It's Official: Schumacher is Retiring (again)

[dopaz]

Schumacher announces Formula One retirement

Not surprising, after the news about Hamilton and his performance the past few seasons.

What the hell happened with him in Singapore?

[absoluteczech]

pretty safe to assume this was going to happen after hamiltons move. bummer, would have loved to see him get a victory. at least he got a podium once

[Cousin Eddie]

It was good to see him come out of retirement and finish mediocre most of the time due to having a mediocre car. Kind of proved what I thought all along that it was the car that made him the fastest driver.

In comparison of the late 70's when Gilles Villeneuve had the ****tiest car (Ferrari) and literally drove the wheels off it to win.

[ATL_Av8r]

Who is that guy? Ralf's brother?

[.LSinLV.]

It was good to see him come out of retirement and finish mediocre most of the time due to having a mediocre car. Kind of proved what I thought all along that it was the car that made him the fastest driver.

In comparison of the late 70's when Gilles Villeneuve had the ****tiest car (Ferrari) and literally drove the wheels off it to win.

THIS

[ryank]

Of course that will always be up for debate, but in his prime, no one could even come close to Schumacher in the wet and his feel for the limit was always discussed as being scary good. Any one else remember that documentary where they reviewed telematry of Schumi vs. another F1 driver? The difference in the number of steering inputs vs. the other driver was astonoshing

[absoluteczech]

Who is that guy? Ralf's brother?

yes

[absoluteczech]

It was good to see him come out of retirement and finish mediocre most of the time due to having a mediocre car. Kind of proved what I thought all along that it was the car that made him the fastest driver.

In comparison of the late 70's when Gilles Villeneuve had the ****tiest car (Ferrari) and literally drove the wheels off it to win.

to a point. remember when massa was injured and they brought in (whats his name - cant recall now) and he was consistently in last or 2nd to last.

also look at the difference between alonso and massa. driver does still play a big difference, but having a fast car obviously helps

[8v_gti777]

It was good to see him come out of retirement and finish mediocre most of the time due to having a mediocre car. Kind of proved what I thought all along that it was the car that made him the fastest driver.

Definitely agree. It was quite exhausting during the Ferrari years to hear about Schumacher's
"masterful" driving when his car was head and shoulders above everyone else's.

[saron81]

It was good to see him come out of retirement and finish mediocre most of the time due to having a mediocre car. Kind of proved what I thought all along that it was the car that made him the fastest driver.

In comparison of the late 70's when Gilles Villeneuve had the ****tiest car (Ferrari) and literally drove the wheels off it to win.

The 94/5 Bennetons weren't the fastest cars on the grid... nor was the 1999 car he almost won the championship in, nor was the 2000 car that he did win it in. The 2001-2004 Ferraris might've been though.

[PlatinumGLS]

Considering his age, time away from the wheel and what is presumed to be a less competitive car, I think he did reasonably well. I would have liked to see him win one last race but he will still go down as one of the best in history.

Who is that guy? Ralf's brother?

[RQ1]

Some of schumacher career notes: From another site i frequent


1969: Born on January 3 in Huerth-Hermuelheim, Germany.

1973: Makes his racing debut in a karting event.

1987: Wins German and European kart championships.

1988: Finishes fourth in German Formula Ford championship and is second in the European series in his first year of car racing.

1990: Wins first major single-seater title, clinching the German Formula Three crown. Steps up to sportscars, driving for Mercedes.

1991: Makes Formula One debut for Jordan in Belgium, qualifying seventh before retiring. Poached by Benetton for the rest of the season.

1992: Takes first Grand Prix win in Belgium on his way to third in the championship.

1994: Wins title, with eight wins to his name, after controversial last-race clash with Damon Hill in Australia.

1995: Retains world crown, taking nine victories.

1996: Moves to struggling Ferrari and manages three wins on his way to third in the championship.

1997: Wins five races but is stripped of second in the championship for attempting to take out title rival Jacques Villeneuve at Jerez.

1999: Breaks his leg at Silverstone when easily leading the championship.

2000: Finally wins Ferrari's first drivers' title since 1979, amassing nine wins on the way.

2001: Another nine wins and another title, setting a new record for all-time victories.

2002: Wins championship in record time, setting a new mark of 11 victories.

2003: Wins title by a point after six victories, breaking Juan Manuel Fangio's record of five championships.

2004: Breaks his own record for wins in a season, 13, to take title number seven.

2006: September 10 - Announces his retirement at end of 2006 season after winning Italian Grand Prix.

2009: July 29 - Announces plans to make a shock return to F1 with Ferrari, deputising for Felipe Massa until the Brazilian recovers from injuries suffered in an accident in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix.

August 11 - Forced to abort comeback due to a neck injury sustained in a motorbike accident in February.

December 23 - Signs a three-year contract to drive for Mercedes GP, ending three years in retirement.

2010: Makes his return to F1 in Bahrain and finishes the season in ninth, with a highest finish of fourth.

2011: Betters his previous season with an eighth-placed finish and 96 points, with a fourth in Canada his best result.

2012: Returns to the podium for the first time since his retirement, finishing third in the European Grand Prix.

[McBanagon]

Who is that guy? Ralf's brother?

No, Cora's brother-in-law.

[dopaz]

I would have liked to see him win one last race but he will still go down as one of the best in history.

