Apparently resigned to playing out the twilight of his career at the wheel of a mid-grid Force India car, the 36-year-old Italian now finds himself in a Ferrari at the Italian Grand Prix this weekend.
The 40-year-old Schumacher has been drafted in as a replacement for the stricken Felipe Massa and wanted to be granted a day at the wheel of the Ferrari F60 before the European Grand Prix at Valencia in three weeks time.
The seven-time world champion is due to replace stricken Ferrari driver Felipe Massa in the European Grand Prix in Valencia later this month, but his spokesperson Sabine Kehm told ZDF television in Germany that the injury could wreck his return.
Alonso's pole was Ferrari's first since the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix and with Button qualifying second fastest, it will be the first race this season that will not feature a Red Bull on the front row.
SHANGHAI Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso won the Formula One Chinese Grand Prix Sunday, claiming his and the team's first win since last year's race in Germany.
The 54-year-old Englishman, who has previously won world titles with Benetton and Ferrari, broke down in tears after the Brazilian Grand Prix when asked for his reaction.
Last year Massa won six races to Hamilton's five, although one of the Ferrari driver's wins was in the Belgian Grand Prix, where Hamilton was controversially stripped of victory for an infringement.
They put up a strong challenge in 2008 with Kubica scoring their first win at the Canadian Grand Prix and the team finished third behind Ferrari and McLaren.
McLaren boss Ron Dennis has already ruled out taking the new car to the next race in Monaco on Sunday week while rivals Ferrari do not expect to see it at the following Grand Prix in Canada a fortnight later.
Although he won the Belgian Grand Prix, Raikkonen's final season with Ferrari was a disappointment, with a car that was never the fastest in the field.
The 2013 season gets underway with the Australian Grand Prix on March 17 and Alonso has urged Ferrari to arrive at the Melbourne race ready to challenge the dominance of Red Bull, who have now won the drivers' and constructors' titles for three consecutive years.
Despite being 100 years since Renault won the first French Grand Prix at Le Mans, it was Italian team Ferrari celebrating with first and third on the podium.
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The McLaren driver leads Ferrari's Felipe Massa by one point ahead of the forthcoming Singapore Grand Prix, with just four races remaining.
Brambilla photographed the Italian Formula One Grand Prix in Monza, and sampled images from the Scuderia Ferrari archives, race broadcasts and film clips.
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Ferrari's Massa had been comfortably leading the first-ever night Grand Prix when the safety car was deployed following a crash which saw Renault's Nelson Piquet Jr. hit a trackside wall.
Schumacher almost returned this year as a temporary stand-in for Ferrari's Felipe Massa after the Brazilian's accident at the Hungarian Grand Prix, but the plans were dropped as he had still to fully recover from a motorcycle injury earlier in the year.
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Brawn and Whitmarsh both believe that the sport must try to find a different rule on team orders and that the events at the German Grand Prix, which Fernando Alonso won after Felipe Massa allowed his Ferrari team-mate to pass him, were negative and damaging.
Massa, who this week completed a successful test in a 2007 Ferrari as part of his rehabilitation following his horrific crash in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix in July, has been relatively outspoken since his recovery.
McLaren driver Kimi Raikkonen starts Sunday's European Grand Prix at the Nurburgring on pole position and is just three points adrift of Ferrari's world champion Michael Schumacher.
Ferrari caused a controversy earlier in the season when Felipe Massa allowed Alonso through to win the German Grand Prix after a coded message over his team radio.
Ferrari's Fernando Alonso has targeted a third victory in four years in this weekend's Singapore Grand Prix but concedes that it will be "very hard" to achieve.
Ferrari are apparently convinced Massa will be sufficiently recovered from the serious head injuries he sustained at the Hungarian Grand Prix in July to enable him to race next year.
Vettel currently sits 13 points ahead of Spain's Fernando Alonso after the Ferrari driver kept his hopes alive with a third-place finish in last week's United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas.
Instead, Ferrari's Fernando Alonso did just enough on Sunday to force the title chase into the season's final Grand Prix on Sunday in Brazil.
As Ferrari's star driver, Mr. Schumacher won four world championships, set the record for the most career Grand Prix victories and cemented his place as the greatest driver of all time.
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