Mario Theissen has now admitted that BMW made an approach to Michael Schumacher about the German joining the team in 2007.
”Sure,” the German carmaker’s F1 team principal confessed to ‘Bild am Sonntag’ newspaper, ”we talked, but we did not have serious discussions about it.”
It was reported that BMW-Sauber offered Ferrari’s 37-year-old, whose future on the grid beyond 2006 is uncertain, $100m a year.
Theissen would not be drawn on the specifics of any offer, but said: ”Whoever is in my position and does not think about Michael,” the German insisted, ”is doing the wrong thing.”
He said BMW can not at the present time offer Schumacher a winning car.
”’Only by 2008 do we want to be winning races,” Theissen insisted.
Mercedes’ Norbert Haug, however, revealed that McLaren negotiated with Schumacher in the late-90s, ‘but not after that’.
”A German driver might be an option for us in the future,” the marque’s competition chief added.
”But I don’t think we went down the wrong track with our Hakkinens or Raikkonens.” gmmf1dailyf1news.com
