An emotional Michael Schumacher announcing his retirement today |
The House of
Power is in a state of mourning today after the announcement came that we were
expecting (but nonetheless still dreading) that Michael Schumacher was retiring
from Formula 1 for the second and surely final time.
There was to be
no gloriously romantic swansong at Ferrari. In the end, the head ruled the
heart and Michael decided himself it was time to step off the grand stage of
F1.
Its been a long
old bumpy road since Schuey launched his career in Formula 1 way back in 1991. John Major was Prime Minister. The Soviet Union was in
the process of collapsing. This was the year when the World Wide Web became a
publicly available service on the Internet. Bryan Adams held the no.1 spot for
a record 16 consecutive weeks. And I was still at school. I think we can all agree that 1991 was A Very Long Time
Ago. In life, and especially in sport, time waits for no man.
I am officially
gutted with a capital G. But if Michael isn’t going to race in a genuinely
competitive car again, then with the heaviest of hearts, I feel it is the right
decision for him to retire. Ironically, he was the better driver of the two at
Mercedes this season yet, in their infinite wisdom, they elected to stick with Nico
Rosberg as the number two driver team-mate to Lewis Hamilton next year. Yes,
he made a couple of dozy mistakes this season (show me a driver who hasn’t done
a few daft things in the odd race) but the potential success of his final
season in F1 was severely hampered by appalling (un)reliability and the inescapable
fact that he was driving an absolute dog of a car.
However, in
this second phase of Schuey’s career, we have seen many more glimpses of the
‘real’ Michael Schumacher perhaps because of his struggles to attain previous
heights. He has been much more open, relaxed and engaging second time round and
his comments in his ‘retirement’ press conference earlier today I thought were
very revealing.
“In the past six years, I have learned a lot
about myself. For example, that you can open yourself without losing focus,
that losing can be both more difficult and more instructive than winning. Sometimes
I lost this in the earlier years, though you appreciate what you are able to do
and that you are able to live your convictions and I was able to do so.”
The
overwhelming delight among the F1 fraternity and fans of the sport generally
when Schuey got a podium at the Valencia GP was striking and heart-warming.
Similarly, it was an utterly glorious moment when he took pole at Monaco in his
final season in F1. The 43 year old Comeback Kid showed the likes of Vettel,
Hamilton and Alonso just how it was done around the mean and tight and twisty
streets at the Grand Prix They All Want To Win.
Yes, the
last three years have had their controversial moments (eg. Barrichello in
Hungary) but this is Michael Schumacher. He doesn’t do F1 any other way. So his
return didn’t work out as hoped on a results basis but he leaves the sport more loved (of course there are some who will never be converted but many have been!) than he did upon his first retirement in
2006.
6 more races and then its goodbye for ever...? |
So we have 6
more races with which to savour seeing the Great Michael Schumacher race. As
unlikely as it is given the godawful Mercedes he has to drive, I would give ABSOLUTELY
ANYTHING (well okay, my children aside!) to see him on the top step, or indeed
any step of the podium again. You would have to have a heart of stone (or basically
be a mean-spirited Jacques Villeneuve) not to want that for him.
For me
Schumacher will always be a Ferrari driver and he is without question the
greatest ever Ferrari driver in their long and illustrious history. His return
to F1 in 2009 was such an incredible story and it was awesome just to see him
race again. He would have known the reputational risks in returning to F1 in a
new and unproven car but wasn’t afraid to give it a go. That showed real
courage and that he wasn’t just in F1 for the money and the glory. At the end
of the day, he loved F1 too much to stay away and the opportunity to relaunch a
new Silver Arrows dynasty under Ross Brawn was just too tempting. After all you
are a long time retired in sport, as indeed Schuey discovered first time round.
The 5 year's drawing of Schumacher |
And there is
one very important reason why I will never regret Schuey returning to the sport
and that is that the 5 year old got to see him race. Whatever happens from here
on now, Michael Schumacher was his first sporting hero. I broke the news to him
today and asked who would be his new favourite driver now. The answer in a
flash was Jenson Button (the husband has been clearly working on him!) so
Button Watch will be coming to a blog near you from next season.
So Michael
Schumacher heads off into the sunset with 7 world titles and 91 race wins
(unless a fairytale ending awaits), one of which I was privileged enough to see
in person (Monaco, 2001).
Thanks for the
memories, Michael. You have been an absolute legend and F1 will never be quite
the same for me again.
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