I still remember the rumours of Michael Schumacher to replace Felipe Massa. Felipe Massa had a massive accident during the Qualification for the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix. Massa was behind the Brawn from Barrichello when a spring came off the car right in his face. As a result, Massa had to retire for the rest of the season. Very quickly after the incident, Schumacher was the driver to replace him. It is the media over here said. Schumi came close to make his comeback in the F1 back with Ferrari.
Four days after Massa’s crash Michael Schumacher arrived on Mugello for a seat fitting with the Ferrari F2007. Schumi would test that weekend with the car. As he would replace Felipe Massa at Ferrari for the rest of the season. It was interesting to see that Ferrari had asked the German. Only weeks prior his test with Ferrari Schumi was on the Spanish Cartagena circuit.
On Cartagena, he tested the Honda Fireblade from German Superbike team Holzhauer Racing. He felt from the bike with a speed of 217KPH. After his accident, he went to the hospital for a medical check-up. Scans showed that he had no major injuries. However, this crash was the reason Schumi would not replace Massa.
Schumi was not able to test with the Ferrari F60. There were new regulations that forbid to test in-season with the current car. Even if it meant that, a driver would replace an injured driver. It meant that Ferrari, via the F1 Clienti, appeared with the F2007 on Mugello. The test would held on Friday the 31st of June 2009. The F2007 was fitted with GP2 tyres. This had also to do with the regulations. In total, Michael Schumacher completed 67 rounds with a fastest time of 1.23,736. To compare it with the F60. Massa did earlier that year a 1.23,981.
After the test session, Schumacher was happy with his test and had a good feeling of his test. Ferrari came with the statement that they would ask the FOTA teams permission to have the German test the F60.
It would never come this far. While Schumi was ready to replace Massa, his doctor decided different. His neck and back were not fully recovered from his bike crash at Cartagena in February earlier that year. It meant we had to wait another year for his comeback. What if Schumacher would have replaced Massa? I think he would performed better then Luca Badoer and Giancarlo Fisichella. He was better prepared, and well he is Michael Schumacher.
