Brawn hopeful over Schumacher

Ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix, a lot of the chitter chatter in the paddock revolved around the possible second retirement of a certain Michael Schumacher.

The Mercedes driver had up to that point had a poor 2012 World Championship, scoring just two points and ending the Spanish Grand Prix in the gravel trap after crashing into the Williams of Bruno Senna.

But following this past weekend in Monaco the talks surrounding Schumacher appears to be altering.

While before the race Mercedes chief executive officer Nick Fry had quite openly talked about the teams interest in Force India's Paul di Resta, the talk afterwards was all about Schumacher possibly agreeing a new deal with the team.

Asked if he wanted Michael Schumacher to continue racing beyond 2012, Mercedes team boss Ross Brawn told the BBC: 'I think it would be everyone's wish.'

'We always said Michael himself will know when it's time to retire and after a performance like that why should he?'

Brawn was of course referring to the masterful lap that the former seven-time Formula One World Champion completed during qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix.

It's fair to say that no-one really saw that lap coming, but the German took the fastest lap of Q3 to top the timing sheets.

He wasn't able to take pole position however due to a five-place grid penalty which had been handed to him after he rear ended Bruno Senna in Spain.

That paragraph above really highlights the current issues with Schumacher, while he may still show glimpses of his brilliance, he has been prone to mistakes since his return, which has in-part at least been the reason why he still only has two points to his name following the opening six races of the season.

Schumacher told the media: 'You imagine that just because of one result I've done at this moment I'm suddenly restarting or opening a different subject. No, that's not the case.

'I'm focused on what I'm doing right now. There will come a time when I will make summary of everything and then I will sit down with the team to see what we're going to do.'