Surprise surprise, Mercedes have Schumi as their number one driver and have designed the car around him.
Basis for this ????
Like him or hate him, he generates headlines. Weather he's winning races, trying to put people into the wall or is trwaling around in 15th place. They say theres no such thing has bad publicity, that i think is very true with F1. weatear its great races, star/popluar drivers, or contraversy or even tragedy it all puts bums on sofas on a sunday afternoon. From this point of view Schumacher is great for F1, He is still seen as a star player in F1, wand people want to see stories from his return as the 'old wsie old master looking for one more shot at glory' to ' the fall of talented ( or perhaps even villanous) driver, too old and too long in the tooth and should never fo come back'.
And in an era where the world seems to be obsessed with the next big headline, the media story that will draw people in. And an Formula 1 which wants to draw off that and get people hooked on the sometimes bizzare stories of formula 1 as well as the racing, The most successful driver in F1 history will never retire quietly and until the media get bored of Schumacher it doesnt matter where he finishing races he will be good for F1.
But then also what if he wins races this year, or even challenges for the championship? Well then in a way, certainly in terms of coloumn inches. It colud possibly be the best thing for F1. weather painted as a hero or villan of the piece His story becomes almost a hollywood epic. I think Formlua 1 is possibly the best at feeding off this.
In a summary i think its alomst impossible for Schumacher to be Bad for Fomula 1 it can only be good, the worst thing could happen is he trawls round the midfield and goes back into retirement with a wimper, but then of course Alonso, Hamilton, Vettel, Webber etc. would genrate the Headlines