Despite the non-event of his Ferrari return, the rumours kept coming and coming, and in true F1 fashion, turned out to be true. Michael Schumacher, you know - the guy that made 2000-2004 really boring, is coming back with his old mucker Ross Brawn in the rebranded Mercedes GP team.

Stealing the old man of Formula 1 from Rubens Barrichello, you have to imagine it’s going to be a pretty tough deal after a three year break and a neck injury that precluded him from helping Ferrari bag third place in the constructor’s championship. But it does mean that there’s again going to be four world champions in the field (make that five if Raikkonen returns from his rally holiday, six if he returns and there’s a new champion and seven on the off chance that all this happens and Jaques Villeneuve makes an unexpected comeback).

With an increased budget from the Mercedes buyout and Pertronas sponsorship and now with the undeniable development brains of Schumacher on board, this makes the Brawn and co package look very strong for the again testing-banned 2010 season.