That is the admission of the 41-year-old's long time manager Willi Weber.

"I believe had the third car been there, with all respect to Mercedes, Schumacher would have been promoting Ferraris, not Mercedes," Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo said in January.

In conversation with Germany's Auto Bild, Weber confirmed Montezemolo's suspicion by answering "of course" when asked if the offer of a third Ferrari would have taken precedence.

"The connection (with Ferrari) was and is extremely strong," he said, "and so it was not a simple thing for him to separate from them."

Weber said 2010 with Mercedes is "an acclimatizing year" for Schumacher, with the title the target for 2011.