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Formula One’s young titans have been warned to watch out for a “hard core” Michael Schumacher when the seven-times world champion returns to racing next month.
The 40-year-old will step back into a Ferrari, replacing injured Brazilian Felipe Massa, after retiring at the end of the 2006 season.
He will race in the European Grand Prix at Valencia on August 23 and former team owner Eddie Jordan, for whom the German first raced in F1, has issued a clear alert.
Jordan is confident Schumacher will be as competitive as any current driver on the grid.
“Michael Schumacher is absolutely hard core,” Jordan said.
“I think whether he is 20 or 40 makes little difference, his reactions may be a millisecond away, but then he was a millisecond better than everyone else previously so I think he’s just levelled it out.
“It will be a big, big wake-up call to a lot of those young drivers out there because they will be looking over their shoulders big time.”
Jordan gave Schumacher his first shot at Formula 1, having him race for his team at the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa.
The Irishman was told Schumacher knew the track well, but he had never driven on it before. That weekend he out-qualified the Jordan-Ford’s experienced regular driver, Andrea de Cesaris.
Schumacher said he was looking forward to the challenge of replacing Massa.
“I met this afternoon with (Ferrari team principal) Stefano Domenicali and (chairman) Luca di Montezemolo and together we decided that I will prepare myself to take the place of Felipe,” he said.
“Though it is true that the Formula One chapter was completely closed for me a long time ago, it is also true that for loyalty reasons to the team I cannot ignore (this) unfortunate situation.
“But as the competitor I am I also very much look forward to facing this challenge.”
The team said it would enter Schumacher as Massa’s replacement following a training program for the German, who earlier this year hurt his neck in a motorcycle testing crash.
Meanwhile, Massa took his first steps on Wednesday, four days after a high-speed crash left him near death.
Massa’s father said his improving son moved out of the intensive care unit at Budapest’s AEK hospital.
“Felipe speaks, can sit upright and was even able to take his first steps,” Ferrari said in a statement. “From the clinical and radiological point of view, everything is going extremely well.”
The 28-year-old Brazilian was hit in the helmet by a loose part from another car and crashed into a protective tire barrier at about 190 kph during qualifying on Saturday at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
He sustained skull fractures and a concussion.
Massa’s father, Luiz Antonio, said his son still doesn’t remember anything about the accident.
Family doctor Dino Altman said Massa was surprised to hear that McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton won the Hungarian GP and that Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen was second.
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