Michael Schumacher should ditch his dreams of adding an eighth title to his unprecedented formula one record.
That is the claim of his former boss Flavio Briatore, who nonetheless said he supports the 42-year-old’s often-criticised return to the grid.

“Michael is a great driver,” the former Benetton and Renault boss told Bild newspaper.

“He changed formula one, not just in how to drive the car but how to prepare it and yourself. With his fitness and his discipline he created a new generation of drivers.

“Vettel, Alonso and Rosberg have all followed him,” said the flamboyant Italian.

“And it is good for formula one that he came back. If it entertains him and he understands his role as a helper for Mercedes – leading them back to the top – then that’s good,” added Briatore.

The latest rumour is that while Michael Schumacher is expected to be back in the paddock next year, he might not return to the Mercedes cockpit.

When the seven time world champion was asked if he was going to return to retirement after his disappointing 2010 comeback, he told reporters on Thursday: “You cannot get rid of me, let’s put it this way.”

The bulk of the media took that to mean he intends to keep racing in 2011.

But the New York Times’ correspondent Brad Spurgeon has admitted he was tempted to follow up the question by asking Schumacher if his role next year might not be as a driver, but in a management role such as ‘sporting director’.

Germany’s Bild newspaper has also heard the rumours about Schumacher staying in F1 in another role once his driving days are over.

Asked if he can imagine a similar post-racing role, Fernando Alonso said in Singapore: “Not at all — team bosses have to work too hard!”

And the Spaniard, who stopped Schumacher from achieving an eighth title in 2006, insisted he is not among those who are criticising the 41-year-old German.

“I say only this: Michael is a legend, he won five titles with Ferrari and, with Ferrari, I am yet to win one.

“He doesn’t need to prove anything to anybody, and he will be faster next year,” added Alonso.

Gerhard Berger says Michael Schumacher’s defensive driving in Hungary earlier this month was a blast from the past.

The Austrian, who won 10 of his more than 200 grands prix in the 80s and 90s for top teams including Ferrari and McLaren, said the tactics deployed by Schumacher against Rubens Barrichello alongside the Hungaroring pitwall used to be commonplace.

“We drove harder and more brutally,” said the 50-year-old, a former teammate of the great Ayrton Senna.

“Three times a lap we drove each other into the walls without complaining.  This was just part of it.

“We would have thought nothing of an action like Michael’s against Barrichello,” Berger told the Austrian Tiroler Tageszeitung newspaper.

But Berger doubts whether Schumacher, who returned to formula one this season with Mercedes, will add an eighth title to his record-holding championship haul.

“Before the season I would have answered this question with a resounding yes,” he said.  “Today I have to say no.  His teammate Nico Rosberg clearly has his nose in front.

“Michael is trying to counter Nico’s youthfulness by pulling tricks out of his bag of experience, but it’s not working.

“His teammate is faster, and he has to learn how to deal with it,” added Berger.

Mercedes’ problem in 2010 is not the tyres but the team’s simulation techniques, according to Niki Lauda.

It has been said the German team is puzzled by the current Bridgestone tyres and how they interact with the W01, the successor of last year’s championship winning Brawn.

But former triple world champion Lauda thinks the real problem is the new era of reduced track testing and the alternate need to rely on computers and simulators.

“All the teams complain about the tyres but it’s the same problem for all of them,” Lauda is quoted by Bild newspaper.

“The problem with Mercedes is the movement between their simulations and reality. Who is the best in this area wins, and they are McLaren and Red Bull.”

At Silverstone on Wednesday, Michael Schumacher delivered the unsurprising verdict that, with a 93 point deficit in the championship, he is not going to win an eighth title in 2010.

“We try to learn as much as we can and prepare for next year. That’s what I’m fully motivated towards,” said the German.

But some wonder how the winner of 91 grands prix and hundreds of millions of euros in salaries and sponsorships can possibly prolong a middling return to his chosen sport.

“I have known Michael a long time. You would think I’d know if he were about to chuck it in,” team boss Ross Brawn told the Telegraph.

The Briton said Schumacher is taking a different approach to his earlier ruthless determination to win races and titles with Benetton and Ferrari.

“He is more interested in the whole Mercedes project,” said Brawn.

“He takes a greater interest in the wider aspects of what we are trying to do and is not simply concerned with what happens on the track. He is enjoying his return more than people think.”