Michael Schumacher has signed a contract to drive for Mercedes GP next season, in a one-year deal worth €7 million.
The much anticipated move will reunite Schumacher, who turns 41 in January, with team principal Ross Brawn, with whom he has secured all seven of his world championships. He will form an all German team with 24-year-old Nico Rosberg, who agreed a deal with Mercedes last month.
German newspaper Bild reported that he signed the deal yesterday at the Mercedes GP headquarters in Brackley, although his spokeswoman Sabine Kehm has refused to comment. Mercedes motorsport boss Norbert Haug recently said that the identity of the team's second driver would not be announced till the new year, but the BBC says the deal will now be announced imminently.
Schumacher, who retired in 2006, was expected to return last year as a replacement for injured Felipe Massa. But his comeback was cancelled after a neck injury sustained in a motorbike test in February turned out to be more serious that previously thought. He has recently undergone extensive medical tests, and earlier this week his manager Willi Webber said he was "superfit".
