Recipe for News: Michael Schumacher

In a year when still only half of the grid has been confirmed, is the drivers market about to see another twist with the return of the red baron?

The last 12 months have seen massive changes in how the formula 1 teams go racing. Bust has followed boom and now we are in a stage of measured spending where big bucks are earned by a few rather than by all. Moreover, such has been the change of grid dynamic that 2010 will see the power with the privately owned teams as they outnumber the manufacturer teams 10:3 - 2008 ended 4:6 in favour of the manufacturers. Whether this change is a good thing or not remains to be seen, but with 4 new teams next year there is a lot of flux among who's going to be driving where and a lot of risks to be taken (by drivers) trying to decide which of the teams are going to do a Brawn and which are going to do a Minardi.

The long and short of it is that of all the cars that are going to be on the grid next year there are 4 teams that you would want to be driving for; McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes, Red Bull. These teams are the teams which have either the pedegree (McLaren/Ferrari) or had a brilliant 2009 (Mercedes/Red Bull) and are therefore the form of the paddock and under much less financial pressure. Of these teams only Mercedes is yet to announce its driver lineup and until they do most of the other seats will remain free - drivers/managers will be marketing themselves to fill the space left by Button.

Of course, Ross Brawn and the rest of the Mercedes outfit are very aware that they have (potentailly) one of the best seats in the house up for grabs and that means that any driver that they even hint at (or simply don't comment on when asked about) is going to gain them extra column inches. The more news they are making, the more people are going to talk Mercedes. This is even more important now as some of the impact from their Brawn overtake was overshadowed by the Button move; something which has threatened to leave them fielding a line up of Nico Rosberg (potentially great but has yet to win a race - something that would have to be overcome quickly if he is to be champion) and Nick Heidfeld (rated by Merc but more of a Fisichella than Fangio).

To combat the lack of impact that this would have Mercedes are searching for a star. They talked to Raikkonen but I think that Kimi priced himself out of their range (such a shame to lose a true racer and champion from a grid filled with mediocrety). Then the news was released that they were lining up 7 time champion Michael Schumacher. No star is bigger.

However, no bait is jucier for a newspaper either. Every time it was mentioned last week the Mercedes profile was increased. Eddie Jordan's outburst that Brawn has been planning this for months just added a can of petrol to the fire. Publicity gold.

I personally feel that the Schumacher talk is the smoke and mirrors to mask (or at leat delay) the driver announcement for next year. It just doesn't make sense; why would Brawn have (by all accounts - from both sides) been in discussion with Button as recently as last Saturday if they had been planning on bringing Scumi on board for next year? Furthermore, Schumi wants to race for fun; not a championship. This was never that serious.

Expect the rumours to die down in the next few days when Micheal recommits his love of everything red (thus increasing the Ferrari profile lest we forget them).

I could be wrong, it happens, but I cannot see beyond the dutiful Heidfeld to fill the vacancy next year before moving aside for Vettel. There are other options; Trulli, Kovalainen, and Sutil could all be in the frame but only one is German and he crashes a bit too much.

Still, that would get in the news...