Was Ralf offered a drive with Toro Rosso?

RichardsF1    Driver Market, F1 News, Past F1 Figures     Franz Tost, Ralf Schumacher, Toro Rosso

Retired F1 driver Ralf Schumacher revealed to Bild earlier this week that he has run out of money now wants to emulate his older brother Michael and make a comeback to F1 next year. Rumours were afoot that Ralf had actually been offered a role with one of the new teams (most likely Lotus), and that he had turned it down.

In fact, Ralf has been linked to the Toro Rosso team, although the German stresses that this is no more than pure speculation at present.

STR has officially confirmed only Sébastien Buemi so far for the 2010 season, although the management of his 2009 team-mate Jaime Alguersuari claim that a contract already exists for what would be his first full season in the sport.

Were the rumours surrounding Ralf’s comeback to bear fruit at Toro Rosso, Alguersuari would miss out on his seat in order to make way for the 6-time Grand Prix winner. "Franz Tost [Toro Rosso Team Principal] and I are just very good friends," Schumacher, who has raced in DTM for the last two years, told German news agency SID.

"I cannot name any teams we’re talking to – any team being mentioned is just speculation."

Speculation you’re no doubt happy to fuel, Ralf!

Button and Brawn honoured in New Year Honours List

RichardsF1    F1 News     Awards, Jenson Button, Ross Brawn

As speculated earlier in December, Jenson Button has been awarded an MBE from Her Majesty the Queen as part of the New Year Honours List.

Button’s former team principal, Ross Brawn has been awarded an OBE.

Honours lists are published twice a year in the United Kingdom at New Year and in mid-June on the date of The Queen’s official birthday.

"To be recognised by Her Majesty the Queen is a tremendous honour for me. Many people played a role in my world championship – and in receiving this award, I want to thank them for all their efforts," Button was quoted by The Mirror.

Congratulations, Jenson!

Was Ferrari’s ‘third car’ for Schumacher?

RichardsF1    F1 News     Ferrari, Marc Gene, Michael Schumacher

Here’s an interesting news item!

Michael Schumacher would have made his F1 comeback with Ferrari next year, had the Scuderia’s three-car-per-team rule proposal been accepted by the FIA – that is the opinion of the team’s test driver, Marc Gené. Schumacher has since made a a much-publicised announcement that he will make his comeback with Mercedes GP.

Mid-season and in the wake of BMW’s departure from F1, Ferrari chairman Luca di Montezemelo floated the idea of each of the existing teams entering three cars in 2010, in the event that the grid size continued its (then perceived) decline.

According to Gené, the team’s line-up would have consisted of Schumacher plus Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso, had the rule been put into place.

"It hurts to see Schumacher leave our team," Spaniard Gené said in his column for newspaper El Mundo. "I am convinced that, if the rules allowed us to run a third car per team, Michael would be with us next year, but now we can only thank him for all he has done at Ferrari and try to defeat him next year. At Ferrari we are ready for it – Alonso and Massa will make it a difficult season for him."

Allan McNish turns 40 today!

RichardsF1    Birthdays, F1 News, Past F1 Figures     Allan McNish, Toyota

Many happy returns to Allan McNish, who turns 40 today!

While the little Scot is more famous for being a three-time American Le Mans Series Champion (2000, 2006-7), two-time Le Mans 24 Hour winner (1998 and 2008) and three-time Sebring 12 Hours winner (2004, 2006 and 2009), he has actually had a lengthy F1 association.

A Formula Vauxhall Lotus champion and British Formula 3 runner-up, McNish earned test driving roles with McLaren and Benetton in the early 1990s. He also tested the disastrous Mastercard Lola in 1997 before its short-lived foray into F1.

McNish’s sportscar career began in 1996 with Porsche, and took his first Le Mans 24 Hour win with the marque two years later.

