Seven-time Formula One champion Michael Schumacher is coming out of retirement to drive for Mercedes next year, saying he expects to contend for the title again.
The German announced his comeback yesterday after three years away from the sport that he dominated for the first half of the decade.
“Three years of absence gave back all the energy that I’m feeling right now,” Schumacher said in a telephone conference. “I feel ready for some serious stuff.”
PHOTO: AFP
“I still feel absolutely on the edge. It’s thrilling and exciting. I believe I can be absolutely competitive,” he said.
“Our aim can only be to fight for the championship,” he added.
A move to Mercedes will give Schumacher, who turns 41 on Jan. 3, a potentially winning car and reunite him with Britain’s Ross Brawn — the technical director who guided him to all his titles and who is now the team principal.
It will also take Schumacher’s career full circle, since the German drove for the Mercedes sportscar team before breaking into Formula One with Jordan in 1991.
Schumacher, who will partner Nico Rosberg in an all-German team for next year’s season, said he and Mercedes were in discussions about a deal through the 2012 season.
“We are talking about a three-year deal. It’s not a one-off thing,” Schumacher said. “We are looking for some continuation.”
Schumacher competed in 249 F1 races from 1991 to 2006 with Jordan, Benetton and Ferrari. He won the F1 driver’s championship in 1994 and 1995 and five straight years from 2000 to 2004. He set records with 91 race wins and several other milestones in the sport which still stand.
“I am convinced that together we will be involved in the fight for the Formula 1 World Championship next year,” he said yesterday.
Schumacher had planned a short-term comeback with Ferrari last season to fill in for the injured Felipe Massa, but he had to call that off because of a neck injury from a motorcycle accident.
“I made sure myself, and 100 percent with the neck there are no more issues,” he said. “There has been enough time now for it to heal completely.”
Schumacher had been working as a consultant with Ferrari since his retirement, attending some F1 races. He said he had not envisioned a permanent comeback until approached by Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn — the man who oversaw the German’s seven world titles: five with Ferrari and two with Benetton.
The return also gives Schumacher a chance to pay back Mercedes, which steered his pre-F1 career.
“The one reason I seriously thought about my return is it’s because an old friend asked me,” Schumacher said. “Mercedes gave me a chance to enter Formula One and throughout the years we were never able to work together, but now I have that chance. I am happy to give back for what Mercedes gave me in the early days.”
“I was not thinking I would have an offer,” Schumacher said. “I could not have imagined I would have returned. Due to this special combination, that no one could have planned in advance, I just thought, ‘Why not?’”
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