Two former Ferrari drivers have criticised Michael Schumacher’s return this week to the formula one test tracks.
The retired seven time world champion is scheduled to drive the title-winning F2007 alongside his former race rivals on Tuesday and Wednesday, as post-season testing kicks off at the Circuit de Catalunya.
Furthermore, the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports that there is a possibility that Schumacher, 38, will also travel with the Ferrari team to Jerez for the subsequent test.
“I thought Michael made the right decision to retire one year ago,” said Frenchman Jean Alesi, who drove for Ferrari in the nineties before Schumacher’s arrival in 1996, winning just a single race.
Alesi told the Swiss newspaper Blick: “The fact that he wants to test again does not seem right. It must also be remembered that even testing is very dangerous.
Triple world champion Niki Lauda also questions the wisdom of Schumacher’s Spanish return.
“The only important victory in this game is the day on which you step out of the paddock with your life,” said the great Austrian, who still wears the scars of his near-fatal Nurburgring crash in 1976.
More jovially, Lauda added: “Raikkonen will be happy that he does not have to see it! For me, this test is a Marlboro PR stunt, just as his ride on the Ducati (MotoGP bike) was.”
