Hamburg - German Formula One racing legend Michael Schumacher announced Wednesday he would return to the circuit to fill in at Ferrari for badly-injured driver Felipe Massa. One of the sport's most successful racers ever with seven world titles, Schumacher made the announcement on his own internet homepage, confirming a report earlier Wednesday in the tabloid newspaper Bild's website.
There had been increasing speculation in recent days that the 40- year-old would return to Ferrari in the wake of Massa's bad accident during the Hungarian Grand Prix qualification races last weekend in Budapest which left the Brazilian hospitalised.
Schumacher has seven F1 world titles to his credit, along with 91 individual race victories in 250 Grand Prix races in a 16-year career driving for Jordan, Benetton and Ferrari. His last race was October 22, 2006 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
The next F1 race is the European Grand Prix in Valencia, Spain on August 23.
In his website statement, under the title, Michael Happy To Help Ferrari, Schumacher said: "Thanks God, all news concerning Felipe are positive" - a reference to the improvement in the Brazilian driver's condition in Budapest and prospects that he could be transferred to a Paris hospital. "I wish him all the best again."
Schumacher then went on to say he had talked with Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo and racing team boss Stefano Domenicali and "together we decided that I will prepare myself to take the place of Felipe."
The German racing star added that although the F1 racing chapter had been completely closed for him, "it is also true that for loyalty reasons to the team I cannot ignore that unfortunate situation.
"But as the competitor I also very much look forward to facing this challenge," Schumacher concluded in his brief statement.
The question of Schumacher's fitness for the F1 - he is recovering from neck injuries suffered in a motorcycle accident last February - is something he himself raised in an interview in the German magazine Bunte two weeks ago.
"Purely from how I think and how I physically feel, one could have the feeling that I could still compete for a victory," he told the magazine.
Schumacher, who has been serving as a consultant for Ferrari, would join Finnish racer Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari. In the meantime, he must undergo a special preparatory program at Ferrari, after which it would become definitively possible to confirm whether Schumacher in fact could be in the cockpit in the Valencia race.
Before his announcement Wednesday, the speculation about a comeback was running at high pitch after Schumacher's spokeswoman, Sabine Kehm, had told the German Press Agency
