Enter Schumacher mark two

David Tremayne finds that the drivers' nightmare is about to become reality

Some drivers will tell you that one Schumacher in Formula One is already one too many, but if he has his way Michael's younger brother Ralf, 22, will soon be arriving on the scene. He is due to test with McLaren- Mercedes this month.

"We already offered Ralf the opportunity of a test drive last year," Mercedes-Benz's motorsport manager, Norbert Haug, said at Hockenheim last week, "and now we are doing it again."

Of course, speed does not necessarily run in fraternal genes. Pedro Rodriguez was an exception in the Sixties and early Seventies, following in the wake of his Schumacher-quick younger brother Ricardo. But Emerson Fittipaldi's older brother Wilson never came close to matching his achievements, any more than did Gilles Villeneuve's brother, Jacques Snr.

The indications favour Schumacher minor, as his nursery-slope record shadows Michael's. He matched his German Formula Three Championship, and then on the advice of Michael and their joint manager, Willi Weber, went east this year to race Formula 3000 in Japan. He won at the second attempt and has established himself as the clear pacesetter.

Haug, for one, likes what he has seen. "Ralf has done an excellent job in Japan. He had fantastic races last year in F3 at Monaco and Macau, so he is obviously following in his brother's footsteps. There is a good chance of taking him on as our test driver, but first we have to see what we want to do with him. Our objective has been to develop young drivers - international as well as German - and we would like to continue that programme."

Formula One is a hotbed of intrigue, and there are plenty of other suggestions for the motivation behind McLaren's interest. One is that it might tempt Michael, 27, back to Mercedes. This fits in with suspicions that it was a McLaren representative who started the rumour that the Schumachers' compatriot, Heinz-Harald Frentzen, was replacing Damon Hill at Williams in 1997 (something McLaren emphatically deny). It is suggested that McLaren wanted to discourage Schumacher from signing for Ferrari beyond 1997, and make him seek a more competitive berth from which to tackle Frentzen's challenge to his national superiority. McLaren's Ron Dennis makes no secret of wanting Michael. "If I don't try to get the best for McLaren, then I'm not doing my job."

These are tough days for Dennis and McLaren. The team's sponsor, Marlboro, has elected to reduce his stipend by 50 per cent, sending him scurrying around other tobacco brands such as Camel, West and Jordan's sponsor, Benson & Hedges. None can match what Marlboro has put on the table.

"Ron did me the biggest favour he has ever done me in his life," Eddie Jordan said recently. "He asked B&H for pounds 27m for team sponsorship, plus pounds 10m for Michael . . ." Such figures are evidently way above what even Jordan, a man who has never been retiring where money is concerned, has dared to seek.

In Hockenheim the latest rumour was that Dennis has rebuffed Marlboro and that Mobil would step up their involvement, in conjunction with Mercedes-Benz, on McLarens that would be painted silver.

Haug has always denied the persistent rumours of some form of long-term agreement with Schumacher, emanating from their sportscar racing relationship of 1990 and 1991. "We have no hold on Michael and we never have had since he came into Formula One," he said, but added: "That doesn't mean that we wouldn't like to work with him again in the future. I think both of us have always thought that we would like to do that."

It's easy to read too much into F1's restless eddies, but it could be a good way to supercharge things by bringing Ralf aboard as test driver for 1997, before pairing the brothers in 1998.