Schumacher. So when Button decided to go to McLaren, Ross Brawn called up his old friend MS and told him that MB was buying the team, and they wanted an all German line-up, and despite agreeing to Button's demands, Button was moving on. If I were diMontezemelo, I would have bought off Alonso, and hired MS at that moment. Getting realistic, if I were MS, and suddenly I was given the opportunity to drive for my old friend that helped me win 7 WDCs, on a team that JUST won both the WDC and the WCC, and was JUST purchased by the company that gave me my start in professional racing that just happens to have the best engines currently in F1, and is a company from my home country, I would jump at the chance, even though they are paying me 20% of what Ferrari used to pay me. So how is MS a traitor? He gave Ferrari what they wanted, Ferrari could have kept him on the hook but chose to eliminate his official title as team consultant, so MS is free to do what he wants. Question Ferrari, not Schumacher. For a team player like Massa, I hope they give him a car capable of winning the WDC. If it isn't Massa, then I hope Schumacher and Brawn take it all. Personally, I no longer support any F1 team, I can only support the drivers. And I hope that Massa drives Alonso into the dust.
Kalimera Ron. I tend to agree with you. And like you say, I cannot fault MS for the move: had I been in his shoes I would have done the same probably. I blame L. C. di M. for letting it happen though and I believe he is going to regret it deeply. All in all, we are the losers, as I do not give Ferrari much of a chance, given the current set up. Once again, F 1 looks more like a reality show or a soap opera: I am surprised Berlusconi has not jumped on the idea and moved it to prime time in Italy
Look, I'm a huge Michael fan, but back before Ferrari went with Kimi, Michael was given the chance to race on, and finish his career with them. But he wasn't sure and took too much time to decide, Ferrari needed to move on Kimi or risk losing him. Now fast forward,do you fire Massa and partner Shumi with Alonso or not hire Alonso,take Shumi, risk that either his skills have diminished or his neck becomes a problem. Then you are out a #1 driver, which I'm sorry Massa isn't. Also Alonso is much younger and barring any catastrophy, should finish out his career with the Scuderia, and wether you like him or not is a great driver and even just as important,knows how to develop a car.
Uh...how so? Ferrari now has the best driver in F1 that is good at developing a car and beat MS two years for WDC. Not only that, but Brawn (now MB GP) slowly lost their advantage in the second half of the season as the other teams developed their cars to better suit the new rules. Honda (re-badged as a Brawn car) started work on their car early after failing horribly in 2008 and got a head start on everyone. Kimi actually got the car on the podium and a win in the second half after an abysmal start earlier in the season and same for McLaren. STR (powered by Ferrari) continually won and are more of a contender than Brawn imo. Ferrari will be fine and I expect many more wins with Alonso behind the wheel than Michael with Mercedes...in my opinion.
I am not sure where everyone gets the idea Alonso is good at developing cars: as far as I could see, he is very good at stirring up controversy, bickers a lot and crashes cars more than the average guy. In short, he is a high maintenance driver with a high consumption of cars. Just the opposite of MS, if you wish. Stefano Domenicali may be a nice guy and a brilliant engineer, but it takes a lot more that that to put a racing team on the podium. Felipe and Alonso have started bickering even before starting to work together, while Giancarlo is still looking for 6th gear on his car.... Ross Brawn on the other hand, has what it takes to put a racing team on the podium (he did it with Ferrari many times over) and now has also who may still be the best driver of the lot, by far, in and out of the cockpit. Couple that with pretty good engines and plenty of euros for R&D courtesy of M&B and you have a winning formula. My heart is with Ferrari, but I do not see it having what it takes to get close to the podium this year. And I do hope to be wrong on this!