McNish’s determination finally secured him another F1 role with Toyota in 2001, when the team required an experienced development driver in the lead-up to their 2002 F1 debut. His efforts were rewarded with a place on the grid at the 2002 Australian GP. But the season was a disaster for the Scot, who was the sole rookie of the four to start the season (Mark Webber, Felipe Massa and Takuma Sato being the others) who would not finish in the top-six that season. McNish nearly mirrored the Australian GP point-scoring efforts of his team-mate Mika Salo at the Malaysian GP, where a superb drive was thwarted by a pitlane blunder from his pit crew. Both drivers were sacked at season’s end, but not before McNish suffered a massive accident at the 130R corner at Suzuka (below).

His association with Toyota now finished, McNish was Renault’s test driver for the 2003 season, and also dabbled in a little work with ITV. He returned to his true home of sportscars, and teamed up with the Audi factory team with incredible success ever since.

2009 F1 Season Review DVD

RichardsF1    DVDs, Reviews     Brawn GP, Jenson Button

The 2009 Formula One (F1) Review is the official FIA approved DVD review of the 2009 F1 season. The lead-up to the season was faced with the first major regulation and design changes since the introduction of the ‘narrow track’ cars of 1998 – the introduction of KERS and the reintroduction of slick tyres were believed to be major factors in deciding this season’s championships.

The 200-minute, double DVD provides all the action and highlights from the entire F1 season, allowing viewers to relive all the excitement and drama as Jenson Button, in the Brawn-Mercedes, clinched the Formula One Drivers’ Championship in the penultimate race, the Brazilian Grand Prix.

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Now Ralf Schumacher wants to come back

RichardsF1    Driver Market, F1 News, Past F1 Figures     DTM, Ralf Schumacher

Having witnessed the limelight his brother garnered by announcing his return to the F1 stage, now Ralf Schumacher – brother of the legendary Michael – has chimed in and admits that he too is eyeing an F1 comeback!

You’re joking, right!

Since being turfed by Toyota at the end of the 2007 season and having failed to secure a seat with any of the other F1 teams (even Force India said no!), Ralf ventured to the DTM series.

"I feel that my desires to race in Formula 1 are still there," Ralf told German magazine Bild, which also claims that the younger Schumacher has already turned down an offer from one of the new Formula 1 teams.

Who was it with? Lotus? If you want to get back into F1, Ralf, I’d think the seats in the established teams are pretty taken!

"There must be a challenge, it is not about money but what we can achieve with the team."

So explain to me again WHY you turned down this offer? You’re not making sense!

"I know that my reputation suffered during my time at Toyota but I left that behind me. I know what I can do and I feel ready to do it again."

You think?

Irvine backs Schumacher for 2010 title pitch

RichardsF1    F1 News     Eddie Irvine, Mercedes GP, Michael Schumacher, Nico Rosberg

Michael Schumacher’s former Ferrari team-mate Eddie Irvine reckons the seven-time world champion will be able to challenge for an eighth title in 2010.

Speaking with ESPNF1, Irvine believes Schumacher will be just as competitive at Mercedes GP as new-crowned champion Jenson Button was when he drove for it (then under the Brawn GP name) last season.

"For sure Schumacher is fast enough to win races again and there is no comparison between Michael and Jenson in terms of ability," Irvine said. "Jenson won the world title this year so Michael can win it next year in the right car, and even if he doesn’t have a competitive car, we have seen that Michael can do incredible things."

Many have questioned the motivation behind Schumacher’s decision to return, but Irvine reckons he was not being fulfilled by his advisory position at Ferrari.

"I think he’s just bored," Irvine said. "When he was going to the races with Ferrari he was probably thinking ‘what the hell am I doing here?’ There was no point in him going to the race as an advisor because he didn’t know enough of that side of the business, so he really didn’t have a job. He was just turning up as a poster boy. At least now he has a proper job."

Schumacher will drive alongside Nico Rosberg at Mercedes, but Irvine said the seven-time world champion would have no problem asserting himself as the No.1 driver.

"The fastest guy will be the No.1 and that’s always been the case wherever Michael has been," he added. "If Nico goes quicker than him then vice-versa but I don’t expect it to happen."

Eddie always provides the best soundbites!

