Schumacher hometown not planning celebration

Michael Schumacher's home town is not planning an official celebration this weekend.

At Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium, the seven time world champion will mark the 20th anniversary of his meteoric Formula One debut.

Michael Schumacher, Mercedes GP

Photo by: xpb.cc

But 70 kilometres away in Kerpen, Germany, Schumacher's home town will be quiet as usual, mayor Marlies Seiburg told the DAPD news agency.

"We have not planned any events because we have found that the interest of the spectators is no longer on the same scale," she said, comparing Schumacher's return to F1 with his ultra-successful initial career until 2006.

Schumacher's first F1 boss Eddie Jordan has featured prominently in the German media this week; not only revealing Renault's apparent plans to drop Nick Heidfeld but also calling 42-year-old Schumacher an "old fart".

The Irishman also contradicted Schumacher's claim that his manager Willi Weber only accidentally lied about the fact he had never raced at Spa prior to his 1991 debut.

"I asked him (Schumacher) and Weber if Michael had ever been to Spa. Both said yes. Taken literally it might be true but actually it was an outright lie," said Jordan.

"Had they told the truth, I would not have let him race," he added.

Jordan also admitted that he only signed Schumacher as jailed Bertrand Gachot's one-off replacement because "I just needed the money", referring to the $150,000 paid by Schumacher's Sauber-Mercedes sports car team.

Schumacher's manager Sabine Kehm told Bild newspaper: "It is good if Eddie keeps Michael in the media constantly."