As announced by Schumacher's long-time manager Willi Weber, the German is quite needed at the Ferrari pit these days, as he can provide the world of information to the team's mechanics on the latest technical changes for the new season. The one example that comes into one's mind is the new slick tire from Bridgestone, on which Schumacher himself got to race more than a decade ago.
“In the last two years it was not so important to have Michael in the pits. Now, however, with the many rule changes, Michael can help the engineers to better understand the car. t is in this area that Michael's experience is extremely important,” Webber allegedly told Bild, as reported by GMM news agency.
Ferrari have already announced that they will debut their Kinetic Energy Recovery System from as early as Australia. However, this is not exactly a domain where Schumacher's extensive experience could make a difference, as he didn't get to drive a KERS-powered car before and the technology itself is rather innovatory.
He did, however, spent a lot of time with the Ferrari mechanics when testing the slick tires throughout the 2008 season and could provide valuable data about the new Bridgestone compound at Melbourne. Both the season opener and the Malaysian race are known to register very high track temperatures, whereas understanding the behavior of the tires could prove decisive.
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