HAMBURG: Mercedes motor sport director Norbert Haug said Friday that he had been thinking of getting Michael Schumacher to race for his team for more than a decade.
“The idea has been in my head for 15 years,” he said. “But you don’t exactly have to be Einstein to realize that it would be best to have the man who won the most championships and races Pietersen braced for Durban homecoming Haug said that he did not have to convince Schumacher to launch a comeback. “You do not have to persuade Schumacher to come back.”
The seven-time world champion earlier this week signed a three- year contract with Mercedes to drive for the team that has taken over this season’s constructors’ champions Brawn GP.
Schumacher on Tuesday announced that he is keen to challenge for the title. “I think everybody who saw the interviews that Schumacher gave after his announcement was aware how eager and expectant Schumacher is. And that is something that gives me great pleasure,” Haug said.
After Mercedes signed German driver Nico Rosberg and announced that they had secured the Malaysian company Petronas as main sponsors on a long-term contract, the signing of Schumacher was the latest major coup for the team.
“As a result the coverage for the last five weeks has been more than during five weeks of the season,” Haug, who will be spending the Festive Season at home with his family, said.
It seems certain that the hype around Schumacher will take off again in January. “I have the feeling that Michael, Nico and our team will be very popular,” Haug said.
He said that Schumacher, who will be turning 41 on January 3, would be presented to the world media with his new team some time in January.
“The excitement will increase even more if nobody manages to beat us,” adding that that was the goal and not a prediction.
Haug also did not want to say how successful Schumacher, who has won 91 Grand Prix races and will be driving in his 251st race in Bahrain on March 14 next year, would be.
“I will still not make any predictions. That is a waste of time and anybody who wastes time in Formula One is too slow,” he said.
The goal for the new team is clear: To challenge for races and titles.
