Formula 1 News

Ralf Schumacher to race for McLaren in 2008? 

According to reports, Michael Schumacher’s younger brother, Ralf, has announced his interest in filling Fernando Alonso’s seat at McLaren-Mercedes for 2008 season. Ralf, hasn’t signed yet a contract for 2008 season, as just on October he announced on his personal website that after three years with Toyota, he is looking for a new challenge.

In an interview with German newspaper Bild am Sonntag, the German said: “It is no secret that the space at McLaren-Mercedes is by far the most coveted cockpit. Every driver on the market would like to sit in that super car,” he added. Schumacher’s interviewer, however, asked him if he thought he was still strong enough to be a winner for the Woking based team. “Of course, but the first fact is that, until now, there has been no contact between myself and McLaren,” Ralf answered.

Meanwhile, German racing car company HWA is reportedly likely to enter Formula One in 2009. The news magazine Focus reports that the outfit, which since 2000 has built Mercedes-Benz’s cars for the DTM series, could become involved in the current McLaren-Mercedes collaboration. It was reported in June that, despite McLaren and Mercedes’ collaboration on the $600,000 SLR supercar, Mercedes would pair with HWA alone for the SLR’s successor. HWA is run by the former CEO of Mercedes-Benz, Jurgen Hubbert; a fact that could spark new speculation that the largest shareholder of Ron Dennis’ outfit could be looking to bring an end to the remaining British elements of the F1 team.

source: GMM