Barrichello lukewarm about Schumacher’s return

RichardsF1    F1 News     Ferrari, Michael Schumacher, Rubens Barrichello

Michael Schumacher’s former team-mate Rubens Barrichello has issued a lukewarm reception to the announcement of the German’s comeback with Mercedes GP in 2010.

The Brazilian left what was then Brawn GP to pursue a seat with Williams next season, and was Schumacher’s team-mate at Ferrari from 2000 to 2005. Very much the number two to Schumacher, Barrichello was occasionally outspoken about being in Michael’s shadow during his time at Ferrari – most notably at Austria in 2001 when he was forced to cede second place on the last lap (this would be repeated at the 2002 Austrian GP, when he was forced to relinquish the race victory, below).

On his personal Twitter account, Barrichello wrote: "Experience is all that matters in F1 now..the team needed me last year and needs Schumi now.

"I hope for a great fight but a clean one as well," he added.

Still got a grudge to bear, Rubens?

Notable F1 comebacks

RichardsF1    F1 News, Past F1 Figures     Alain Prost, Alan Jones, Dan Gurney, Jacques Villeneuve, Jose Froilan Gonzales, Michael Schumacher, Nigel Mansell, Niki Lauda

As F1’s most successful driver prepares for his return in 2010, he follows in the footsteps of several famous names who have attempted an F1 comeback.

For some, like Niki Lauda and Alain Prost, the temptation of winning again proved too big to ignore. For others, like Alan Jones and Nigel Mansell, they still felt they had more to contribute and achieve. Perhaps Michael never wanted to stay away to begin with?

Regardless, F1 has plenty of comeback stories in its history…

Jose Froilan Gonzales

Gonzales took the runner’s-up spot in the 1954 World Championship, but the stocky Argentine’s biggest achievement in F1 was securing Ferrari’s first-ever F1 victory at Silverstone in 1951. At the end of the 1954 season, he quit F1 full-time and made on-off appearances at his home GP until 1957. He made another return to the Argentine GP in 1960 for Ferrari, and finished in 10th place.

Dan Gurney

Gurney started his F1 career with Ferrari in 1959, and switched to BRM the following year. His first F1 win came in at Rouen 1962 for Porsche, the team’s sole F1 victory. He drove for Brabham between 1963-5, and took that team’s first win, again at Rouen, in 1964.

In 1966, he set up his own All American Racers team, taking the beautiful Eagle Weslake to victory at the 1967 Belgian GP. In 1969, Gurney walked away from F1 to compete in the USAC and CanAm series stateside, but returned for three races with McLaren in 1970.

Niki Lauda

Having successfully helped a despairing Ferrari team turn its form around, the Austrian could have won three consecutive championships in 1975-77 were it not for his near-lethal accident at the 1967 German GP at the Nurburgring. He left Ferrari for Brabham in 1978, but in a "no-bull" manner he still practices today, he suddenly quit midway through practice at the Canadian GP and informed team owner Bernie Ecclestone that he had lost interest in F1.

After that, he concentrated on the growth of his eponymous airline, but was incredibly courted back to F1 in 1982, this time to drive for McLaren. He won twice in 1982, at Long Beach and Brands Hatch, and then spectacularly took his third world title in 1984 by beating team-mate Alain Prost by half a point! Lauda’s last win came in Holland in 1985, and he retired for good at the end of the season.

Alan Jones

Having left Williams and F1 in 1981 whilst many still felt he was at his peak, the 1980 champion spent a year at home in Australia before being lured to the Arrows team early in 1983. Team boss Jackie Oliver was full of excitement, but as things turned out, Jones’ stay was all too brief. At Long Beach he qualified 12th before retiring from exhaustion. Never the fittest of drivers, he clearly was not up to the rigours of F1, and left the team.

Amazingly, although nowhere near fit enough, he made another comeback with the Carl Haas-run Beatrice Lola team. He drove several races in 1985 in a rubbish car (above) before doing a full season in 1986, scoring just 4 points. At this point he was too old, grey and significantly portly to be F1 material any more. Eventually he saw the light as well, and went back to Australia to race touring cars.

