Former Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has revealed Michael Schumacher agreed to drive for the Scuderia in 2009 before later having it call it off.

Despite having been retired from racing in Formula 1 since the end of 2006, the German legend was still closely associated with the Italian team as he took on an advisory role, particularly working well with Felipe Massa.

But when the Brazilian suffered a major head injury during the Hungarian GP counting him out for the rest of the season, Di Montezemolo turned immediately to the seven-time world champion to replace him.

Following some initial hesitation, Schumacher would accept the opportunity and even test an F1 car again at Ferrari's test track at Mugello only to have to regretfully step back from the arrangement later on.

“I was very sad when Felipe had this terrible accident in Budapest, so I asked Michael to come to my office,” Di Montezemolo reminisced at the opening of a new exhibition of Schumacher's cars in Cologne.

“I said to him, ‘Listen Michael, you have to do that for me and for Ferrari – you have to come back’.

“For half an hour he could not be persuaded but after an hour he said: ‘Okay, I can not refuse this’.

“He went into the racing department and was full of enthusiasm, like a kid or a young driver,” he added.

“Unfortunately his doctor had to stop him from returning. He said [Michael] was not ready, which was bad for all of us.”

It was the process of recovering from injuries sustained in a motorcycle crash which led to the recommendation that he did not race in 2009.

His fire had clearly been relit though, as months later he left Ferrari and joined Ross Brawn as part of the new Mercedes project in 2010, as the German manufacturer took over the remains of the championship-winning Brawn GP outfit.

Indeed, now when many consider the success that Lewis Hamilton has had since 2014, many consider the groundwork done by Schumacher in his three years until 2012 as an important part of it.

As for who eventually did take over from Massa for the final races of 2009, tester Luca Badoer would compete at Valencia and Spa before Giancarlo Fisichella switched from Force India later on.