Michael Schumacher announces F1 comeback

HAMBURG - German Formula One racing star Michael Schumacher Wednesday announced he will be returning to the F1 Grand Prix circuit to fill in at Ferrari for badly injured driver Felipe Massa.

Schumacher made the announcement on his own website, confirming a report in the Bild tabloid’s website.

There had been increasing speculation in recent days that the 40-year-old former F1 world champion would return to Ferrari in the wake of Massa’s accident last Sunday in Budapest which left him hospitalised.

Schumacher has seven F1 world titles to his credit, along with 91 individual race victories in 250 Grand Prix races. He ended his career in October 2006.

The next F1 race is the Spain Grand Prix in Valencia starting Aug 23.

In his statement, Schumacher said that “thank God, the news about Felipe (Massa) are increasingly positive” - a reference to the improvement in the Brazilian driver’s condition in Budapest and prospects that he could be transferred to a Paris hospital.

Schumacher then went on to say he had talked with Ferrari officials Stefano Domeicali and Luca di Montezemolo, and “together we decided that I will prepare myself to take the place of Felipe”.

The German racing star added that although the F1 racing chapter had been completely closed for him, “it is also true that for loyalty reasons to the team I cannot ignore that unfortunate situation”.

“But as the competitor I also very much look forward to facing this challenge,” the brief website statement said.