Alain Prost

Prost was a championship contender in every season in the 1980s, bar his debut season for McLaren in 1980. Having lost championship opportunities with Renault (1981-3) and McLaren (1984, to Lauda), he finally took his maiden crown in 1985 and followed this up in 1986. Still with McLaren, he took a third – albeit controversial – title against team-mate Ayrton Senna in 1989.

His fall-out with the Brazilian prompted his switch to Ferrari in 1990, and he nearly took the title only to be deliberately punted off the circuit by Senna at Suzuka. The 1991 Ferrari a poor third to the dominant McLaren and Williams, and he was sacked before the season-ending Australian GP after likening it to "a truck".

With no top-line seats available for 1992, he took a sabbatical and joined Williams in 1993, dominantly taking a fourth title before retiring for good.

Nigel Mansell

It could be safely argued that there are no bigger egomaniacs in F1 than Nigel Mansell. The man who thrashed all comers in the 1992 F1 season in what was clearly the most superior car on the grid, and then proceeded to moan every which way that his title victory was difficult. The man who couldn’t handle Prost as a team-mate at Ferrari, and blamed him for unsettling the dynamics of the team. The man who got jack of IndyCars (no doubt due to the fact he was no longer winning) and came back to F1 in 1994 as a stand-in driver at Williams, boasting he could beat every driver, and then didn’t.

With Williams not having a seat available for him in 1995, Mansell, now 41, moved to McLaren in the hope that its pedigree and Mercedes powerplant  would give the Williams and Benetton teams a challenge.

The signs were bad from the start: Mansell was too fat to fit in the car! The team rebuilt a larger monocoque for Nigel, and he returned for the third round at Imola, finishing 10th and a lap down (team-mate Mika Hakkinen was 5th). He raced again at Spain and ran midfield before skating through the gravel trap and pulling into the pits to retire for good.

The ego came out again when he attacked the team for producing a poor car; team boss Ron Dennis returned serve and called Nigel "unmotivated". It was a messy end to his career, and he should have hung up the keys much earlier.

Jacques Villeneuve

Villeneuve joined Williams in 1996 after dominating the IndyCar scene, and nearly won his debut race in Melbourne. With four victories in his first season and a further seven in 1997, he took the championship in his second year.

He team up with his manager Craig Pollock’s BAR team in 1999 and laboured away until 2003 without the results he needed. With David Richards taking over from Pollock, Villeneuve saw the light and quit before season’s end.

His career looked to be over until he was brought into Renault to replace Jarno Trulli for the final three races of 2004. In an unfamiliar car and not fully fit, his performance wasn’t anything special, but somehow he was signed to Sauber for 2005, and then kept on for 2006 when BMW bought the outfit (in spite of rumoured reluctance on the board’s part). He was turfed midway through the season, it being almost 10 years since his last F1 win.

Jacques is rumoured to be making another comeback attempt for the 2010 season and was widely tipped to join Lotus. With their drivers announced, it seems F1 may slip by Jacques this time…

CONFIRMED: Schumacher returns to F1

RichardsF1    Driver Market, F1 News     Mercedes GP, Michael Schumacher, Ross Brawn

After one of the most anticipated build-ups in recent F1 history and after 3 years after his retirement from F1 racing, seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher has confirmed he will be making a sensational comeback next year with Mercedes Grand Prix.

To say the rumour mill was working overtime was an understatement – yet in spite of all of this, the German remained silent as gossip mounted about his possible comeback.

Now, just days before Christmas and with the German set to be 41 years’ old by the time the new season kicks off, the team has finally confirmed the deal in a press conference at its Stuttgart HQ.

Having retired from F1 at the end of the 2006 season – where he narrowly missed out on an eighth title to Fernando Alonso – Schumacher’s legacy was an incredible array of statistics, including 91 race wins, 68 pole positions and 76 fastest laps, on top of his seven world championships. Since his debut at the 1991 Belgian GP for Jordan, he has achieved more podium finishes than any driver in the history of F1.

The return of F1’s most successful driver sees Schumi reunited with Mercedes Team Principal Ross Brawn, with whom he has worked for each of his championship-winning years at Benetton and Ferrari.

This is sensational news!!!