Mercedes CEO Nick Fry hints at Paul di Resta replacing Michael Schumacher – Formula 1 news
Mercedes CEO Nick Fry has tipped that Paul di Resta is a front runner candidate to replace Michael Schumacher.
He explained that while Schumacher is a world class driver but he will end his at some point and that is when di Resta will replace him.
Schumacher retired from Formula 1 in 2006 but remained with Ferrari as a consultant. In 2009 he came close to making a return for Ferrari but an injury hindered his return.
Brawn GP had won a Championship title in 2009 and was taken over by Mercedes. Principal Ross Brawn wanted Schumacher to be part of the tem and so the German decided to return to the sport with Mercedes.
Since his return, Schumacher has struggled to perform to the expectations of the fans. The first season was always going to go down in developing the car but after two years and with a relatively much improved car that has already shown that it can win
races as Nico Rosberg did at the Chinese Grand Prix. Schumacher has yet to show that he still has what it takes to come up with a win.
Schumacher has only been able to finish two races in the season out of the five races. Fry admitted that it will likely be Schumacher’s decision to retire and if he does di Resta will undoubtedly be brought in to replace him.
“Of course Paul's on our radar,” Fry confirmed to Sky Sports. “He's done a fantastic job; he's a nice guy, he's a great team player and he'd be one of the drivers undoubtedly that if Michael were to decide he didn't want to continue we would certainly look
at. We haven't reached that time yet in our thinking but we all have a lot of admiration for Paul.”
It will be interesting to see if Schumacher finally decides to call it a day at the end of the 2012 season or stays on for one more year. The German has made it clear that the only motivation of his comeback is an 8th World Championship win. If he thinks
he is unable to achieve that goal he will retire.
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