plus 4, Schumacher to Return to Formula One - New York Times

Schumacher to Return to Formula One - New York Times
Michael Schumacher to end racing retirement - Los Angeles Times
Schumacher F1 return confirmed - CNN
McGraw's Davy Jones happy to be back on track - Star-Gazette
Michael Schumacher Returns to Formula One - New York Times

Schumacher to Return to Formula One - New York Times

Posted: 23 Dec 2009 09:36 PM PST

Michael Schumacher announced Wednesday that he would return to race in Formula One next year after three seasons in retirement.

Schumacher, who turns 41 next month, has won seven Formula One world drivers' titles in his 16-year career. He signed a three-year deal to drive for the new Mercedes Grand Prix team.

"I was tired of F1 by the end of 2006," Schumacher said. "But in three years of absence, I got back all the energy that I am feeling right now. I played around with motorbikes, and I feel ready for some serious stuff now."

Schumacher had been consulting for Ferrari, his team from 1996 until his retirement in 2006. Last summer, when the team needed a replacement for its injured driver, Felipe Massa, Schumacher considered returning, but a neck injury from a motorcycle racing accident prevented him from driving.

"The failed comeback attempt last summer gave me reason to reconsider my situation," he said.

Schumacher, who is German, will be reunited with Ross Brawn, the director of the Mercedes team. Brawn was the technical director and strategist at the Benetton team in 1994 and 1995 and guided Schumacher to his first two titles. Brawn and Schumacher moved to Ferrari, where they won another five titles from 2000 to 2004.

Before he jumped to Formula One in 1991, Schumacher raced sports cars for Mercedes.

Mercedes went on to become a minority owner of the McLaren team. But last month the company announced that it was leaving McLaren and buying a controlling interest in the Brawn team, which won both the drivers' and constructors' titles this season with Jenson Button driving.

Schumacher will race alongside another German, Nico Rosberg, who is 15 years younger. He will be the oldest driver in Formula One since Nigel Mansell raced in 1995 at 41.

"It wouldn't surprise me if Michael challenged for another world championship," Mansell said recently. Mansell won his last race, the Australian Grand Prix, at 41 in 1994.

Schumacher dominated Formula One before he retired, winning a record 91 times in 249 races. Alain Prost is second with 51 victories, and Ayrton Senna is third with 41. In 2002, Schumacher won his sixth title, breaking Juan Fangio's 45-year-old record.

Schumacher will aim to repeat Mercedes's success from last season.

"He's the best judge of what he can do and I trust him implicitly, and he told me he can do it, so I'm very confident," Brawn said of Schumacher. "He's always been his own best critic."

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Michael Schumacher to end racing retirement - Los Angeles Times

Posted: 23 Dec 2009 09:29 PM PST

Next year's Formula One season just got a whole lot harder for its drivers -- and a whole lot more interesting for the sport's legion of fans worldwide.

Michael Schumacher, Formula One's all-time champion with an unprecedented seven titles, confirmed widespread speculation and announced Wednesday that he will come out of retirement to race with the new Mercedes GP team.

Saying that he "was feeling like a 12-year-old boy who is jumping from excitement," Schumacher -- who will be 41 when the series opens with the Bahrain Grand Prix on March 14 -- said he signed a three-year contract with the team.

One of the team's leaders is Ross Brawn, who was Schumacher's technical director when the German driver was winning his championships, including five at Ferrari. Brawn this year had formed his own team, Brawn GP, whose driver Jenson Button won the championship.

Button has since moved to the McLaren team, and Mercedes took over the Brawn GP team that will now have Schumacher and fellow German Nico Rosberg as its drivers.

"True, I will be 41 years old, but the combination of Ross and Mercedes is something that I believe in -- and I believe in myself as well," said Schumacher, who had retired after the 2006 season.

Schumacher last summer had planned to replace injured Ferrari driver Felipe Massa but had to cancel that move because of a neck injury he suffered early in the year in a motorcycle accident. But Schumacher said Wednesday that "the neck is no longer an issue."

james.peltz@latimes.com

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Schumacher F1 return confirmed - CNN

Posted: 23 Dec 2009 07:34 PM PST

(CNN) -- Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher is to return to Formula One next season to drive for Mercedes, the German carmaker announced on Wednesday.

