Ready for blast-off, Schumacher leads stellar cast into new season

The sport may have its detractors but F1 is undoubtedly not for the faint-hearted. Despite the high-tech, high-brow status of modern-day F1, in no other sport do men put their lives on the line at 200mph, trusting their instincts, as well as their multimillion pound machinery.

It is why a man who has nothing left to prove has chosen to step out of retirement and lead a stellar cast rarely seen in motor sport.

Michael Schumacher has seven world titles, 91 grand prix victories and virtually every meaningful F1 record to his legendary name, yet even he has been unable to resist the lure of competition, the buzz of pitting his skill and wits against drivers half his age.

Whatever his faults and past indiscretions, and whatever you think of Schumacher the man, at 41 he has to be applauded for opting to put his reputation on the line, knowing that many are determined to make him wish he had remained in retirement.

Without Schumacher, would this be just another ordinary season? Arguably so. Certainly his comeback has inspired Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, the three other world champions who will grace the grid this year.

With a gleam in their eye, all three have spoken enthusiastically about facing "the red baron" who acquired his nickname at Ferrari, a team that will forever be in his heart, despite coming full circle to complete a racing career that began with Mercedes.

Alonso, now at Schumacher's old team, is certainly relishing the opportunity of renewing a rivalry with a driver he regards as the best ever – it was the Spaniard's title victories in 2005 and 2006 that left the German with nothing left to give, his batteries on empty.

For Hamilton, who expressed regret at Schumacher hanging up his racing gloves just a month before his own meteoric rise to F1 was confirmed in late 2006, it is a much-prized opportunity to race against the great man.

And then there is Button, a driver who had enjoyed the odd skirmish with Schumacher during those rare occasions he fought at the front prior to last year, but who now faces him as the reigning world champion and, for once, in equal machinery.

They are the main players, but that is taking nothing away from a cast of other leading protagonists, in particular two young Germans who are eager to be noted in their own right, rather than as successors to their elder compatriot.

A forthright Nico Rosberg will surely have no intention of playing second fiddle to Schumacher at "Team Germany", otherwise now known as Mercedes and morphed from last year's double champions Brawn GP, but not in the way Eddie Irvine and Rubens Barrichello did at Ferrari.

There is also the man who would be king in Sebastian Vettel, the precociously-gifted, British-comedy-loving 22-year-old at Red Bull, who can list F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone as a major fan.

Since his own breathtaking breakthrough on to the F1 scene, Vettel has had to endure the nickname "Baby Schumi", one he will hope to rid himself of this year, even though Schumacher's shadow now looms large over the approaching battle.

Last, but by no means least, there is Schumacher's closest friend amongst the drivers in Felipe Massa, who is making his own return after requiring life-saving surgery last July following an accident in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix.

It was Schumacher who mentored Massa in what was expected to be his final season, in 2006, to such an extent that the Brazilian came within 20-odd seconds of winning his own world title two years later. The pupil will surely now want to put one over on the master.

Add to the equation the unknown variables of the newcomers, Virgin, Lotus and Hispania – all suffixed with the word Racing, which they will only be doing amongst themselves – and the potential exists for pyrotechnics on the track for once, rather than the political fireworks witnessed off it so often in recent times.

It says something that not one of the drivers or team principals can confidently suggest who has the edge going into tomorrow's curtain-raising grand prix in Bahrain: it is that open.

Schumacher may have been understandably keen to downplay his chances on his return, insisting he is not in the running for victory tomorrow, but his performances in yesterday's practice at the Sakhir circuit do not mark him down as a surefire also-ran.

With a re-fuelling ban in place for this season, it has become increasingly difficult to assess lap times as you can never be sure as to a car's fuel load. But, with team-mate Rosberg at the top of the timesheets overall yesterday with a lap of one minute 55.409 seconds, Schumacher was less than half a second adrift in third place.

Sandwiched in between the duo was Hamilton, his McLaren now declared legal following scrutineering,

with team-mate Button fourth quickest, 0.667secs behind Rosberg. Last year's championship runner-up Sebastian Vettel pushed his Red Bull up to fifth, albeit a second down.

It is now time for F1 to produce the kind of show many know it is capable of, but which it has so often failed to deliver. Gentlemen, start your engines.