While the rest of us contemplate Nico Rosberg, Adrian Sutil or Heikki Kovalainen as potential teammates to Lewis Hamilton at McLaren next season, Patrick Head has suggested that a possible alternative could be seven-time world Champion, Michael Schumacher.

Talking to the Daily Mail, the Englishman said: "Michael's still fit, and probably bored. I suspect he has found sitting on the pit wall dull.

"Ron Dennis has proved to be a lateral thinker, which is why I am musing over the idea that he might look to Schumacher".

The German retired at the end of 2006, though there are some who still believe he was forced into the move by Luca di Montezemolo in order to make way for Kimi Raikkonen's arrival.

Despite the fact that the Finn won the championship, and Ferrari completed the 'double', there have been times during 2007 when Schumacher's experience was clearly missed.

Although he attended several races, it was never clear what his exact role was, if any, and it was usually at races he attended that Kimi Raikkonen failed to impress.

There was talk towards the end of 2006 that he was having a problem maintaining his fitness, especially in light of the challenge presented by some of the upcoming drivers, however, his skill and determination was there for all the world to see right up to his last race.

While Schumacher perfectly fits the bill as a "team player", and his return to the sport would delight his many fans, not to mention Bernie Ecclestone, the fact is that the German has little to gain from returning to F1, but plenty to lose.

Nonetheless, it's a mouth-watering prospect.