Michael Schumacher has officially announced his retirement from Formula 1 again, after a rather disappointing three-year comeback. The news is not a great surprise following Mercedes’s decision to sign Lewis Hamilton for 2013.
Michael is not saying what he is going to do next and he clearly struggled in retirement before his return to F1, but it is a sensible move given that he was clearly not as fast as once he was.
I will look a little more at that once I have had the chance to get things in order, having literally just walked into my hotel here in Japan.
Just read that while listening to lynyrd skynyrd free bird..
Epic moment!!!!
lol. Jetset Joe! Damn nuisance there’s no wifi on airliners eh?
With Montezemolo saying, “Fernando should win the world title and then we will certainly not put anyone alongside him who would bother him.” http://wp.me/s2HWOP-419
If he fails to win the WDC title, who IS around to recruit to ‘bother’ Alonso?
Luca DM said Perez was too inexperienced, so that surely applies to Di Resta, Maldonado, Hulkenburg and Grosjean.
Kimi surely wouldn’t return, Kovalainen’s poor performance at McLaren still leaves questions, Lewis, Jenson, Perez, Webber and Vettel are all tied in.
Who is there who could ‘bother’ Alonso? Not the red Baron surely?
I would imagine Vettel would be a bother to him
If only Robert Kubica was fit enough…….
Now watch him win one of the next six races! Good luck to him in whatever he chooses to continue doing next.
His only regret should be retiring too early first time round. But he was leaving Ferrari – and only them and Mclaren were going to challenge the next season. They also wanted Raikkonen.
I bet he would have stayed if Ferrari offeredhima drive but that was never going to happen.
He has just lost some of his ability, but should take a break and get back into F1 in the team management capacity. I am sure many teams would love him to become part of their team given his technical know how and what he brings.
His 3 year comeback wasnt a success, but its not like he was awful – he has just went from being at Alonso and Hamilton’s level to a mid table performer.
To Michael: I speak for many in saying that your experiment will soon be forgotten by us and your legend goes on intact. Now, about IndyCar and following Rubens: may we hope?
We won’t hold your years-past snobbish remarks about IndyCar made on the Charlie Rose show against you!
Anthony – how do you do the winking emo?
Just type the colon and paranthesis, and it appears by itself.
I mean, the semicolon.
I think it is semi colon, then minus sign then round right bracket, ; + – + )
It doesn’t animate does it? That kind of thing is a bit much . .
Hope that worked. I used to think emoticons utterly stupid, but you may have seen I usually write long form, and in short speech it’s often helpful. There are a lot more out there, and for example, I have never worked out how to use formatting for this blog. Some wordpress plugins do a simple rich text editor, but I do like that the comments are simple, despite I would love to inset some paras, or make less important parts of my comments smaller text. They might make my comments more palatable to who wants to page down past them. But I don’t either want any comments to stand out too much, compared with Joe’s article.
If anyone has any tips, especially any that might work to make my long comments better formatted, please tell how.
Separate thing, when I got the subscription version to the all inclusive Adobe suites, they also gave me a license to use a thing called Typekit, which allows you to render real fonts on web pages. I understand they need some tweaking, but over a javascript they deliver what the publisher wants, and it would be nice to have a house font (please, not the one in GP+, that really is something I could write an essay about) and have clearer more condensed type for comments, just as easy to read. This typekit things has been around years, I didn’t know Adobe picked it up. Mucking around the web, though, I don’t see a lot of good typography, instead just lots of custom fonts being used . . incidentally, you can specify the font in order or preference or what is installed on a machine, and a bundled Win7 font called “Microsoft New Tai Lue”, which is intended I think for Thai script, is really clear to read for my older friends. Erm, anyway, one of these days soon, I have to actually work out how to do wordpress templates, for a particular case, and last I looked, they were a ugly mix of PHP and CSS, everything admixed and annoying.
