It's the battle that has had many F1 fans salivating since early 2007.

Once Lewis Hamilton made his mark on F1, having won in just his sixth Grand Prix outing, race fans got to wondering how the precocious might measure up against the legendary driver who had retired from F1 just a few months earlier, Michael Schumacher.

While some hoped that Schumacher might be persuaded to come out of retirement, others feared the German was on a hiding to nothing, whether he came back and beat the English driver or not.

Having proved his worth against his contemporaries however, many would still dearly love to see Hamilton go head-to-head with the seven-time world Champion.

Now, organizers of the Race of Champions have thrown down the gauntlet to the 2008 champion, come and take on Schumacher at Wembley.

"Lewis has said that he wants to do it," event organiser Fredrik Johnsson told reporters at a press conference this morning. "It's a question of whether his team will let him and whether it is possible with his obviously very busy schedule at the moment.

"The invitation is open," he added. "We've got a second space on Team F1 Racing Great Britain next to David Coulthard."

The Scot, who retired from F1 last Sunday, admitted that he would love to have Hamilton on board. "It would certainly help me a great deal if Lewis would come along," he said. "I'd love to ride on his coat-tails and win something."

Among the drivers already committed to the event, which takes place at Wembley on December 14, are Mark Webber, Jenson Button, Sebastian Vettel and Sebastien Loeb.