Michael Schumacher has been offered another lucrative two-year contract extension at Ferrari, seemingly ensuring that he ends his career at the famed Italian Formula One team and doesn’t move elsewhere.
Bild said that Schumacher will earn the same annual â,¬35-million he gets under the current four-year deal he signed in 2003.
Bild said that the contract included an option that allows the 37-year-old Schumacher to retire immediately if he wins another world title. However, this clause could also mean that Schumacher will not be allowed to join another team if he terminates the deal before 2008.
”He can get out of the contract earlier [than 2008] without problems after the 2007 season, or even after the current season. That is because the contract has a championship clause. If he wins the title this year he can retire immediately, if he wants to,” said Bild.
Bild said that Schumacher and his manager, Willi Weber, are looking into when to announce the deal, which, according to the paper, could already happen by the next race, the European Grand Prix at Germany’s Nurburgring on May 7.
Schumacher is the most successful driver in Formula One history. He won five of his seven world titles for Ferrari, who he joined in 1996.
The team went through a slump last year, but Schumacher was back on top of a race podium last Sunday in Imola and expressed his confidence that he can fight holder Fernando Alonso of the Renault team, whom he trails by 15 points, for the world title.
Schumacher’s current deal with Ferrari expires at the end of the season. The driver has so far not talked about his future but suggested that he will very likely stay with Ferrari if he continues.
Schumacher said on Sunday that the Imola win will not play a part in his decision-making.
Team boss Jean Todt was quoted as saying by Bild: ”We will reach an agreement as soon as Michael wants to. It won’t take five minutes.” — Sapa-dpa