Schumacher to get back in F1 car for demo run

Retired seven-times world champion Michael Schumacher will drive his old Formula One car again next month in a demonstration run around the daunting Nuerburgring Nordschleife track, Mercedes said on Thursday.

The German manufacturer said the 44-year-old's drive in a 2011 car around the old 20km track, before the start of a 24-hour race on May 19, would be a 'thank you' to his fans for their years of support.

It will also be the first outing on the track, dubbed 'The Green Hell' by triple champion Jackie Stewart in the 1970s, by a modern works Mercedes 'Silver Arrow' Formula One car since Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio won there in 1954.

Schumacher, who grew up in nearby Kerpen, retired from Formula One last season and is now a brand ambassador for Mercedes.

Photograph: Chaiwat Subprasom/Reuters