Hm, so Michael Schumacher decided to retire to save Felipe Massa’s job … I am not sure if this is true or not but that is what is in the news today:

“I stopped because I didn’t want my friend Felipe Massa to be unemployed. I would have had no problem going up against Kimi Raikkonen.”

Several F1 sites report that Schumi said this in interview with Swiss paper Blick. I tried to see if some webtranslator would do the trick and help me to locate the original article but I failed. It may be in Blick but I haven’t found it yet.

But if this really is true, should we now detest little Felipe or be grateful to him ?

F1Wolf

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It looks like after many years there are no pay drivers on Formula 1 grid. Their last sanctuary disapeared when Vijay Mallya took over Spyker F1. The last proper pay driver - Christijan Albers - left the grid even earlier. Not (as he should) because of his mediocre performances, but because his sponsor stopped sending money.

Christijan Albers - Spyker

So now there isn’t a driver on the Formula 1 grid who has to pay to drive instead of getting paid for driving. At least for now gone are the days of fat purses buying F1 drives in teams like Prost, Minardi, Jordan (later Midland and Spyker)… At the same time however almost gone are also the days when other teams or drivers management could place their young and upcoming drivers to weaker back-of-the-grid teams for few seasons. This is what Honda could do with Super Aguri but never really did, this is what Toyota have done with Kazuki Nakajima and Williams, this is what Flavio Briatore have done with Minardi. Many different drivers started (and some also ended up) their F1 careers in with the backmarkers:

Fernando Alonso - Minardi

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F1Wolf

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Felipe Massa’s Turkish GP win last weekend was his third in a row on the Istanbul track. I wrote in my previous post that this the first time this has happened since Michael Schumacher… Well I was not exactly right …

Michael Schumacher’s most recent hattrick of wins on the same track was his United States Grand Prix string of wins from 2003 to 2006. These were actually 4 race wins in a row. The hattrick came after the “great” win in 2005 …

There is however one more, even more recent hattrick - Kimi Raikkonen’s 3 Belgian Grand Prix wins in a row. Raikkonen won in Belgium in 2004, 2005 and in 2007. There was no Belgian Grand Prix in 2006.

Photo: Daimler Media

F1Wolf

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Shaun left this comment yesterday under one of the Barcelona test posts:

Why is Schumacher testing for Ferrari instead of Raikkonen or Massa ? sorry if this is an obvious question.

Well, good question and I do not think it is obvious. Ferrari has Raikkonen and Massa plus test drivers proper Gene and Badoer. But they still use Michael Schumacher and used him again in Barcelona this week. Schumacher did one day of testing. This was half of what Massa did, but about a day more than Kimi (thanks to rain on Thursday). Why is he still testing ? And why do they keep two other test drivers on payroll when they do not use them (almost) at all?

He still probably gives the team valuable input but is his input more valuable than input from one of the race drivers would be ? How does Kimi like the fact that he gets less running ? Perhaps he likes it and is actually thankful to Schumi for stepping in . But as far as I remember Kimi was never too excited about having Schumacher around.

Perhaps it is only publicity stunt as no matter what people may think about Michael Schumacher, he is a phenomenon that still attracts lots of attention.

Or perhaps it is just something that Jean Todt cooked up before leaving the team and Domenicali has to live with it now …

Well, who knows. The fact remains, Schumi is still around and he is definitely not slow.

There is another blog post on Michael Schumacher today here …

F1Wolf

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Day 3 in Barcelona was about new BullRosso car that was supposed to run for last 2 days of test. Unfortunately Mr. Bourdais smashed it beyond repair and we probably will not see STR03 again for the rest of the Barcelona test.

Fernando Alonso must have felt like at the end of 2006 season, his Renault finishing just ahead of Michael Schumacher’s Ferrari.

Not sure what exactly are McLaren and Toyota testing, they did not show much pace yet in Barcelona. Well, important will be the pace they show next week on the same track…

Most important development yesterday was however related to the team that does not test in Barcelona at all - Super Aguri …

Barcelona test April 2008 - Day 3 times:

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F1Wolf

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The 2008 Formula 1 drivers preview continues with BMW Sauber team.

Nick Heidfeld - Germany
Born: 10 May 1977
In F1 since 2000, 2000 Prost, 2001 - 2003 Sauber, 2004 Jordan, 2005 Williams, 2006 - 2007 BMW Sauber
Best Result: 5th 2007
Career wins: 0
Pole positions: 1

Nick Heidfeld is the guy who lost the quest for McLaren seat to Kimi Raikkonen back in 2002. After that he spent few years in midfield and lower midfield with Sauber and Jordan. When he finally got his break and moved to a top team, Williams in 2005, Williams was no longer a top team … After BMW left Williams for Sauber, they took quick Nick with them. He might not have expected that at that time, but it looks like he finally found himself in a competitive car. Perhaps against the general expectations he outclassed his team mate Robert Kubica in 2007. Chinese GP was the only race in 2007 he finished outside top 6 (not counting those 3 he did not finish). He is one of the drivers who are happy the traction control is now thing of the past. But the life may be tougher for him this year. BMW may not be the isolated ones between the top 2 and the rest. The competition for 5th and 6th in each race will probably include more drivers than just Robert Kubica. If BMW closes the gap on top 2, with a bit of luck this season may bring a maiden win for Nick Heidfeld. But he may as well find himself outside of points more often than last year.

