Although team principal Christian Horner avoided to blame the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) or the FIA for this turn of events, team owner Dietrich Mateschitz revealed the same request was made in the name of 19-year old Jaime Alguersuari also, only it was turned down.
“We asked for permission for a test for Alguersuari and it was turned down. So why should we approve an exemption for a seven-time world champion?” the Austrian businessman confirmed for the British newspaper The Daily Mail.
Michael Schumacher hasn't driven a Formula One car since April 2008, when testing a Ferrari F2008 on slick tires. Although he did manage to use the “F1 Clienti” programme of the Italian car maker to do some laps in a Ferrari F2007 at Mugello last weekend, the German asked his team to do everything possible to secure him another test prior to Valencia.
His situation resembles a lot to the one Alguersuari was in a few weeks ago, when he was confirmed at the wheel of the STR4 alongside Sebastien Buemi. The 19-year old Spaniard – who became the youngest driver to ever start an F1 race – had no previous experience in a Formula One challenger and only conducted some straight-line testing prior to his debut at the Hungaroring.
Apart from Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Toro Rosso, Williams F1 are also very much opposed to letting Schumacher test a Ferrari F60 ahead of the European GP, especially since the overall view in the F1 paddock is that the 40-year old ace would have no problem getting up to speed (considering his highly successful background in F1) without any testing mileage.
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