Michael Schumacher Returns

Michael Schumacher will be driving for Mercedes in 2010. Apparently he has signed a 10 million dollars contract with Mercedes to race for them in the 2010 Formula One season. We had reported earlier that he had a consultancy contract with Ferrari, but they were quite ok with letting him go and race for Mercedes (see Ferrari ok with letting Schumacher go). Mercedes, the German car company has been eyeing Schumi ever since the team bought up Brawn GP (see Formula 1: Mercedes-Benz buy up champion team).

Michael Schumacher is a 7-time Formula 1 World Champion. In his racing career, he went on to win 91 races and managed to get onto the podium an astonishing 154 times. He was very closely connected to Ferrari and had won 5 out of his 7 titles with them, others being with Benetton. But as soon as Mercedes was a confirmed team, he was their first choice as driver. And the good thing is that Ferrari didn't push to enforce the contract Schumacher had with them as a consultant for the 2010 season. That would have blocked his transfer to Mercedes, or at least created many hurdles.

Schumacher is married to Corinna Betsch, and they have 2 children - Gina-Maria and Mick. The family currently stays near Gland, Switzerland, and have always preferred a private and simple life. Their mansion consists of an underground garage and private petrol station. Forbes Magazine listed him as the 2nd highest paid athlete in 2004. Eurobusiness listed him as the 1st billionaire athlete in 2005. A special ambassador to UNESCO, Schumacher has donated more than 1.5 million euros to that organization. He donated 10 million dollars in aid for the 2004 tsunami. It is also believed that he has donated close to 10 million dollars to the William J. Clinton Center and Park. In his last 4 years of racing, it is believed that he donated an astonishing 50 million dollars worldwide.

The craze of Formula One racing is said to have been injected in Germany by Michael Schumacher. And now with a German car company, it seems to be the perfect combination for the 2010 season.