The Return of TGF (That German Fellow)

“Don’t get me wrong but…………..”. Words that are usually spoken, or written, as a preamble to justify an opinion that may differ from the audience and it is used many times when referring to a driver or a team in motorsport forums (fora?). As a for instance, the recent happenings in Formula One. Certainly the events that have left Felipe Massa out of the rest of the 2009 Championship are very sad, however his reported recovery is very good news indeed. But, what about the news of his replacement, a certain German Fellow by the name of Michael Schumacher, who some may recall won seven World Driver’s Championships between 1994 and 2007 when he hung up his helmet for, what we all assumed was “good”?

Oh how wrong we were. He’s back as Felipe’s stand-in and with over half the season gone one asks what he can achieve? Indeed whatever he does there are many questions that will be left hanging by November 2009. Let’s look at some of them.
He comes back finishes at best third in one of the races, all the rest are fifth or lower. What to make of that, if he beats Kimi in any of those races then it must mean Kimi is pretty ropey. If he loses to Kimi in any of those races it must mean he’s not very good anymore.

He comes back, blows everyone into the weeds and runs the Driver’s World Championship to the wire. Hmm, then after a two year lay off these cars must have got too easy to drive because otherwise how would he do it? And what does it say about the rest of the grid?

For my part I’m just looking forward to seeing him back, although I’m no fan per se, his less “ethical” actions have soured his name for me, but there can be no doubt he is or was extremely talented but because of the issues above this is going to make the final part of the season extremely interesting.

Now, one more point which may be somewhat controversial. According to this years rules, there is no in-season testing. Thus when new boy Jaime Alguersuari was chosen to replace Sebastian Bourdais at Torro Rosso, he got precisely zero miles in testing. As a rookie he qualified for the necessary Superlicence by winning the British Formula 3 Championship. Yet as that rookie, in other words someone who has limited or no Formula 1 experience, he had to get used to it in the Hungarian GP weekend. However our multiple World Champion has (we understand) received dispensation to test a car for a day. Thus his team will no doubt also benefit from this extra curriculum, albeit sanctioned, activity.

Yes let us celebrate the return of the chin but let’s also look at the impact of the decision. I hope it all works out for the best but don’t get me wrong here, I hope he doesn’t show the rest of the circus up.