He was coerced into retirement before he was ready, now Michael Schumacher is on the comeback trail and he can be as formidable as ever

So it's happening: Michael Schumacher is on the comeback trail, training like hell each day, getting himself ready, racing’s drug still in his system. And still the clock ticks.

There's a song by Ry Cooder, 'Flathead One More Time', where the character of the piece, an ageing ex-desert-speed-trials racer, is being lured back into the cockpit. 'Three o'clock this morning, I woke up in a dream, thought I heard a flathead motor roar, thought I smelled gasoline. A feeling came upon me that I ain't had in years, something like a hot, dry wind whistling past my ears, saying time, time, time is all you got. There's a memory that’s still burning way down in my mind. That's why I’m going out and trying a flathead. One. More. Time.' It could just as easily be about Michael and F1.

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