What do Michael Schumacher and Kimi Räikkönen have in common? Apart from both driving for Ferrari and being world champions, they have both returned from time away from the sport, albeit in different circumstances. They are the two most successful current Formula One drivers around Spa and for the first time since 2005 they will race each other around the popular Belgian circuit.
Cast your minds back to the Italian GP in 2006. Michael Schumacher had just won the race in front of the Tifosi and in an emotional post-race drivers’ press conference, the seven times world champion announced that he would be retiring from the sport at the end of the season. It was to be the end of an era after his dominance between the years of 2000 and 2004 inclusive, and he was looking for one last hoorah by taking the fight to 2005 champion Fernando Alonso, but after a crucial retirement from the Japanese GP, it was not to be and seven titles was to remain Schumacher’s impressive tally. And so he retired from the sport at the end of the 2006 season, leaving an impressive legacy of seven championships, 91 wins, and 154 podiums, a difficult task for anyone to emulate. In 2009 when Felipe Massa had his accident during the Hungarian GP weekend, there were rumours that Schumacher would make a return to the sport, but a motorbike incident put an end to that idea when he hurt his neck. But, at the end of the year it was announced by the Mercedes GP team (then Brawn GP) that Schumacher would be coming out of retirement for the 2010 season, and in doing so would reunite with Ross Brawn, with whom he had worked at Ferrari. It seems he wasn’t quite ready for retirement and, at 41 years old, he returned to become the oldest driver on the grid, although at times has proven he has still got it.
In completely different circumstances, another Formula One career apparently came to an end in 2009 when Kimi Räikkönen was left with no-where to go. The Iceman, as he is commonly known, had arrived at Ferrari in 2007 with the task of filling the departed Schumacher’s seat and made good by winning the world championship that year. His team-mate came to the fore in 2008 when Massa challenged Lewis Hamilton for the championship, and in 2009 Ferrari had a difficult season. Räikkönen had a contract with the Italian team for 2010, and despite reassurances that he would be there, Räikkönen found himself without a drive when the team brought in Alonso to partner Massa. Räikkönen did hold talks with other teams such as McLaren but no deal was struck and so the 2007 world champion disappeared to the world of rallying and NASCAR. But he was not gone for good as, at the end of 2011, the Lotus F1 Team announced that he would partner Romain Grosjean for the 2012 season and so Räikkönen made a welcome return to the grid and has proved that he hasn’t lost any of his speed or race-craft.
And so we return to the present day and the lead up to the Belgian GP at Spa-Francorchamps, a circuit where both men are very successful. Of course Schumacher made his F1 debut there back in 1991 where he qualified seventh but did not finish the race. Between them they have won at Spa ten times – six for Schumacher (92, 95, 96, 97, 01, 02) and four for Räikkönen (04, 05, 07, 09) – so certainly know their way around the popular track. But can either of them add a 2012 win to their tallies? Despite many retirements, mainly due to car problems, it could be said Schumacher is having his best year after coming back to F1 after taking his first pole position (at Monaco) and first podium (at Valencia) since his return, this season. Räikkönen has come close to winning on more than one occasion and has picked up a number of podiums. He also has a ‘retire or win’ record at Spa. So the question going into this weekend is can either of the two major ‘comeback drivers’ of the past decade take their first win of their return at Spa? We will soon see.
Hannah Hough
