Michael Schumacher’s former manager Willi Weber has revealed he tried to stop the German from returning to Formula 1 with Mercedes in 2010.
Having retired from Ferrari at the end of 2006, the seven-time champion remained close to the Italian team and even wanted to replace Felipe Massa after the Brazilian’s horrific accident at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix.
With the taste for competition back, Schumacher joined Ross Brawn when the Briton’s successful 2009 team was bought by the German manufacturer with the pair considered the builders of Mercedes’ recent achievements.
Weber though wasn’t convinced by the idea: “Not at all. I summoned him and said ‘please don’t do it. You can only lose’,” he told Germany’s Abendzeitung newspaper and was quoted by PlanetF1.
“He was a seven time world champion with nothing to prove. But he really wanted to drive. I thought it’s fine that he drives, but it will be without me.”
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Weber, who was with Schumacher throughout his first stint in F1, maintains the disagreement didn’t impact their long-standing relationship it was merely a case of him not having the same motivation.
“We still had a contract until 2014, but I just didn’t want to go around the world anymore,” he explained. “I am a person who sees that everything in life has its time and what Michael and I did in almost 20 years, that was our F1 time.
“You cannot repeat that or bring the past back to life.
“We separated as friends and then spoke hundreds of times on the phone or together for coffee or dinner.”