Oh, just griping. I skim programmer websites a lot to keep up with what is the new new thing, and some weeks I feel I am inundated by non typographer’s ideas of “wow I can play with the type, what a great typographer I am” blog posts. (There’s a feature length documentary about Helvetica, just called the same name, that is really good on the classic versus cliche debate, and how hard it is to nail a type design) Only thing I can say I am keen on, since my eyes got older is reducing the contrast on text. Black on white or white on black are straining. The Financial Times’ muted pink is relaxing, in comparison. If I was holed up in bed with a broken leg or something, I’d love to just ignore everything and drink tea, eat bacon sarnies, and have a crack at tweaking this website in gentle ways. Doesn’t take much [careful work] to have a big effect. But this year, well, I was laid up sick, but didn’t get the fun of being able to enjoy the downtime. I’m not totally joking, because things like this are backup skills I try to keep in practise, should ever primary business go quiet. Oh dear, I could be all day, and the internet seems to trend to certain designs that all seem the same, and there’s that other thing, that over designing, aggressively polishing, websites, can make them look silly also. But if you use windows, that bundled font I mentioned is very crisp, my mum does not need to get out her specs if I print with that. Handy. :~)
He doesn’t need to be making ‘another’ mistake by going to the crapwagon series… The series is near death anyway – only Roger and Chip with Jim France backing them and making an offer on the Speedway (with the near zero worth series thrown in) to the sisters offers any hope for the future.
Let MS be. He has a nice place in the Alp’s and a beautiful family to enjoy. There is no need to further demean himself.
It must be nice to know all the answers.
See, I’m not the only stateside dreamer.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2012310050033
I believe MS was still an incredibly quick driver, but age got the better of him in the end and was making a lot of silly errors with the potential to be incredibly serious incidents.
Sad to see him go but in truth it’s the best decision.
DTM calling?
No. If he had wanted to be a German taxi driver he would have gone there the first time he retired.
He has nothing more to prove behind the wheel of a taxi: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/12/12/1197135500022.html
Is it heresy to suggest that Michael’s current results owe more to the relative talents of the current F1 drivers-than to the dimunition of his talents over time?
Compare Lewis, Seb, Nando, Kimi, Sergio, Jenson, Nico, Romain and even Pastor all of whom have outperformed him recently to the likes of Mika, DC, Damon, Eddie, Juan-Pablo and Ralf etc. Not to suggest that the latter were slow, far from it but the former are truly a stellar crop.
Of course the Mercedes is no early 00′s Ferrari, the 02 version of which was the most dominant racing car of all time according to the statisticians. Which if true implies that if anyone other than the the guy with the other one had won the title it would have taken standout tactical ineptitude by the team to absolve the driver. And if the ‘other guy’ is contractually obliged to defer…
I’m being provocative of course. I respect Michael immensely, how couldn’t you respect a 7 time WDC. But the question I think is a fair one to ask.
You’d be amazed by the lack if respect there is in the some parts of the F1 world. Michael was an efficient winning machine but it is how you do it that matters.
Mostly, it seems, from journalists.
Would be great if he saw out his career as a top endurance driver. I first saw Michael at Silverstone as a 19 year old showing a clean pair of heels to Jochen Mass in a Sauber-Mercedes C291. He’d look good in an Audi…
I agree, it would be great if he returns to the Le Mans series. I already like that series a little more than F1. Lots of action, love the mix of prototypes and “real cars” fighting it out (Aston Martin, Ferrari, Porsche, Corvette, etc).
Schumi will be missed, at least by me
Good news, after the assassination attempt on Rubens B. he should have been banned for life. Singapore confirmed he is way passed it anyway, welcome back Jaime!
Well… This was slightly anticipated. Or does anyone think he would have liked to continue gathering penalties in a small team?
HA HA! NASCAR???
For a while I thought he was going to do a Hill/Fittipaldi and really hang around too long.
I think he did.
What does that mean for Rosberg’s supposed speed? Being consistently beaten by a pensioner?
It means that next year Nico will either be found out, or will show he can keep up with Lewis Hamilton.
Or Jenson will get found out
Yeah he did, sad to say.
Phil ,Damon or his dad/Emmo.Wilson or Christian ???
I am sure you know what you mean but I have no idea.
Should have done a couple more years the first time around and not come back.
Pole this year at monaco mean owt? Why didnt one of the younger, far superior (sic) drivers not go faster than this ‘pensioner’? Are you saying michael influenced the fact that he qualified faster than anyone round monaco this year; perhaps you all think he had a secret cheat to do that huh?!
I’ll just say that again for the detractors, Michael nailed that merc, round MONACO, quicker than anyone else could manage, wonderkids included.
