OCTOBER 12, 2005

The future of Michael Schumacher

It seems that negotiations are pushing along for drives in 2007 and 2008 with Michael Schumacher's manager Willi Weber telling German reporters that Michael will probably keep going until 2008.

It seems that negotiations are pushing along for drives in 2007 and 2008 with Michael Schumacher's manager Willi Weber telling German reporters that Michael will probably keep going until 2008. The interesting point in all of this is why Weber has bothered to talk about what is going on and usually such utterances are only made if there is a purpose behind them. Weber said that he can categorically exclude Michael Schumacher leaving Ferrari for McLaren-Mercedes and said that it is likely that Michael will race on until the end of 2008 although he added that he could not say anything for definite.

There have been strong rumours in recent months that Kimi Raikkonen was on the verge of doing a deal with Ferrari but this was believed to be conditional on Schumacher departing, as no top F1 driver would seriously consider going into Ferrari with Michael still there. The team has been built around the German for the last 10 seasons and any newcomer - even the fastest there is - is going to struggle to compete.

Our feeling is that Weber's announcement is part of the negotiating process going on at the moment.

The other key point is whether or not it is a smart idea for any driver to aligning himself with Ferrari at the moment as it is clear that the team cannot compete with the bigger manufacturers as the budgets in F1 rise.