He was set to come out of retirement to help the Ferrari team maintain their momentum in the competition after their driver, Felipe Massa suffered an injury to his left eye following a freak accident during the qualification rounds at Hungary. Schumacher announced that the team had approached him to replace Massa for the time being and he agreed.
The team then proceeded to apply from the FIA to allow the German to do testing, which according to the rules of the competition, in-season testing is not allowed. The FIA though, made an exception and because he had not race competitively for 3 years, allowed him to do so. after testing, it seems that the pain on his neck would not go away and hence he will now have to give up any hope of racing again.
He released an official statement which reads "Yesterday evening, I had to inform Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo and team principal Stefano Domenicali that unfortunately I'm not able to step in for Felipe. I really tried everything to make that temporary comeback possible, however, much to my regret it didn't work out. Unfortunately we did not manage to get a grip on the pain in the neck which occurred after the private F1-day in Mugello, even if medically or therapeutically we tried everything possible. The consequences of the injuries caused by the bike-accident in February, fractures in the area of head and neck, unfortunately have turned out to be still too severe. That is why my neck cannot stand the extreme stresses caused by Formula One yet. This are the clear results of the examinations we did on the course of the past two weeks and the final examination yesterday afternoon. As there were no improvements after the day in Mugello, I decided at short notice on Sunday to do that thorough examination already yesterday. I am disappointed to the core. I am awfully sorry for the guys of Ferrari and for all the fans which crossed fingers for me. I can only repeat that I tried everything that was within my power. All I can do now is to keep my fingers crossed for the whole team for the coming races."
