Schumacher Comeback Not to Be

**Jerram** · 12th August 2009, 11:55 AM

Schumacher shambles...bad neck rules out his return

Michael Schumacher was willing to put everything on the line to step out of retirement and help his old Ferrari pals.

Everything, that is, apart from his bad neck. Yesterday the track legend called off his fairytale comeback less than a fortnight after announcing his intentions and called a press conference in his adopted home of Geneva for this afternoon to elaborate on his decision.
The planned return always came with an asterisk. The doubt concerned his neck following a motorcycle accident in February.

Would it stand up to the G-forces which buffet a Formula One driver as he brakes, turns and accelerates?

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Uneasy rider: Schumacher’s motorcycle accident has ruined his chance of an F1 comeback

Schumacher was unsure. He took the 2007 Ferrari for a day’s testing in Mugello to find out.
That was a week last Friday, but days later he admitted that he still felt a pinching sensation.
Yet, he was in the gym and on his climbing wall, shedding half a stone ahead of the European Grand Prix in Valencia on August 23, when he was scheduled to replace Felipe Massa, the Brazilian injured in qualifying at Hungary last month.
The setback Schumacher and an expectant public had dreaded came on Monday when the seven-time world champion went for an examination by his trusted doctor, Johannes Peil, at Germany’s Bad Nauheim sports clinic.
It was decided then that the most vulnerable part of any driver’s body could not be risked.

The danger of further injury was clear. Schumacher flew back to Geneva, keeping his promise to wife Corinna that the safety of his neck was paramount.

That evening, he informed Ferrari that he was reluctantly pulling out. Anti-climax hardly covers it — especially for the 10,000 fans who bought tickets in anticipation of seeing him race in Valencia.
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Schumacher

Ferrari have since turned to Luca Badoer, the team’s veteran test driver with a c.v. as ordinary as Schumacher’s is extraordinary.

At 38, he becomes the oldest man on the grid. Schumacher summed up his dejection on his website: ‘Unfortunately we did not manage to get a grip on the pain in the neck, even if medically and therapeutically we tried everything.

The fractures in the head and neck area caused by the bike accident were too severe. ‘I am disappointed to the core. I am awfully sorry for the guys at Ferrari and for all the fans. I tried everything within my power.

Now I keep my fingers crossed for the whole team for the coming races.’ Badoer is confirmed for Valencia but is also likely to contest the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa only seven days later, unless Ferrari give their other reserve, Spaniard Marc Gene, a go.
Neither grips the imagination. Badoer has started 48 grands prix; the last came in Japan a decade ago.

He has not scored a single point. And when Schumacher broke his leg in 1999, did Ferrari turn to their trusty test driver? No, they instead looked outside to Mika Salo.

Yesterday, Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo, who paid tribute to Schumacher’s ‘great efforts’ over the past fortnight, said: ‘We have decided to give Luca Badoer the chance to race after he has put in so many years of hard work as a test driver.’
It sounded like a long-service award rather than a vote of confidence.
Time is not on Ferrari’s side between now and Spa. However, they will surely cast their net wider before the Italian Grand Prix in Monza on September 13.
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Stick to the cars: Schumacher's comeback dream is over

There was the tantalising thought that a few more weeks of recuperation might leave the way open for Schumacher to make an even more heralded return in front of the tifosi on their home tarmac.

Alas, Ferrari last night entirely ruled out the notion.
Who then? Fernando Alonso, the former double world champion, is probably top of Ferrari’s wish-list.
He is believed to be on his way next season as replacement for Kimi Raikkonen, but it remains to be seen whether the Spaniard could be prised out of his contract ahead of schedule.

The answer is probably yes, but at a hefty price. Another contender is Robert Kubica, the talented Pole looking for another team after BMW decided to leave Formula One at the end of the current campaign.
An outside bet is Giancarlo Fisichella, Force India’s Italian racer who is believed to be in Ferrari’s plans to join them as a test driver over the winter.

As he has vastly superior grand prix credentials to Badoer, the timing of his arrival — and the nature of his role — could conceivably be modified in the circumstances.
Perhaps Massa could even be back in the next few months if his head injuries clear faster than expected.

And what about the rumour that David Coulthard, 38, may leave the BBC for the Ferrari hot seat less than a year after retiring.
I asked him yesterday whether a return was under the faintest consideration. His response was as clear as it was brief: ‘No.’
Apart from Badoer, that is what all the old boys were saying.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/for...#ixzz0NvhjaGEZ

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**Jerram** · 12th August 2009, 11:56 AM

what a shame - bad luck for those who've booked plane tickets!

**Ice** · 12th August 2009, 12:03 PM

Ahhh well ! he gave it a shot..... atleast he injected some life into formula 1 again...

**Wraith** · 12th August 2009, 01:01 PM

This is a good thing in so far as his reputation and remembered record is concerned IMHO...

If he had of made a come back and done poorly, (which is highly likely) he would forever have been remembered that way, despite the 'honourable' reasons of comming back to F1...

In the World of atheletes etc. they're always remembered by their last efforts or how they finished up more than not - when they retire on a high note as he did and many others have done, they are forever immortalised !

Sore/crook neck or not I reckon it's a good thing for him for the above reasons (and I think he's all too well aware of that too) only thing he's lost out on is some more cash, but he's got plenty of that anyway...he's recently booked himself a spot on Richard Bransons 1st space flight ship for the better part of 300k...good on him Click here to enlarge