I'm a huge Schumacher fan - but he should still step down

The trouble with the Internet is Google.

Unlike the good ol’ days of newspapers, when people who read your stuff were aware of your body of work and you didn’t have to explain every last thing you put in your column, people these days type — say — the words “Michael Schumacher” into their Google search window and lo and behold one of my blogs of recent days pops up in which I say the old guy should call it a day and people go and get the wrong impression.

They don't think I like him.

But the truth is, I am a huge Michael Schumacher fan. I admire his commitment, his determination, his drive. All F1 drivers have these qualities, of course, but some more than others. In my books, Schumacher is tops in those departments.

Ever since I was a kid, I have admired artists, be it Willy Mosconi shootin’ a little straight pool, or Vladimir Horowitz playing the Warsaw Concerto on the piana, or Christopher Plummer being King Lear, or Michael Schumacher steering a Ferrari through Eau Rouge — particularly the latter.

Now, as it is with many of my heroes (particularly Paul Tracy), I’ve had my issues with Michael from time to time.

Although he was the greatest driver of his generation, and maybe of all time, I howled along with many people when he won his first championship. It appeared as if he deliberately drove in front of Damon Hill in Australia in 1994 to cause a collision that put them both out of the race. We know he drove into Jacques Villeneuve in 1997 in much the same way he drove into Hill. He very nearly put his old pal Rubens Barrichello into the wall at Hungary in 2010 while  “defending” his position. And, of course, there was the parking of his Ferrari in the middle of the track at Monaco in 2006 to prevent Fernando Alonso from going faster in qualifying and the manipulation of the finishing order in Austria and the United States in 2002.

But the positives over the years have far outweighed the negatives. On the morning of his last race before his first retirement, I was on CBC television talking about what a wonderful athlete and champion he'd been.

I particularly liked how he went to Ferrari in 1996 and convinced his old Benetton pals Rory Byrne and Ross Brawn to sign on and proceeded to turn the legendary Italian marque into one of the greatest teams in the history of the sport. He (and they) won five consecutive championships between 2000 and 2004. And with one or two exceptions, he holds all of the F1 records and he probably always will.

I always felt, just like a certain Canadian prime minister at the end of the 1970s, that Schumacher was hounded into retirement, that perhaps he wasn’t as convinced as he said he was that it was a good idea to quit. But Ferrari put out a release that said he would be finished at the end of the 2006 season and that he would continue as an assistant to then-team CEO Jean Todt, so he stepped down. I thought — wishful thinking, perhaps? — that he was being groomed to take over the running of the team.

When Felipe Massa was injured in 2009, there was talk he would take over for the rest of the season and although that didn’t happen, the very fact that he was considering a return to combat suggested to me he was getting itchy feet and a comeback wasn’t out of the question. In 2010, he joined Mercedes. I was most pleased.

I've been cheering for hm ever since. I was cheering for him, in particular, to get a podium at the Canadian GP in 2011 and he ran second or third the whole race, slipping to fourth in the final laps.

I have written about this affection I have for the old campaigner many times.

But this year, I started to get worried. I couldn't put my finger on it but I got the feeling there was something that wasn't quite right. Yes, he still was fast enough to win the pole at Monaco but he was penalized five positions for smashing into the back of Bruno Senna’s car at the previous race.

This is what I wrote at the time:

“Michael Schumacher was penalized five grid positions at Monaco for running into the back of Bruno Senna and ending both their races.

“As is the case on the street, the onus is on the driver following to avoid a collision. Schumacher did not do that and deserves the penalty – probably.

“But Schumacher said Senna changed his line twice – and he did. Watch the replay again, if you can, and I think you would agree that Senna broke the rules. I know, the stewards ruled otherwise, but they are not always right (as we all know).

“But here’s what I think really happened: Schumacher got confused. I don’t think that accident would have happened five years ago. I know it wouldn’t have happened when Schumacher was a kid of 25.

”Why? Because his eyesight would have been better then and his brain would have reacted faster and his reflexes would have been just that much quicker.

“Yes, he still has the desire and he’s still fast when he’s out there all by himself. But that world, the world of million-miles-an-hour F1 racing, is going way too fast for a guy his age and it’s time to call it a day.”

Then we had the situation at Singapore and it happened again — he was late on the brakes and crashed into the car in front, in that case Jean Eric Vergne.

I don’t want him to hurt himself. And I want him to retire for good, with dignity. I do not want him to go out looking like a fool.

Yes, I have suggested that there could be a Farewell Michael, Tour - with Ferrari. He could sign a one-year contract to partner Fernando Alonso and then retire from the team he will always be identified with.

