The buyout of the Spyker team by Indian billionaire Vijay Mallya could save Ralf Schumacher’s endangered formula one career, according to reports.
German daily newspaper Bild-Zeitung reports that the pair are close friends and business associates, and could be set to link up with an eight-digit retainer for 32-year-old Schumacher as a race driver and advisor in 2008.
Ralf, whose current Toyota contract expires at the end of the year, travelled with team sponsor Mallya to India earlier this year, and has also spent time on his 95-metre super-yacht ‘Indian Empress’.
In May, Schumacher referred to Dr Mallya as “a friend of mine”.
