David Coulthard has argued it is far from out of the question that
Michael Schumacher will come back out of retirement to compete in
Formula 1 again in the near future, insisting if you're committed enough you're good enough.
The Scot – who became the oldest and second-most experienced driver on the grand prix grid following Schumacher's decision to hang up his helmet at the end of the 2006 campaign – was speaking about the German's scintillating testing return at Barcelona last month, when the seven-time world champion drove a
Ferrari in anger for the first time in more than twelve months – and promptly proved untouchable at the top of the timesheets.
“Michael still earns several million dollars a year from Ferrari to be a tester, advisor and promoter,” Coulthard said, “so he still earns more than a lot of the drivers racing – certainly more than
Lewis Hamilton earned this year as a paid Formula 1 driver.
“It's important to keep that in mind – he's not doing it for the good of his health or for charity, he's doing it because he's a businessman and that's how he earns his money. There are worse things to do of an afternoon than go and drive a Formula 1 car quickly around Barcelona, especially when it doesn't actually matter whether you're one tenth quicker or one tenth slower. I would say he's doing it for a mixture of pleasure and business reasons.
“Could he come back in a year's time and race? Of course he could. If you've got that great talent, unlike in soccer or other athletic sports where you might lose the ability to get to the ball before someone else, in motorsport it's more about your hand-eye-brain co-ordination and commitment than it is about the physical aspect. Just look at the sort of drivers that have won championships – I mean, no one could claim that [Nigel] Mansell was the fittest guy, but he was committed and he was strong and he got into the best car and did the job.”
