Mercedes-Benz announces long-term partnership with Michael Schumacher

It can hardly come as a surprise that Michael Schumacher has accepted an ambassadorial role with Mercedes-Benz, focusing predominantly on safety related issues and development of future products.

The partnership extends far beyond motorsport and Formula 1, in particular development of Mercedes-Benz’s safety and comfort systems known as “Intelligent Drive”. During his time as seven-times Formula 1 World Champion, Schumacher has been a keen advocate for road safety and he’ll continue that role with Mercedes-Benz.

“The future interests me much more than the present and past,” said Schumacher “During my Formula 1 time I always believed that you must not allow yourself to rest on your laurels, but that you must continuously try to improve. In so doing I was very often able to rely on the help of all the technologies available to me in the car and use them to my advantage. That is why I am a declared supporter of driving assistance systems both in the racing car and in the road-going car”

Dr. Joachim Schmidt, Executive VP of Sales and Marketing at Mercedes-Benz Cars, added: “We are proud that Michael Schumacher, the most successful and best-known racing driver in the world, is again joining us as our partner. Right from the time when he was a Mercedes-Benz junior and of course in the last three years as a driver in our Formula 1 team, Michael Schumacher has always been committed to our company’s projects. This is why it is only logical for both sides to pool their expertise and know-how and to use them, for instance, for enhancing driver assistance systems and thus improve safety on the roads within a partnership.”

Schumacher starts his new job on 1 May 2013, when he’ll join Dr. Dieter Zetsche at ‘Handelsblatt PATHFINDER – The future starts today’ event in Germany.

“I wanted to have a clearly defined remit within the new partnership and I find it very exciting to be able to contribute towards further developments and the optimisation of safety together with the inventor of the car”, said Schumacher.