Ahead of the 2009 Race of Champions, 7-time World Champion Michael Schumacher has admitted that plans to make a come back this season were based on emotions as opposed to logic.

As the seriousness of the injury sustained by Felipe Massa during qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix became clear there was widespread speculation as to who Ferrari would recruit to replace him. With all manner of drivers names being mooted, including Fernando Alonso, the Maranello outfit turned to Schumacher, the driver who won five titles with the team. However, following a couple of tests in a Kart, and ahead of an outing in a 2007 F1 car, the German opted to withdraw citing a neck injury sustained in a motor cycle accident.

Today, speaking in Shanghai, ahead of the Race of Champions, Schumacher gave a little more insight into his original decision to return to the cockpit.

"It wasn't really a rational decision, it was an emotional decision," he admitted, "at the time, I thought 'why not, it's part-time, it could be funny.'"

The German revealed that the final decision to return to F1 followed a meeting with Ferrari boss Luca di Montezemolo.

"Having the meeting with him I looked at all the points, in particular that it was Felipe, who is like a brother to me," said the German. "Part of the reason I retired was to hand over the car to him because he deserved to stay in a team with a top car. So taking the fact that it was him, having the accident, having to suffer, it was very easy to convince myself, so I finally said 'yes, I will try'."

Asked, in the light of continued speculation, whether a return to F1 is still possible, Schumacher admitted: "Right now, no."