MOTORSPORT: Schumacher to stage comeback?

The great man has seven world titles and 91 grand prix wins -- both records -- to his credit. Can he realistically add to that marvellous record, having not raced for three years? An attempt to return with Ferrari this year after Felipe Massa got injured was aborted because the German was still feeling the effects of a motorcycle crash months after it happened.

The German (who told this author in Adelaide in 1995 that he didn't want to grow old in F1!) will turn 41 on January 3.

There can only be a couple of reasons for another attempt now being in the wind. One is that Mercedes, or one or two senior people there, may be intent on seeing the man some regard as the best of all F1 drivers -- certainly the greatest German driver -- finally associated in GP racing with the tristar brand from which he received backing in his formative years.

If so, it's misguided thinking. In the eyes of F1 fans Schumacher will always be synonymous with Ferrari, with which he won five of his titles -- and which, incidentally, will not stand in his way if he decides to race for Mercedes.

We have heard from sources away from motor racing that Schumacher has seen his vast fortune diminished by the financial crisis in Dubai, but even if true he could hardly be hurting for a dollar. Indeed, the figures being bandied about (US$8-10 million for the season) are only a fraction of what he made at Ferrari.

As great as he was, we can see little to be gained by a Schumacher comeback -- even on the marketing/promotional front. On the contrary, there is the danger that is reputation/image would be tarnished.

Mercedes has recruited Nico Rosberg -- son of a Finnish F1 world champion and German mother, and still young yet with many GPs under his belt -- as one of its drivers for 2010. But Nick Fry, who heads the team along with Ross Brawn, says experience is at a premium in F1 now because of the strict limits on testing.

The alternative to Schumacher is Nick Heidfeld, another German who has driven more GPs than Australia's Mark Webber yet inexplicably never won one. Heidfeld is not Schumi, but he's the man for the vacant slot for next year.

Not as exciting as a Schumacher comeback, we know, but Mercedes and Schumi need to recognise that time has moved on.

What earthly reason can there be for this? Other than, perhaps, some notion that it will help drive the championship outcome to the grand finale. Certainly it would be good to see the title decided at the last race, but there's only so much that can be concocted.

Toll Holden Racing Team's Garth Tander, winner of both enduros this year with Will Davison, and who will be denied the opportunity to defend those successes with Davison next year, has been the most outspoken against the ban.

"Absolutely ridiculous, absolutely stupid rule," Tander said.

"I think for a category that's been trumpeting how it's going to reduce costs this is the absolute opposite of that. I do not see any gain or benefit... It's an insult to the tradition and history of Bathurst."

Other top V8 Supercar drivers have similar views, even if they haven't been heard as loudly.

The fans deserve to see the best possible line-ups in the best cars with the best chance of writing their names in the history books at Australia's two classic touring car races.

Mark Webber won the Innes Ireland Trophy at the British Racing Drivers' Club annual dinner for the driver who best displayed the qualities of courage and sportsmanship epitomised by the late Ireland.

Webber also collected the Bruce McLaren Trophy as the Commonwealth driver with the most meritorious performances in international motorsport this year. He received his trophies from legendary F1 commentator Murray Walker and Bruce McLaren's widow, Pat.

David Brabham, winner of the Le Mans 24-hour sports car classic for Peugeot and the American Le Mans Series in an (Honda) Acura, received the Fairfield Trophy for an outstanding performance by a BRDC member.

Meantime, Daniel Ricciardo (the 20-year-old from Perth who topped the recent F1 test at Jerez in Spain and is in line to be Red Bull Racing's reserve driver next year), also collected two BRDC trophies. One, named in honour of John Cooper, was for winning the British Formula Three Championship and showing the potential to be a world champion. The other was the newly-created Henry Surtees award in honour of the 18-year-old son of John Surtees who was killed in a Formula Two crash in July.

Ricciardo received that trophy from John Surtees, still the only man to have won the major world titles in two and four-wheel racing.

Marcos Ambrose recently was given the Sir Jack Brabham Award by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS). That award recognises outstanding international achievement and success by an Australian competitor.

Ambrose has done well in NASCAR in North America, with four top five finishes in his first full season in the premier Sprint Cup, but it is baffling how, this year, he gets the Brabham award ahead of Webber - or David Brabham.

The system changes little -- it would not have altered any world title outcomes in recent years, although Eddie Irvine would have been world champion ahead of Mika Hakkinen in 1999 (by 230 points to 218, instead of losing 74-76). Indeed, it appears designed to allow new, lesser teams on the expanded 2010 grid to score some points and therefore benefit under the Concorde Agreement that governs the sport's commercial allocations.

The drivers who voted had 9194 GP starts between them and 270 wins. Autosport said they ranked Senna top because he was "unbeatable at his best, formidable on an off day and majestic in the wet".

Stewart will be returning to a track he graced before he became the IndyCar series champion in 1997 and embarked on the NASCAR career that has seen him win 37 premier series races, titles in 2002 and 2005, and more than US$80 million in prizemoney.

It's being billed as the biggest thing in Australian speedway racing since AJ Foyt raced at Liverpool in the mid-1970s.

In addition to her IndyCar commitments, Patrick will drive a Chevrolet Impala in NASCAR's second tier Nationwide Series for JR Motorsports (part-owned by the sport's most popular driver, Dale Earnhardt Junior) and with some assistance from nine-time NASCAR champion team owner Rick Hendrick.

She will start with a test in a fourth tier ARCA car on Daytona's 31-degree banking this week.

Patrick's IndyCar drive with Michael Andretti's team has just been extended for another three years.

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