Michael Schumacher Comeback Talk: Why Lotus’ Move Was Ridiculous

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: November 19, 2013

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Let’s get one thing straight early on: Michael Schumacher’s reputation as one of Formula One’s greatest drivers will remain infinitely etched in the sport’s history books. This is not a sideways swipe at F1’s seven-time world champion.

Now that is made clear, we can proceed.

In the wake of Lotus’ lead driver Kimi Raikkonen withdrawing from duty for the final two rounds of the season at Austin and Interlagos, the team needed to act swiftly to replace him.

The initial favourite was third driver Davide Valsecchi. The 2012 GP2 champion had stood in for Raikkonen for one day of the pre-season tests when the Finn was unwell. Valsecchi has been present all year waiting for such an opportunity and knows the team inside out.

It seemed remarkable that another driver would be ahead of him in the pecking order. The reality is that he was fourth.



Heikki Kovalainen eventually took the drive but not before two Germans snubbed the Enstone squad.

One of them was Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg, who went as far as meeting with team principal Eric Boullier at the team’s base.  His concern? that the risk of being unable to acclimatise to a brand new car and team in just two race weekends and thus be very underwhelming was too great.

The other was Schumacher.

The argument against Valsecchi and in favour of the three other candidates was experience.

Both Kovalainen and Schumacher (prior to the Finn’s appearance at Austin) had not raced since last year’s finale in Brazil. But Valsecchi has raced not since the GP2 equivalent in Abu Dhabi and has never raced in F1.

With Lotus still locked in a battle for third in the constructors’ championship (and an outside shot at second) it needed someone who could take a podium-finishing car and score points. Romain Grosjean woul...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Formula 1

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