Following yesterday's report that Michael Schumacher had crashed a prototype Ferrari 430 Scuderia on the Nurburgring, some things have come into focus, but little has become any clearer. Ferrari insists that, although Schumi had been driving the car that day, it was actually the factory's road car test driver Raffaele de Simone who was driving when the car hit the guardrail at 250 km/h. Photographs show that the 7-time world champion had been driving the car with his young son Mick – himself just starting out in karting – riding shotgun... with neither of them wearing helmets. Meanwhile, though the car is being described as a prototype, nothing about the exterior of the car appears different (aside from the Perspex sliding windows, and of course the "aerodynamic modifications" around the rear left wheel), and though the car was described as a right-off, the damage looks quite minimal for a 155-mph collision.
The Race of Champions is scheduled to return to its new home at London's Wembley Stadium on December 14th. For those unfamiliar, the annual event pits a host of the best racing drivers in the world against each other on carefully-calibrated equal terms. The event is split between the solo competition and the nations' cup, the latter in which countries send their two best drivers to claim the honors for their homeland.
Last year's event saw DTM champion Mattias Ekstrom defeat Schumacher in the final rounds, after the two (pictured at right) made minced meat out of the rest of the field in a variety of vehicles including the Aston Martin V8 Vantage N24, Ford Focus RS WRC, Fiat Grande Punto S2000 Abarth, an Opel/Vauxhall-based Solution F touring car and a purpose-built sprint car. This year retired seven-time F1 champion Michael Schumacher is set to return, teaming up with rookie driver Sebastian Vettel again for Team Germany. So far only Schumacher and Vettel have confirmed their participation for 2008 – last year Travis Pastrana valiantly held down the fort for Team USA on his own – but more are sure to join as the date approaches. Stay tuned.
By the end of this weekend, the Drivers’ and Constructors’ championships must be decided as this is the final round of the season. But if it is noticeable that there are far more media here than is usual for the Brazilian Grand Prix, a quick poll of the journalists reveals that the extra numbers are not so much due to the excitement of the duel between ourselves and our closest rivals and that between Michael Schumacher and reigning champion, Fernando Alonso but more to do with the fact that this is the final time Schumi will attend a grand prix as a race driver.
Like all great champions, Michael has had not only his fans but also his denigrators, but all agree that witnessing his sixteen year Formula 1 career will be something to remember for a long time as a special era in motor racing. Yesterday (Friday), the first day of free practice for the Brazilian Grand Prix saw Michael set the sixth quickest time on a day that started cool and damp so that both he and team-mate Felipe Massa, wearing a special green and yellow race suit to represent the Brazilian flag, did not venture out of the garage in the morning hour. In the afternoon, the local boy was seventeenth fastest.
As we have seen so often on Fridays, the free practice “podium” featured nothing but third drivers: Alex Wurz was quickest for Williams, for whom he will race next year, replacing Mark Webber. Second was Anthony Davidson for Honda with Sebastian Vettel third for BMW-Sauber who ran their cars with the message “Thank you Michael” on the rear wing in honour of Schumacher’s retirement. Fourth was the Toyota of Jarno Trulli, followed by the second Honda of Jenson Button.
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