However, according to Germany's Bild Zeitung, it seems the 41-year old driver is now the only racer in the F1 paddock without a GPDA membership.
“Michael still supports the work of the GPDA, but he is not sure if he will join again. After all, he took the lead in this area for years. Now he really wants the others, who have taken over in the meantime, to continue,” said Schumacher's spokeswoman and newly appointed manager Sabine Kehm.
However, according to several voices in the F1 paddock, it seems Schumacher's decision to wait until joining the association is linked with the active role occupied by Pedro de la Rosa in the leadership of the GPDA. The Spaniard has been elected president of the aforementioned body in 2008 and is now revising his position due to the fact that he signed a racing deal with BMW Sauber F1 (whereas until now he was only a test driver and could have focused more on the problems of the GPDA).
A final decision on the matter was expected to be made prior to the Bahrain Grand Prix, when the GPDA members met for the first time in 2010 to discuss the new safety issues in the series. For some reason, the meeting (held last Friday) lasted for only a few minutes, with the rest of the discussions to take place before the Australian Grand Prix, in Melbourne.
During the 2006 F1 season, when Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher were battling for the world title, the latter stalled his car in one of the corners (Rascasse) of the Monaco circuit in order to prevent the former to grab pole position for the Sunday race (as the Spaniard was doing a quick lap at the time). The German was sanctioned by the FIA and lost several grid positions in the process, while De la Rosa quit the GPDA in protest.
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