Singapore didn’t confirm anything. Driver error combined with unanticipated tire and brake temperature changes caught him out. Yes, he’s had too many mistakes, but he’s also put in a pole performance at Monaco,outqualified and/or outraced Rosberg a number of times, etc. Just because he’s not what he was doesn’t mean he wouldn’t bring a lot more to the table than many of the drivers on the grid, especially when you consider that he could bring a ton of sponsorship dollars to Williams or Sauber, give Sauber and especially Williams a driver who could really be of value in terms of developing a chassis. Sauber, especially, is a team that could use him to help weather the uncertain upcoming years. I am very disappointed he has retired. I have go to believe he still wants to drive, but feels a drive with a team like Sauber would be ignominious after being pushed out the door (I disagree with that). However, it’s probably more likely he would only accept a drive with a top-tier contender and that just isn’t in the cards. It’d be great for RBR to give Webber early to Ferrari and see MS go to that squad. An all German (+Austrian) team featuring Schumi and Baby Schumi. Sure, Michael might get his ass handed to him and damage his legacy by giving people a direct comparison in the future, but you only live once. Who cares about a legacy when you’re dead?
Most people care about their legacy.
Nick, you obviously didn’t hear the team radio after his accident in Singapore nor saw Ross Brawn shaking his head in disbelief. I think that was the final straw.
“Driver error combined with unanticipated tire and brake temperature changes caught him out.”
Unanticipated tyre and brake temperatures? The chap has over three decades of racing experience behind him. How on Earth does one fail to anticipate tyre and brake temperatures in this situation?
Sorry Nick T., don’t agree. He’s had his career, time to move on and make way for some new talent. There’s a queue a mile long waiting for the opportunity to have their chance. Personally I think he’s liability now – another crash today (Friday) for example. As for Singapore, you’re far too kind – it was R Brawn on the radio wasn’t it – “what happened there then!?”. Even he couldn’t believe it.
Bernie has to be right! As per his supposed slip in the EJ interview the other week.
I would guess that MSC has a future as Merc ambassodor if he has not dithered too long.
Dangerous thought: how would things go, without Bernie’s hand in everything, even the press for the silly season?
Okay, I’m dreaming. But the alternative to people worrying who will fill the void, is that unless you have a while without the uber controller, I doubt anyone wants to risk stepping up. Rivalling Bernie is a bad career move. That’s been for so long now, potential candidates have discarded ambitions, and therefore not honing their potential. I hope, should the sad day come, and Bernie leaves us whilst on the job, people might think that a level head, maybe David Richards, or someone with a outside perspective, might hold the fort. This is always the problem with headstrong business founders: when who is so influential departs, I personally think you should get on with all change, not have a groomed successor. There might be a shock, but I reckon it is way better to have uncertainty even, or at least a new person who might allow some new order in the ranks. As with everything I think, I can’t cite much empirical evidence, but if there’s loads of talent, and F1 does not allow for corporate sinecures, well who is good might take a while to realise they have even a chance. I’m just arguing that we’re so overdue for change in the game, I just don’t see how that would happen if there was a groomed and anointed successor.
Side note: Meg Whitman, who I thought was a sensible pair of hands to stabilise HP, I think just jumped the shark. She bemoaned she discovered they make 2000 kinds of laser printer models. (Models, or variations for optional extras?) Her solution: cut them to 1600. Oh, my! When I read that first, I thought she meant cut it to 20% of the line, or to just 20 models only, and was enthused there was some sense in the boardroom. It;s a long time since I risked buying a HP printer, and last I did, there were about 20 models . . Nope. They are going to continue with selling machines where every single screw has a SKU, and having grandfathered to be a HP reseller one time, their ordering system is a sales killer. Stock fell 14% after her speech.
Hope MSC find something he can do for the sport. But thinking as if it were in personal terms, that man could do with a holiday, some travel, and some good books. It’s be very positive I think if he went off to enjoy himself at other things, and then came back to do something supportive. I’d love it if he felt he could write a auto bio, or for that matter write anything. He knows enough of the underbelly of the Bernie era to shed light, and be instrumental in helping opinions change.
I though this chance went away with the appointment of Lauda?
Thank God Rubens’ record is safe for a while.
It’s clear he did not want to retire, any more than he did first time round.
But an F1 team boss is a fickle creature, and cares nothing for who you are, and that’s probably how it should be.
I will remember that wonderful sunny afternoon in Valencia [seems ages ago now] when all three of them stood together on the podium : the three classiest racing drivers since Prost and Senna.
Mercedes dtm micheal!!!!
@arctictroll. Can’t see it. At the time he advised his brother Ralf not to go to DTM, although he did. Michael’s theory that ex-F1 drivers rarely make a successful transition to DTM, appears to be somewhat borne out, when you look at the mediocre success of Ralf, Frentzen, and Coulthard, to name but a few.
