The return of Michael Schumacher shows that all is not rosy in Formula One

Schumacher’s return glosses over F1 cracks

PARIS — That Michael Schumacher’s comeback is generating such excitement shows how desperate Formula One is for a bit of good news.

In all the breathless headlines about the unexpected return of the sport’s most successful driver, it is being conveniently forgotten that much of the era when Schumacher greedily gobbled up his record seven world championships was as boring as watching paint dry. Race, win, race, win, yawn.

That was especially true of 2002 and 2004, when Schumacher and his Ferrari sidekick Rubens Barrichello won 30 of 35 races. It perhaps would have been simpler — and undoubtedly better for global warming — to have handed the trophies to Schumacher at the outset and not bother with those absurdly lopsided seasons.

Schumacher’s crushing dominance, his minute attention to detail and his sober dedication were as tedious in their regularity as they were admirable. Astounding but not edge-of-your-seat entertainment.

When Schumacher finally called it a day in 2006, having rewritten just about every major F1 record there is, Fernando Alonso’s reaction spoke for many.

“Things will be more equal now,” the Spanish driver said.

Alonso also had the courage to say out loud what others wouldn’t — that Schumacher’s occasionally underhanded tactics, such as ramming into rival Jacques Villeneuve and disrupting qualifying at Monaco by parking his car on the track, would not be missed.

Said Alonso: “Michael is the man with the most sanctions and the most unsporting driver in the history of Formula One.”

Three years and, more importantly, one global financial meltdown later and Schumacher is suddenly the new messiah.

Were it not for Schumacher’s return, F1 fans wouldn’t have much to get revved up about in 2010. Auto manufacturing powerhouses Toyota, BMW and Honda have left, squeezed out both by the economic downturn and F1’s refusal to seriously curb its exorbitant costs. Illustrious Renault is continuing in name only. In off-loading a large stake in its underperforming team to a Luxembourg investment firm, the French manufacturer already has one foot out of F1’s door.

Filling the gaps on the grid with an array of new teams, as F1’s administrators have done, will make up numbers but is hardly likely to make for a thrilling championship.

At best, Lotus, Campos, Virgin and USF1 — all powered by the same Cosworth engine — may be competitive enough to make the racing between themselves mildly interesting. At worse, they could be complete jokes, hopelessly off the pace of bigger teams with richer resources and better drivers — like Ferrari, McLaren and Schumacher’s new employer, Mercedes. With the gap between F1 haves and have-nots seemingly so large, next season’s grid could be horribly unbalanced — making, perhaps, for a two- or even three-tier championship.

“Maybe,” Jean-Francois Caubet, Renault F1’s managing director, told The Associated Press. “The problem of the small teams is that we don’t know how competitive the Cosworth engine will be.”

Little wonder then that Mercedes says it got calls from rival teams welcoming Schumacher’s return. Having him back in an F1 cockpit at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix in March will help gloss over the sport’s problems. F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone now says that “all indications point to a jaw-dropping season” — a claim that would have sounded over-inflated before Schumacher’s comeback was confirmed last week. It was just the Christmas present F1 needed.

“All of Formula One wants Michael back,” says Mercedes chief executive Nick Fry. “It’s good for all the Formula One teams.”

It should be good for Schumacher, too. At his peak, he had talent to spare and his levels of fitness are such that his age — he turns 41 this weekend — shouldn’t be an obstacle to renewed success. He also says he’s fully recovered from a neck injury that prevented him from making an F1 return in 2009.

Although the Mercedes is new to him and he won’t have much time to familiarize himself with it, racing is all that Schumacher knows. He won his first trophy — a piston screwed onto a piece of wood — in karting at age 5. His years of experience should enable him to quickly get up to speed again.

If his Mercedes is fast enough, there’s no reason to think that Schumacher won’t be competing at the front with the McLarens of Lewis Hamilton and current world champion Jenson Button, the Ferraris of Alonso and Brazilian Felipe Massa and the Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel. The young German will now get to find out whether he truly deserves his nickname “Baby Schumi” by measuring himself against the real thing.

Those drivers all stand to lose more from Schumacher’s return than he does. Schumacher winning next season would suggest that his supposed successors aren’t worthy. Schumacher losing, on the other hand, wouldn’t take away from everything he achieved in the past.

It should be fun to watch. For Formula One, the world’s fastest form of entertainment, that is what counts most.

John Leicester is an international sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at jleicester(at)ap.org.