The 40-year-old German, who retired in 2006, has agreed a three-year contract with the possibility for a further extension according to his agent Sabine Kehm and will be on the grid for the curtain-opening Bahrain Grand Prix on March 14.

Schumacher, who was unveiled at the team's factory in Brackley, will join compatriot Nico Rosberg at the former Brawn GP team, who were taken over by Mercedes at the end of last season having won the constructors' and drivers world championships.

"After a three-year break, I have all the energy again that I was lacking," Schumacher told reporters via a teleconference call.

Schumacher title talk is festive fantasy

Schumacher, who won five of his world titles with Ferrari, attempted to make a comeback for the Italian team last year in place of the injured Felipe Massa, but a neck injury sustained in a motorcycle race thwarted his return.

However, Schumacher moved to quell doubts over his current ability to race: "My neck is no longer a problem," he said.

"Over the summer it was too soon after the accident. Now everything has healed," said Schumacher, who will have his first practice session with his new team on February 1.

"I have decided to return to Formula One. Mercedes GP and I agreed on teaming up for the coming seasons. And to be honest, I'm already super excited by the prospect to be back in a F1 cockpit," he added on his official Web site.

"I don't want to deny at all that the idea of a German F1 team extremely tempts me. I guess every German driver would feel this way. And of course it plays a major role that I again can work together with Ross at Mercedes GP. Above all, however, my old hunger for racing is back -- I realized that my old passion was returning. Suddenly I was on fire again," he added.

The comeback is just the latest chapter in a remarkable career for the driver who currently holds the record for grand prix wins (91) and most world titles.

His return, just 11 days short of his 41st birthday, will easily make him the oldest driver on the grid and will leave Schumacher aiming to match the feats of former great Juan Manuel Fangio of Argentina, who was a world champion at the age of 46 in 1957.

Rumors have been circulating for several weeks that he would return instead with Mercedes, where he will be reunited with team chief Ross Brawn, who helped to him to his string of five titles at Ferrari.

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo told reporters at their Christmas lunch last week that Schumacher had revealed to him he was close to a return with Mercedes.

"I hadn't spoken to him since Abu Dhabi but I spoke to him on Wednesday," Di Montezemolo said. "He phoned me and he told me that there is a very, very, very strong possibility [of joining Mercedes] "

Schumacher, who has acted as a consultant with Ferrari since he retired, will be ending a 13-year association with the famous marquee, but with the returning Massa and new-signing Fernando Alonso in their line-up for 2009 that route to return was blocked.

His aborted 2009 comeback created worldwide interest and he said then that abandoning his plans was one of the most disappointing moments of his life.

But Schumacher has worked his way back to fitness and put on an impressive display in the Race of Champions exhibition in China in November to underline his readiness for a new comeback.

The confirmation of the world champion's return caps a good week for the fledgling Mercedes team, who announced a long-term sponsorship agreement with Malaysian national oil and gas company Petronas.

From 2010, the new "Silver Arrows" team will compete in the World Championship as the Mercedes Petronas Formula One Team according to statement on their official Web site.

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McGraw's Davy Jones happy to be back on track - Star-Gazette

Posted: 23 Dec 2009 08:38 PM PST

Davy Jones is thankful this Christmas that he's in good health and has another opportunity to prove himself on the racetrack.

The former McGraw, N.Y.-resident, who won the world's two top 24 Hour sports car events at Le Mans and Daytona in the 1990s, will return to the Rolex 24 at Daytona for the first time in 17 years. He'll drive a top-line GT-class Corvette in next month's 48th running of the Grand-Am Rolex Series race.

Jones, 45, who lives near Lake Tahoe, is one of four drivers who will race the No. 07 Godstone Ranch Motorsports Corvette C6.R in the prestigious race on Jan. 30.

"I'm happy to be involved. It's a nice opportunity to get back into a competitive environment again," said Jones, from his Genoa, Nev., home on Wednesday.

The chance to race on a competitive team in one of sports car racing's biggest events, in fact, hasn't come Jones' way in more than a decade.

"It's been a while since I've been in an endurance event of this kind," said Jones, who admitted his last top-caliber sports car race was the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1999. "I'll be racing off my past experience."