If he still wants to be ‘inside’ and if Mercedes want him they should snap him up as an invaluable resource to the factory team. Nobby Haug probably wants to take a breather now anyway. Good luck to him anyway, I hope he doesn’t get bored.
Thank god… he was an embarrassment this time around; and, for me, many of his previous successes are tainted by the whiff of inequality and favouritism…
Agree, like having special tires just for him. He was good, but it would have been better to have less championships but won in a honest way.
well I certainly wasn’t embarrassed by him nailing pole at Monaco this year
Whilst his on track results didn’t meaure up to those of his record books and his performances weren’t on par with his legacy, I must say I far more enjoyed the visinle persona of Schumacher part 2 to the first incarnation. His first F1 career presented to us a clinical, distant man who I personally found difficult to warm to. This time around appeared a far more affable, likeable and human Michael Schumacher. I found myself regularly wanting to see him do well and feeling dissapointed when trouble found him.
It’s a real shame the fairy tale ending was not to be. For this F1 fan, Schumacher’s return enhanced his legacy, making it more rounded and didn’t detract from it at all.
Not a fan of his, but he showed how much he loved racing by coming back and risking his legacy and more. Hope he can get a decent result on the way out.
Perhaps Michael can coach Lewis at Merc the way he coached Kimi & Felippe at Ferrari, Kimi seemed to really buy in to that program and reap the rewards
Excuse me? Oh, I see. You’re being heavily ironic ….
I think that while this comeback was affected by his age, he was generally the same quality driver as before – it just showed how much his previous achievements owed to superior equipment, team orders, extensive testing, and practically customised tyres.
And don’t forget the bullying and intimidation of other drivers, to the point everyone just got out of his way. Montoya, for me, was a breath of fresh air as he didn’t take any sh*t from Michael.
Personally I think the sport was richer for having him back. I’d suggest he tries sportscars and a Le Mans tilt. There was a time when a Le Mans win was as prestigeous as being in F1.
If Michael could grant a wish to a old fan, I’d think he could make a good mentor to someone young. He’s clearly had a personal voyage with his comeback, and he’s learned lots he could pass on, just recently.
A certain team mate of his, who is firmly in the bulge bracket of rich ex F1 drivers I had hoped would do that, but it off trying whatever drives he can, and I think that a selfish attitude, when realistically, there’s no championships to be won by someone older, but not too old to be energetic and involved.
That’s a strange contrast. I never thought I would think Rubens to have left the stage bitter and petulant, and I think many people would never have thought Schumi would go with any grace.
Maybe I’d have sussed that had I been around in person, able to meet and talk with these people, but I fail to recall any articles suggesting the fragile and petty side of Rubens, because there was a lot of sympathy to his officially/unofficially diminished lot in life, and the seeming invincibility of Michael warped the comparisons.
Grace under pressure is what counts. I really am not sure MSC was entirely graceful. Putting RB into the wall, and even the last weekend call that into question. But I have no doubt he has acted with a good deal of restraint, and taken a philosophical approach – this is where I am disappointed I cannot really follow his German interviews, where he is much more eloquent for obvious reasons. He does seem to have taken it all with really some grace, when you consider how many car failure’s put him back this year. That’s a scary statistic of DNFs, compared with his potential and the car’s potential. Being harsh, though, having Michael fudge things and rear end a points runner, like he just did, that’s not a good signal, especially when you need to calm down Pastor M, it’s a bad example to set.
Who knows what went on . . all this driver movement seems to have been slow motion same time as abrupt. Well, deals have deadlines, so maybe all three sides just kind of walked into their respective situations. Whilst everyone was soul searching, that deadline (if there was one) could have crept up and forced things. Nobody I ever met likes to admit they sleep walked into a deal, so I’ll not hold my breath for explanations if that were the case.
thejudge13 has a good link above. I thought the usual outlets were less good at trying to look into things, but I expect it took everyone by surprise, with the travel and time zones … anyhow, good link, thanks.
This year I found myself really knotted every weekend: could Michael make Quali 3? Could he start with a chance? Then, will his car not break, and he not flunk a pass? That had me all worked up, so multiply by some huge number I think, for the man himself. On form drivers tend to allow themselves no time to ruminate over such things, but I reckon Schumi was in fact back to settle personal questions. Kind of like sneaking back into your old school playground. You’re bigger now, and nobody’s there to nick your favourite swing. Well, kind of like that, not a perfect analogy.
