Mercedes announces team launch

Mercedes will officially launch its new team and livery on January 25 at its museum in Stuttgart. Its car, however, will not be unveiled until the first day of testing on February 1.

At the team launch it will present its two new drivers Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg alongside a Mercedes liveried 2009 Brawn. When the new car does roll out it will be named the RB1, 'RB' being the initials of team principal and former owner Ross Brawn.

The success of Schumacher's Formula One comeback will rest on it, as the seven-time champion returns to the sport after three years in retirement. He has been testing a GP2 machine this week to prepare for his first F1 run and is confident he is in good shape. Team-mate Rosberg is also hoping to score some good results after spending four seasons at Williams without winning a race.

Mercedes is just one of a number of teams to announce its launch recently with Ferrari, McLaren, Renault, Lotus and Sauber all confirming their dates in the past two weeks.

Mercedes lure Schumacher back

Michael Schumacher

Michael Schumacher is certain to make his Formula One comeback with Mercedes' new team in 2010 his fellow countryman Timo Glock said at yesterday's launch of the new Virgin Racing team. And as Ferrari made it clear that they will not hold Schumacher to the consultancy contract he has held since his retirement from racing at the end of 2006, the whispers about his return were turning to shouts within the Formula One world.

"The flame is still there, it's still burning," said Glock, the former Toyota driver who will be partnered at Virgin by the Brazilian rookie Lucas di Grassi, "and it will be great if Michael returns. For me, it is quite obvious he is coming back. There's still a lot of speculation, but in the end he is a crazy race driver and he wants to come back to racing. It's not enough for him to just do kart races, or to go to the Race of Champions at the end of each year."

Ferrari's president, Luca di Montezemolo, scotched suggestions that the Italian manufacturer would not release Schumacher from his contract yesterday: "It is not binding. It is clear that if he decides to take another road our agreement will no longer be valid, that is logical. You can't work with a competitor and with us at the same time. But I still haven't spoken to Michael about it. He is only a dear friend, not a team member."

Schumacher tried to return in July as stand-in for Ferrari's injured Felipe Massa, but his neck, injured in a motorcycle race in February, proved unable to withstand the high G-forces imposed by an F1 car. It is now believed that these problems are behind him, and he recently won one of the kart races organised by Massa in Brazil. Though the cornering forces are lower in a kart, it is clear that his competitive spirit is undiminished.

It is also thought that events in his personal life have made him consider a return to his "comfort zone" of wheel-to-wheel competition.