Formula One news - Schumacher not to retire, Sebastien Buemi commits to Toro Rosso
Before the 2010 Formula one season began, there was great hype surrounding the comeback of the 7 time world champion Michael Schumacher. He was expected to make a return last season when his former team mate Felipe Massa encountered a life threatening accident in Hungary during the qualifying stage and suffered a concussion.
Schumacher agreed to fill in for Massa and help out his former team. There was excitement and anticipation all around but in the end he pulled out citing fitness reasons. Schumacher had suffered a neck injury in early 2009 while riding a motor bike and said his neck has still not recovered enough to handle the throttle of an F1 car.
However, after the end of the season he was convinced to take back his retirement by his former boss Ross Brawn who was great part of his success when the two were at Ferrari. Schumacher though did warn fans not to expect miracles from him in his comeback season.
Michael has not had the best of time in his comeback season and is currently on 9th spot in the driver standings. The team insists that even though the results this season have not been ideal, still it is part of the process and coming 2011 Michael will be a strong contender for the title.
Norbert Haug, Mercedes motorsport boss believes that there is no reason to question the ability of the great champion. He said that people who are questioning his commitment and skill in the sport should not jump to conclusions.
Haug added that a driver like Michael comes once probably in a generation and he has the ability to mix it with the young drivers on the circuit. The team boss went on to say that even though Schumacher was not away from the sport for very long, but Formula one did go through some major changes during that period and this season should be taken as the period for him to adapt to those changes.
He added that despite the speculations there are no plans for him to once again retire from the sport anytime soon.
In some other news from Formula one, Sebastien Buemi has committed his future to Toro Rosso and has said that he will be racing for them next season. Earlier there were reports that Buemi had rejected the reports that he had signed a contract extension with the team.
Toro Rosso boss Franz Tost said that the team is happy to have the services of Buemi and his team mate Jamie Alguersuari. He confirmed that the same two drivers will be competing for the team in 2011 season.
Earlier in a newspaper in Switzerland, Buemi was quoted saying that he has not agreed to stay with the team because he could not agree to some terms put to him. The report went on to say that Buemi has confirmed that he will be available after the season.
However Buemi while talking to Autosport, a well reputed motorsports website, said that he has had great progression in his career at Toro Rosso, and has spent pretty much all of his F1 career at this team. He added that his future lies with the same team and will definitely be driving for them next season.
Meanwhile there are reports coming in that the famous Monaco street circuit may not be part of F1 in the coming season.
F1 supremo, Bernie Ecclestone said that FIA is considering leaving out the circuit due to financial reasons. Ecclestone said that the sport involved a lot of money and the revenue generated from each race goes a long way towards progression of the sport. He added that Monaco has not been that profitable in recent times and FIA may opt to leave it out of the next calendar.
Monaco has been part of F1 for the past 55 years, but in recent times FIA has expressed the desire to expand the sport to different parts of the world. Places like South Africa and Russia have been in consideration for a while and the F1 calendar may be extended to 20 races in the season, and Monaco may not make the cut.
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