If he’s sorted his head out that he can move on from F1, then cool. No more toying with superbikes, please . . but if he hasn’t the wish to remove himself from the life he’s led (this is going to be a problem I think for the younger lot who’ve started so early, and been brought up in driver programmes) I hope he’ll give back to bring up some talent. I really think he’s be good at that, something I’d not have imagined, before his come back.
Those DNFs and mechanical problems will bug me for a long time, though.
Bottom line, for me, having been a huge fan, then fed up with his dominance very quickly, his return made me like him much more. Maybe that’s his legacy.
Rats! I was looking forward to him driving for Sauber. Still, it’s probably a sensible, pragmatic decision. It’s a sad fact of life that the older you get the more your reactions slow – and with the top dozen drivers all within a 10th it’s phenomenal he’s hung on for so long.
He’s still got seven championship trophies to polish.
It’s unfortunate that a driver with such a great record had to be pushed out of Ferrari and now pushed out of Mercedes. He must have recognized that he just couldn’t cut it anymore, why smear your own reputation by hanging on too long?
I guess not having the adulation anymore is a serious loss for these guys.
So true.
When Michael announced his return to Formula One, there was momentary groan from me. Were we going to see the repetitive display of his dominance that in the past delivered him seven world championships?
No he didn’t! And it’s difficult to understand why…
Michael has always been a Mercedes man, racing succesfully in Group C Sportscars before Formula One. Eddie Jordan spotted his talent and tried to sign him, yet Flavio succeeded. (Anyone remember ‘The Piranah Club’?)
His return to Mercedes was inevitable.
All respect to Michael, he will make a terrific ambassador for the sport, although considering his other record, not as a guardian of road safety.
It’s not that difficult to understand why he didn’t dominate. His car wasn’t fitted with illegal driver aids this time round, and Pirelli didn’t supply special tyres just for him. His team mate was his equal, and not a ‘defer to him at all costs’ driver, and the team was built around both of them, rather than Michael and someone else who just turned up.
I am very sorry to see Michael go but driving a mid-field, unreliable Mercedes would test anyone’s motivation to the limit. I don’t see Michael in team management but how about a nice job at the FIA? Oh, and he could save the Nurburgring by taking paying passengers round the Nordschleffe!
At least I can save on my SkyF1 sub now not to mention the hours spent on the internet when I could be doing something positive!
Been around a lot of racing drivers in my time, & it takes a long long time to get it out of their system.
John (other John): “but I do like that the comments are simple”. Love it!
I definitely preferred Schumi Mark II as well, he seemed to do be doing it for the love of it (absence making the heart grow fonder) and some of the edge had been taken off his personality. But then the assassination attempt on Barrichello reminded us all what he’s really been like.
I don’t think you can say he’s been a “failure”- he’s been there or thereabouts with Rosberg, who’s the only bloke in the same car. Or at least not yet, obviously if Hamilton hands Rosberg his backside on a plate then that gives us more of a comparison. He just wasn’t in the best car and he returned during the strongest F1 field of drivers in a generation.
Dear Jimmy, please can you fix it for Michaels clutch to melt on the first lap at Interlagos
Sad to see him go in some ways, but he has hung around too long.
Out of interest Joe, how do you see the Hamilton – Rosberg battle unfolding next year?
I don’t see it being a battle.
I was surprised to see LH’s response during pre-race interviews that he hadn’t spoken to his mechanics since his announcement of his move to Merc. I’m not a fan of MS but from what I know he wouldn’t have not wanted to be touch in some way had it been him moving in the same way.
Curious behaviour from LH , someone who’s been so close to the team for so long.
Never been a fan, for many reasons, but wish him a happy F1 retirement nonetheless
Joe, you’re probably aware by now that not only Schumi is leaving Mercedes but the Abu Dhabi’s Aabar is reportedly exiting their investment in Daimler. Does it mean Mercedes GP might lose a sponsor?
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/03/abudhabi-daimler-idUSL6E8L3II220121003
I believe Aabar has been selling its shares for more than a year and exited a while back, but I think it is still involved withe the team.
Joe do you see there being anyy possibility of Michael coming back a third time or is this really the end of his F1 career?
I have never been a fan of Michael…..but today I feel a little sad that he wont be around anymore. He did add something to the show.