Robert Kubica - Poland
Born: 7 December 1984
In F1 since 2006 BMW Sauber
Best Result: 6th 2007
Career wins: 0
Pole positions: 0
Podium Finishes: 1 (Monza 2006)

Robert Kubica jumped into the BMW Sauber race seat with 6 races to go in the 2006 F1 season. Jacques Villeneuve was sacked after 2006 German GP and so only after few months of test driver duties with the Swiss/German team Kubica found himself on the F1 grid in Hungary. He almost scored 2 points on his debut. But his inexperience and failure to “collect” enough rubber on the way back to pit lane resulted in his car being 2 kg underweight. Kubica was disqualified and Michael Schumacher promoted to 8th. His “bad luck” continued in Monza. He scored an amazing 3rd place finish. However nobody paid much attention to him as after the race all the attention turned to Michael Schumacher and his retirement… Many expected Kubica to be the better one of the BMW Sauber drivers in 2007. It somehow did not happen. Nick Heidfeld raised his game while Kubica struggled with the Bridgestone tyres early on in the season. Two highlights of his 2007 season were the massive terrifying crash in Canada and then the great fight with Felipe Massa in Japan. Towards the end of the season however there was not much between Kubica and Heidfeld. Winter tests suggest that may also be the situation at the start of the 2008 season.

F1Wolf’s prediction for BMW Sauber drivers in 2008:
It will be very tight between Heidfeld and Kubica but for no particular reason I think Heidfeld will finish the season with few points more than Kubica.

2008 F1 Season - Team Mates - Ferrari
2008 F1 Season - Team Mates - McLaren

F1Wolf

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This is the time of year when we usually look at the funnier sides of life and Formula 1. So let’s have a look at the last four Formula 1 Champions.

First the new champion, Kimi Raikkonen, who was a gorilla before he became F1 champ. Check this previous article on F1Wolf on Kimi and his friends dressed in gorilla suits. They were all having fun back in Finland participating in a motorboat race.

Next to the previous champion in Ferrari colors - Michael Schumacher. Here is the poster with Schumi in his brand new role:

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F1Wolf

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It has been announced yesterday that the F1 teams will be testing slick tyres during the upcoming test in Jerez. So the slicks are returning to the place where they featured last time, 10 years ago at the European Grand Prix 1997 in Jerez. And what a race it was… It was the final race of 1997 season, with Schumacher leading Villeneuve by 1 point …

Famous qualifying - 3 drivers recorded identical time in qualifying for the first time in the F1 history - Jacques Villeneuve, Michael Schumacher and Heinz-Harald Frentzen

Famous win - Mika Hakkinen won his first F1 race

Famous incident - Michael Schumecher hit Jacques Villeneuve during Villeneuve’s overtaking attempt and later got disqualified from the whole season

The race was won by Hakkinen, ahead of Coulthard (both McLaren) and Jacques Villeneuve (Williams). The 3rd place was enough for Jacques Villeneuve to claims his first and only Formula 1 Drivers Title.

Check the rest of this post for the video highlights from 1997 European Grand Prix in Jerez

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F1Wolf

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Michael Schumacher surprised few including himself with his speed on his return to the Ferrari F1 car after over a year away. He topped the timesheets on both Tuesday and Wednesday tests in Barcelona. This is not a Michael Schumacher fan site, but one has to give it to him, he has the racing in blood. And it seems it does not matter whether it is on 4 or 2 wheels. During his recent run on Ducati MotoGP motorbike, Michael Schumacher recorded a lap only 6 second slower than the current MotoGP champion Casey Stoner… See the video.

As David Coulthard said the other day, making case for himself too:

“It shows that age does not matter - if he was back in Formula One, he would be at the front. If McLaren is still looking for a driver, Michael would be a fantastic solution. Just as Paul McCartney can never unlearn great music, Michael will never forget how to drive a car damn fast.”

F1Wolf

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The second day of Barcelona test and Michael Schumacher was the fastest man on the track again. His best time was about 6 tenths faster than Massa’s.

Force India cars took over the bottom end of the time sheets. The day ended better for Klien but he was only a tenth of a second quicker than Sutil and Liuzzi. These guys are not making it easy for the team …

After Andreas Zuber on Tuesday, Honda gave today chance to test the F1 car to another GP2 driver - Luca Fillipi. He was only 2 tenths slower than Button.

Barcelona Test Day 2 Times:

1. M.Schumacher - Ferrari - 1.21.486
2. de la Rosa - McLaren-Mercedes - 1:21.857
3. Kovalainen - Renault - 1:21.894
4. Massa - Ferrari - 1:22.044

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F1Wolf

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