Officially Official: Schumacher not coming back after all - driving is a pain in the neck
by Jonathon Ramsey on Aug 11th 2009 at 10:01AM 
Ferrari was in with a bang, now it looks like the scarlet racers will be out with soggy whimpers: Michael Schumacher has canceled his F1 return due to lingering pain in his neck from a motorcycle accident earlier this year.
Schumacher has been testing in Ferrari's 2007 car at the company's private track in Mugello. After the first test, though, he found that the mere strain of driving aggravated the injuries from a crash he suffered in February while motorcycle testing at a track in Spain. At the time, although he went to the hospital, it was thought that everything was fine. Eventually fractures in his neck were discovered, and that is what is causing the problem now.
After laying its hopes on the 7-time world champion, Ferrari now chooses among its reserve drivers to pilot one of their cars in Valencia in 48 hours: Marc Gene or Luca Badoer – Gene's last F1 race drive was the 2004 British Grand Prix, while Badoer hasn't turned an F1 wheel on race day since 1999, at the European Grand Prix. This morning Ferrari head Luca di Montezemolo chose 38-year-old Badoer for the role.
[Source: F1 Live | Photo by Andy Hone/Getty]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
nagmashot 10:07AM (8/11/2009)
sad news.... many of my friends already have booked tickets for Spa to see him racing F1 the last time...
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larry a 3:26AM (8/13/2009)
it was too good to be true
Pat 10:08AM (8/11/2009)
Is Villeneuve free?
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Throwback 10:15AM (8/11/2009)
He immediately came to mind, although he did not show much fire in his last few years.
Pat 10:09AM (8/11/2009)
I just read on a French website that Ferrari has announced that it will Badoer
http://www.lequipe.fr/Formule1/20090811_102415_badoer-remplace-massa.html
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audi_arena 10:11AM (8/11/2009)
Horrible news. I just saw an advert on Speed touting his return to take on Braun that looked exciting as all hell. This would have been awesome for motorsport.
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O.Z.Racing_UK 10:16AM (8/11/2009)
Some say he turned he is not coming back. All we know is, that is just screwed. :(((
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jon 10:16AM (8/11/2009)
i get my hopes up and have them deflated just as quickly... still, good luck to Shummi in his future endeavors
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engineerd 10:20AM (8/11/2009)
Michael Schumacher, I would like to introduce you to my friend Brett Favre.
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Mike 10:22AM (8/11/2009)
I think that Michael's return would have been fun to watch. To bad it didn't happen. I'm not a fan of Michael but respect him as a great driver. I remember him best for trying to push Jacques Villeneuve off track and he ended up in the gravel with Jacques winning the championship in 1977.
FYI: I'm a Crazy Canuck so my allegiance is with Jacques.
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Bird 10:37AM (8/11/2009)
pssh, Canada
Redline 10:58AM (8/11/2009)
Erm ok, 1977, and Villeneuve can't hold a candle to Schumi.
Kitko 11:13AM (8/11/2009)
1997. Having a son of Gilles, the Ferrari legend in a Ferrari again would be a much better thing than having a test driver do the job
Mike 11:16AM (8/11/2009)
@Redline. You're right but Michael showed his true colours in that lame attempt to take Villeneuve out of the race. Villeneuve did beat Michael in a competitive car and subsequently made a bad decision to help Honda spend millions.
Perhaps we'll see Massa back a little sooner now than if Michael was to have had some success. I read that you're a fan of Massa. We can both cheer for him.
Cheers
Bobs 10:37AM (8/11/2009)
http://darthno.ytmnd.com/
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MichaelS 10:47AM (8/11/2009)
Erm.... race weekend in Valencia starts in 48 hours + a week. Just sayin' because Mr. Ramsey will be frustrated trying to find coverage of same in just a couple of days.
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ack154 10:50AM (8/11/2009)
Take your spam and GTFO!
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Hamud 10:50AM (8/11/2009)
"... driving is a pain in the neck." I had to laugh with this one, ahahhaahhaahahahahahahah.
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summazooma 10:58AM (8/11/2009)
Thank god he doesn't suffer from hemorrhoids
tC 11:16AM (8/11/2009)
He's too busy filming season 14 of Top Gear.
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