MS is no more a traitor than Ferrari are to themselves for hiring a driver who knowingly benefited from documents stolen from them; who does that? LOL
Alonso does not set up cars, he is just like Raikkonen, shows up and drives. According to Briatore in an interview in F1 magazine, he kept Fischichella at Renault because it was Giancarlo that did the development work, not Alonso. Keep in mind at the time, Briatore was Alonso's manager away from Renault. I will not deny that Alonso is an excellent driver. He is one of the 3-4 best on the grid. I will also not underestimate Massa, and as before, Ferrari starts the season with no #1, but rather two equal drivers. Alonso is not now the #1 at Ferrari. That's decided about the time of Monza. Depending on the lasting effects of Massa's injury, if any, he will give Alonso a run for the money as he did with Raikkonen, who when Kimi's mood allowed, was just as good if not better than Alonso. In addition, Massa believes as do I that Alonso knew about the cheating incident by Renault at Singapore, so he has a different kind of additional motiviation. And consider, Massa's teacher is none other than Michael Schumacher. Alonso knowingly used the stolen Ferrari dossier while at McLaren. He had to question the strategy of coming to the pits within I think 10 laps at Singapore, again, not forgetting his relationship with Briatore. Nothing Schumacher ever did was to that level of cheating. Yes, I understand that at Alonso's first serious meeting with diMontezemelo he was told that if there is any issue whatsoever, he will be terminated on the spot. That's rumored to be in his contract. So possibly Alonso has changed, but then, I doubt it. Even if he does not cause any trouble at Ferrari, there is no way I can support his success. He has been a pig. If anyone could call Michael Schumacher a traitor, it would be Mercedes. They paid for MS to go to Jordan for his first F1 ride. They got his F1 career going. Seems to return would be the logical move and payback.
I don't buy the argument that Fisi setup the Renault to win. Fernando came to Renault before the start of the 2003 season and finished at 6th place that year. 4th place the following year (2004). Fisi came to the team in the off season before the 2005 season when the car was pretty much done. Fernando then won in 2005 and 2006 as we all know. After Fernando left to McLaren, Renault didn't get a single win that season (2007). In fact, Heikki finished ahead of Fisi in the WDC at 7th place to Fisi's 8th. Once Fernando came back to Renault for 2008, he was able to get the car to finish on the podium in the second half of the season as well as get two victories. He's a lot better than Kimi...a lot better...
So I guess Flavio Briatore has no idea? This was a direct quote, so what information do you have that proves Briatore is wrong? To be more specific, this quote was nearing the end of the 2006 season, where the cars went from 10 to 8 cylinders, and the issue of mass dampers came about. The Renault needed revision when the MDs were considered illegal, it was Fisichella that did it, at least according to Briatore. FYI, Briatore was both the team principal of Renault when they won the championship and he was also Alonso business manager. Seems he would know I think? Also, Fisichella has the credit for the development of the Force India car. Probably a reason he was hired by Ferrari.
Piero Ferrari has dismissed suggestions that Michael Schumacher is betraying Ferrari by making a Formula 1 comeback with Mercedes. The son of company founder Enzo Ferrari believes the Mercedes move was a pragmatic one as Ferrari had no spare seats, rather than a snub to the team Schumacher had been with since 1996. "It's true that we were a bit disappointed, because Michael had become our symbol," Ferrari told Gazzetta dello Sport. "I wouldn't use that expression [betrayal], even though obviously we would have preferred him to stay with us. But he wanted to race and the conditions weren't there for him to do it once again with Ferrari." Ferrari is sure that Schumacher is still quick enough to make a successful comeback even though he is now in his forties. "His competitiveness will depend on the car," said Ferrari. "Another great driver, Mario Andretti, had carried on racing until he was over 50. Schumi was and remains a phenomenon. Drivers like him come only once every ten years." He insisted that Ferrari had no reason to consider moving either of its 2010 signings Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa aside to accommodate Schumacher. "No, because I never believe in comebacks in sport, and I mean coaches and footballers who go back to a team where they had coached or played before. Time goes on," he said. "And besides, we have hired Alonso who didn't become world champion by chance, and in fact he has already challenged and beaten Michael before. And then we have Massa, who has matured next to Michael himself. "I'm convinced that, if we are able to build a good car - the 2009 one wasn't very good - we'll get some satisfaction. In other words, we won't lose races and the title because of the drivers." Ferrari believes his legendary father would also have accepted Schumacher's decision. "I'll take a step back in time: I was very close to Lorenzo Bandini and I suffered greatly when he died in Monte Carlo in 1967," said Ferrari. "Right then, my father gave me some advice that was in line with his policy: 'You must never get too affectionate with racing drivers, because it either ends this way or they go race somewhere else. They are employees, even if very important ones.'"
Enzo Ferrari was known to be very peculiar in his choice of drivers and for many years he would not have Italian drivers for his cars. The rumor was, that in case they would crash and die, it would affect him less, if they were not Italian. So what Piero says, in a way confirms that "not-to-get-attached" rationale. Still I believe the "neck injury" that prevented MS from replacing Massa after the incident, was caused by MB and Ross Brawn maneuverings behind the scene and I would not be surprised if the honeymoon between MS & Ferrari ended right there and then. And now, MB and Ross Brawn have made the "neck injury" go away, like magic !!
