Michael Schumacher with Mercedes GP: Photos

If you are a Formula One fan, you already know this: Michael Schumacher, the most successful driver ever in the history of F1, has signed up with Mercedes GP for the 2010 F1 season. This is a commercial dream come true for Formula One – Bernie Ecclestone will laugh all the way to the bank.

Photo of Michael Schumacher with Mercedes logo

We have a few photos of the Michael Schumacher in Mercedes GP Team livery.

The rumours about the imminent return of Michael Schumacher started immediately after Jenson Button, the current F1 world champion with the Mercedes GP team (erstwhile Brawn GP) left the team to join McLaren. Read Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton in McLaren for 2010.

Photo: Michael Schumacher with Mercedes GP principal aerodynamicist

Ross Brawn, team principal of Mercedes GP, is considered the architect of Michael Schumacher’s success with Ferrari. That was one reason for the rumours. Of course, everything started when Schumacher expressed his willingness to race in place of the injued Felipe Massa in the last season. That was foiled due to his neck injuries from a motorcycle accident. If Michael Schumacher had raced for Ferrari thus in 2009, it would have been unlikely that he would leave the team and sign up with Mercedes GP. He has signed a three-year deal with the team, so he is gonna be around for good.

Schumacher’s signing up with the Mercedes team automatically takes them to the top rung of the F1 team hierarchy. If the Michael Schumacher is confident enough in the team to stake his reputation – seven Formula One wins – for the team, it obviously shows that he believes in the team. So F1′s 2010 season top rung now comprises of Mercedes GP, McLaren and Ferrari – not to mention upstarts Red Bull who did very well indeed in the 2009 season.

Michael Schumacher’s team-mate in the Mercedes GP team would be Nico Rosberg, another German like Schumacher. The team has practically become the national team of Germany now, with a German car manufacturer and two German drivers! That is where there competition of nations arises too – McLaren now has two British drivers. UK vs Germany in the 2010 F1 season – what fun!

Petronas Mercedes GP car for 2010 concept livery

Michael Schumacher will be able to test a Mercedes GP car, however, only after February 2, 2010 due to F1 testing restrictions. This will mean that he would not be able to test-drive the wheels of the upcoming Mercedes GP 2010 car like he used to earlier. He would have to hit the tracks like all other drivers to find the limits and abilities of the Petronas mercedes F1 car for the 2010 season. We already have a few renderings of the 2010 Mercedes GP F1 car; we will be bringing you actual photos as soon as they become available. And then will come in the first ever photos of Michael Schumacher testing the Mercedes GP car prior to the races.

One of Michael Schumacher’s main rivals during his first F1 stint has already left the grid – Kimi Raikkonen will not be racing in the 2010 seaosn, and many speculate that he is gone forever to race in the WRC. That would be sad. But hey, you lost Kimi, but you got Schumacher. Can’t say its a bad deal, can we?

There is also Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa to contend with, both now in the Ferrari F1 team Felipe Massa is a Shumacher protege – and he is now in Schumacher’s original team, while Schumacher is in Mercedes! Alonso too, is a proven match for Schumacher. Then there is current world champion Jenson Button, who has a thing or two to prove to many who doubt his racing skills. And then there is Lewis Hamilton in McLaren, upstart hero who is already considered to be in the league of F1 greats who will get a real chance to bang wheels with the greatest of them all. 2010 F1 season will be an F1 fans wet dream come true.