But that’s not likely in the cards. So he should do everybody, but particularly himself, a major favour by standing up one of these days and saying he’s had a wonderful life in F1 and a wonderful career but it’s time to move on.

When that happens, I’ll be happy and sad at the same time.

But it will be for the best.

Comments

[Faizan]

I like the blog well done (first time reader)

However I would like to make clear a couple of things here.

1. Schumacher did try decelerate at the right time but the car did not slow down at all. Before he locked his wheels he had already attempted to slow down, as a matter of fact raikkonen who was behinde him started to decelerate right where schumi did but his car made the corner. Cold breaks were to blame here and if schumi lifted off any earlier then sinply raikkonen would of smashed into the back of him.

2. As far as his reflexes go with schumachers over streery driving style he has to correct his cornering sharply and correct the car in terms of the back end slipping out so his reflexes are fine.., maybe not as fast but quick enough. Plus he has a ton of experience so he knows what to expect and anticipation is more important than reflexes in an f1 car as quoted by button himself recently. Now what I mean is you cannot anticipate a senna moving in the breaking zone at the last second and neither can you expect your car failing to decelerate (although i am still going to say this was more of his fault).

3.) And finally lets take todays drivers into consideration .. Hamiltons incidents with massa .. Most noticibly the one at singapore last year was a poor misjudgement of car distance and button crashing into a hrt this year into a breaking zone earlier this year was a misjudgment too. Grosjean had inherited misjudgements and same goes for maldonardo. All of them make mistakes when you are a top driver in a mid field battle. Now they shouldn't retire now should they ?

Sorry but I made a bit of my own blog there :)

[Jerica]

I believe that Schumacher has earned the right to stay in F1 for as long as he wants. If he's only happy in a race car, and a team is willing to pay him to be there, then why not?

In his heyday, he was the best test driver in F1, a key to Ferrari's success. Any team would be lucky to have him in this day of limited testing, even if the benefits are wrought by a younger teammate.

It might seem absurd for him to be bringing up the rear in a Marussia (or whatever name they'll have next year), but if he's happy, why not? The 107% rule is an easy way to prevent him from embarrassing himself in pre season testing.

[Jones]

"As is the case on the street, the onus is on the driver following to avoid a collision. Schumacher did not do that and deserves the penalty"

See, I disagree with that. On the street you must respect a gap to the car in front, but in racing the whole point is to get as close to the car in front, in order to try and pass. In fact I think the onus is actually on the car in front, to ensure they don't swerve about under braking (Senna), or brake unexpectedly (Vergne), which leaves the following car with no room or time to react. Maybe Schumacher was caught out with colder brakes/tyres in Singapore (isn't that something the 50 or so technicians in the pits are supposed to be monitoring?) - but this is not something that is to do with his age, it's to do with him being stuck behind slower cars, and pushing a bit too hard.

I agree that Schumacher shouldn't have retired, it was clear that he didn't really want to go. And he's paid a price for being out of it for a while, and having to struggle with the unbalanced Mercedes. But he's matching Rosberg now, and I think is still competitive as ever.

[Ken Chevis]

Let me repeat myself. On paper, his resume is impressive, but statistics do not tell the full story. An F1 World Champion should not be measured only by the number of poles or wins. Schumacher has neither the intelligence of Prost, The integrity of Fangio nor the talent of Clark.

[john]

I'll put Schumacher in a top 10, but it would be near the bottom. Most wins and most poles doesn't mean a whole lot when you consider the following:

1 - he never drove for a team with bad cars (I mean backmarker--I realize his first year with Ferrari the car was not a world beater, but it was still a Ferrari)

2 - Until Nico Rosberg, all of his teammates were CLEAR "second drivers" who handed him at least a dozen of his wins on a silver platter. When you don't have to race anyone else with an awesome car like yours, everything is easy.

3 - He had tires made FOR HIM, for god's sake.

4 - One could argue his period of domination also coincided with the smallest talent pool in a LONG time in F1. Just consider the pattern: When Mika was at his peak (98, 99), Scumacher couldn't beat him. And then Mika left, leaving only David Coulthard and Montoya the only drivers anywhere NEAR his level (and they still weren't)... And that gives Schumacher five straight years. And THEN Alonso shows up, the first driver that can match Schumacher's speed, and Schumacher gets beat.

Compare that to the eras when there were MULTIPLE world champions racing, like the current era, or back in the 80s when you had Mansell, Senna, Prost, Lauda, Piquet all on the same track... Or even the 60s and 70s when you had Clark, Stewart, Hill, Rindt, Surtees, Brabham, Andretti and Fittipaldi were all on the track at one point or another.

It's not hard to rack up 90-some wins and 7 championships when there's no one to race.