Jones helped put the one-race deal together for Godstone Ranch Motorsports and its sponsor, the Texas Heart Institute. They're teaming with the Leighton Reese Performance Group.

"I brought a race winning name to the program," Jones said. "I'm excited because it's a championship caliber effort."

Jones had much success in sports car racing and was at the top of his game in 1996 when he nearly won the Indianapolis 500, finishing second by one of the event's closest margins. Two weeks after his Indy 500 effort, he won sports car racing's biggest event, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, in a Joest TWR-Porsche with teammates Alexander Wurz and Manuel Reuter.

Jones remains the last American driver to achieve an overall victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

His career was derailed, however, in January of 1997 when he suffered nerve damage from a neck injury he received from a devastating crash during the season-opening IndyCar Series event.

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Michael Schumacher Returns to Formula One - New York Times

Posted: 23 Dec 2009 07:48 PM PST

Michael Schumacher, the most successful driver in motor racing history, announced Wednesday that he will return to race in Formula One next year after three seasons in retirement.

The German, who turns 41 next month, who won seven world drivers' titles in a career spanning 16 years and 249 races, has signed to drive for the new Mercedes Grand Prix team in a three-year deal.

"I was tired of F1 by the end of 2006," Schumacher said Wednesday. "But in three years of absence I got back all the energy that I am feeling right now. I played around with motorbikes and I feel ready for some serious stuff now."

Schumacher had been consulting for the Ferrari team, where he raced from 1996 to 2006. Last summer, when the team needed a replacement for its injured driver, Felipe Massa, Schumacher considered returning, but a neck injury from a motorcycle racing accident had not yet healed.

"The failed comeback attempt last summer gave me reason to reconsider my situation," Schumacher said.

He said that he believed he and the Mercedes team would have a chance to win the title in 2010. He said he is returning because he was given an offer he never expected and that it came from two important sources, Ross Brawn, the director of the team, and Mercedes.

Brawn was the technical director and strategist at the Benetton team and guided Schumacher on to win his first two titles, in 1994 and 1995. Both Brawn and Schumacher then moved to Ferrari, winning a further five titles together from 2000 to 2004.

Schumacher drove for Mercedes in sports cars before entering Formula One. The manufacturer had paid for his move to Formula One at the Jordan team in 1991.

Mercedes went on to become a minority-owner of the McLaren team. But last month the company announced that it was leaving McLaren and buying a controlling interest in the Brawn team, which won both the drivers' and constructors' titles this year.

Schumacher will race alongside another German, Nico Rosberg, who is 15 years younger.

Schumacher will be the oldest driver since Nigel Mansell raced in Formula One in 1995, also at age 41.

"It wouldn't surprise me if Michael challenged for another world championship," Mansell said last weekend. Mansell won his last race, the Australian Grand Prix, at 41 in 1994.

Schumacher period of domination, before he retired in 2006 was like none before. No other driver comes close to his 91 victories, Alain Prost is second with 51 and Ayrton Senna the third, with 41.

Schumacher equaled Juan Fangio's 45-year-old record of five titles in 2002 and went on to win two more titles in the following two years. Prost is third with four titles.

In a recent poll of 217 drivers by Autosport Magazine Senna, who earned three world titles before he died in a crash at Imola in 1994, was voted greatest driver. Schumacher came in second. Fangio was third.

Fangio, who was 46 when he won his last title, won titles with four different manufacturers.

Schumacher is now joining the team that won the title last year, but his move to Ferrari in 1996 was far bolder. Ferrari, had become synonymous with failure, and then helped turn it into a dominant winning machine.

"Schumacher reshaped the mold for the 21st-century racing driver," the Autosport editors wrote, "combining incredible fitness with technical brilliance and good old-fashioned speed."

But Schumacher also has a dark side. In 1997, with a single point advantage over his rival for the title, Jacques Villeneuve at Williams, the German tried to knock the Canadian off the track at Jerez, Spain, to take a short cut to the crown.

The move backfired. Schumacher's car fell out of the race, while Villeneuve limped on to the finish and scored the points he needed to take the title. Schumacher was stripped of all his points for that season. He had won his first title, in 1994, after a collision that knocked out his nearest rival, Damon Hill, also in the last race.

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