Amid today's reports that Kimi Raikkonen might be reconsidering his sabbatical plans if an offer from Mercedes-Benz – now the majority owner of the former Brawn GP team – came along, rumors also circulated of another name being thrown into the mix: Michael Schumacher.
Crazy as it sounds, such a move makes a certain amount of sense: It was with Ross Brawn that Schumacher first came to F1 prominence at Benetton and then Ferrari. It also was Mercedes that gave Schumacher his big break in major-league racing, with the Sauber-Mercedes Group C sports car team in the early 1990s. And Schumacher has kept his options open about a return to F1 when his neck injury is fully healed, admitting in a recent interview that he probably made a mistake in retiring when he did at the end of the 2006 season. He is still only 40 years old.
Mercedes this week bought a 75-percent stake in the Brawn GP team that won this year's constructors' championship with the German car maker's engines, and the company is openly seeking at least one German driver. Nico Rosberg and Nick Heidfeld were tipped as the top choices, but when the idea of Schumacher leading a "Team Germany" was floated to Schumacher's management team, it was not completely shot down.
"You never say never in this sport, but you can rule it out at the moment. It's highly unlikely," Schumacher's spokeswoman Sabine Kehm told Britain's Mirror newspaper.
Schumacher remains an advisor to Ferrari's road car division.