Newsgroup: it.sport.formula1.moderato
Titolo: [ENG] Schumacher and Kovalainen

Source: 
grandprix.com
http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns16629.html
The smart money in the Formula 1 paddock in Melbourne is on a Renault
driver line-up in 2007 of Michael Schumacher and Heikki Kovalainen. This
may sound an unlikely state of affairs but it makes a great deal of sense
for all concerned. That does not mean it is going to happen but it is a
logical argument.
Renault is losing Fernando Alonso to McLaren and that was a blow to the
team's ego if nothing else. Renault will want to bounce back from that
situation with some positive publicity and the best possible PR in the
circumstances would be to sign a bigger name. Kimi Raikkonen is not a
bigger name and anyway is going to Ferrari and there is no-one else in
the same league, except Michael Schumacher.
And he's in a much bigger league.
The knock-on effect of such a deal would be considerable. Renault's
tentative commitment to the sport in the longer term is based on the team
being used more effectively to sell motor cars. As chairman Carlos Ghosn
has pointed out, this is what Renault does. Hiring Michael Schumacher
would have an enormous effect for Renault, even before he sits in a
racing car. It would raise then profile of the team to a completely new
level - and would be a great coup as Schumacher jumping from glitzy
supercar manufacturer Ferrari to the considerably less sexy Renault is
just the sort of thing that would appeal to Ghosn, a man who is into big
gestures. For Renault team boss Flavio Briatore it would be the cement
for his immediate future with the team and make him look very clever
while for Michael it would offer the chance to be in a winning car.
Michael is not a man who is going enjoy a gradual slide down F1's ladder
into retirement. Great champions always want to go out on top, as Jackie
Stewart and Alain Prost did. For two seasons now Ferrari has not given
Michael a winning car (except for the rather flawed event at Indianapolis
last year). Michael might be forgiven for wondering if that story will
change in 2007. He has raced with the Renaults enough to know that they
are the most impressive cars out there and so a deal with Renault is the
obvious choice for him to fulfil his ambitions.
Michael would be expensive because a retainer of $48m a year is on the
steep side for a cost-effective team like Renault, but if Michael wants
to drive the car, the price will inevitably come down because Renault is
in the driving seat for negotiations. Michael does not need the money and
while he may be a tough negotiator, he is inevitably going to be willing
to settle. If you wish for an illustration of this, one needs only to
look at the deal that was struck between Ayrton Senna and Williams in
1993. Senna wanted the Williams drive and he was willing to compromise to
get it. The deal struck was for a very small amount of salary in 1994 and
a huge payment in 1995. That meant that success in the first year would
help the team raise the money to pay Senna a great deal more in the
second year, without Senna having to lower his financial demands.
Bernie Ecclestone is not going to be arguing against any deal which puts
Michael Schumacher in a winning car again. Ecclestone does not want to
lose Michael because that would threaten revenues. Out in the real world,
beyond the racing fans, few people have heard of Alonso and Raikkonen.
Neither man has the huge brand value of Michael Schumacher.
Signing up Kovalainen for 2007 is a no-brainer. He is young, fast, cheap
and looked after by Flavio Briatore's management company. He will go
well. His value will increase and Briatore will end up with a bigger
asset than he had at the start of the year. Renault will have a new star
to step into Michael's shoes when he heads off into retirement.
When asked about Schumacher, Briatore said that Michael has not won a
race for a long time and asked the questioner to "please be serious".
That is not a denial. It is simply a neat way of not answering the
question that was asked.
Obviously, Renault does not want to announce anything about 2007 drivers
for a while because the knowledge that neither might be there in 2007 is
something which could disrupt motivation in 2006. As we saw a couple of
years ago with Jarno Trulli, having a demotivated driver is a disastrous
thing for a top F1 team.
Copyright 1988-2006, Inside F1, Inc.
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