There are six more races, there's still a chance he could win one!

[Cousin Eddie]

to a point. remember when massa was injured and they brought in (whats his name - cant recall now) and he was consistently in last or 2nd to last.

also look at the difference between alonso and massa. driver does still play a big difference, but having a fast car obviously helps

Sorry, to put it in better terms:

As a generalization 40% of the drivers in F1 could do every bit as well or better than the points leader if they were in the points leader's car. This has held true for a number of years.

The years of Fangio, Senna, Villeneuve, etc. are long gone. The cars have so many driving aids now that the machines make up the majority of the variance between lap times. Yes it still takes a skilled driver but let's face it, they're all fairly equally skilled for the most part.

Nobody could do duplicate what Villeneuve, Senna, or Fangio did in a car. No one on the grid. Period.

[Jerico007]

There are six more races, there's still a chance he could win one!

I think it would be awesome for him to just win the last one...

[PlatinumGLS]

Sorry, to put it in better terms:

As a generalization 40% of the drivers in F1 could do every bit as well or better than the points leader if they were in the points leader's car. This has held true for a number of years.

The years of Fangio, Senna, Villeneuve, etc. are long gone. The cars have so many driving aids now that the machines make up the majority of the variance between lap times. Yes it still takes a skilled driver but let's face it, they're all fairly equally skilled for the most part.

Nobody could do duplicate what Villeneuve, Senna, or Fangio did in a car. No one on the grid. Period.

What driving aids specifically? ABS and Traction Control are not allowed....

[absoluteczech]

What driving aids specifically? ABS and Traction Control are not allowed....

this. only aid i can see is the transmission

[Cousin Eddie]

What driving aids specifically? ABS and Traction Control are not allowed....

Apologies, I should've re-phrased that to when he was most dominant in the early 2000s.

I realize many changes have been made to make the competition more exciting (and quite successfully). I'm a fan of F1 again in recent years, I really lost interest during the "Parade" days of the early to mid 2000s.

[ryank]

Here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtaV_cOGgTM

[Cousin Eddie]

Traction Control are not allowed....

And not like the rules stopped him before:

[RacingManiac]

Sorry, to put it in better terms:

As a generalization 40% of the drivers in F1 could do every bit as well or better than the points leader if they were in the points leader's car. This has held true for a number of years.

The years of Fangio, Senna, Villeneuve, etc. are long gone. The cars have so many driving aids now that the machines make up the majority of the variance between lap times. Yes it still takes a skilled driver but let's face it, they're all fairly equally skilled for the most part.

Nobody could do duplicate what Villeneuve, Senna, or Fangio did in a car. No one on the grid. Period.

Fangio was in the best car, when he was not he would leave a team to go to a better car, so did Senna. And Schumacher did drive the wheels off his inferior Ferrari from 96-99. The fact that the was contending in those years when Ferrari was inferior to Williams and McLaren by some margin is still the difference a driver could make.

Schumacher's best car was still a large part from his own doing. They used to TEST 30,000 kms a year. Now they don't test anymore. You can't out work somebody to build your performance edge. The whole system doesn't work the same way it does from his previous career. And he is still a 40+ years old. F1 now though is no doubt much more competitive than the previous era. In the old days when you are 3-4 tenth off someone, you would maybe be going from 1st to 3rd or 4th. These days you can have a 4 tenth gap from pole and you'll be in the teens. The amount of the performance he might have lost through age or preparation is tough to make up. On top of a pretty under-performing Mercedes team....

Anyway it was probably a good time to call it quit. He is making much more mistake than he was used to, and even if he is now as competitive as he ever was with Rosberg in this 3 years pace wise, the team is still pretty not going to be a front runner consistently...and it'll just be terrible if he has to drive for Sauber or something...

[612Scag]

to a point. remember when massa was injured and they brought in (whats his name - cant recall now) and he was consistently in last or 2nd to last.

also look at the difference between alonso and massa. driver does still play a big difference, but having a fast car obviously helps

I think you're referring to Giancarlo Fisichella????

Bottom line: Schumacher had an unparallelled talent (in his prime). True, the car played a huge roll in many cases (seasons), but there were years in there that he made some masterful drives in a fairly sh***y car.

Good point about Massa/Fisichella and now Alonso/Massa. Still a driver's sport! Not a computer driving around the track...

I was thrilled to see him come back and work with Ross Brawn once more, but it has been painful and depressing watching him perform at a mediocre level after so many dominant years. Still, Rosberg hasn't done much better in that car...

[Cousin Eddie]

Fangio was in the best car, so did Senna.

Pardon me? Monaco 1984? Best car?

I don't think you can dismiss Fangio as it being the "best car". There are drivers who win by mediocre margins with the car barely twitching (Schumacher) and then there are drivers who slide, twitch, near miss and fight their way to the finish by a large margin using every ounce of tire/throttle the car had. (Villeneuve/Fangio/Senna). Go watch a video of Senna trying to find traction mid corner on and off the throttle.

Villeneuve was ****ing crazy and it ended up killing him. He wasn't happy unless he found the limit and stepped over it. His theory was if you didn't find the limit how did you know how fast you could go?

The cars Fangio drove were extremely challenging. To say they were "the best" is a moot point. He drove the wheels off them and was head and shoulders above the competition, with a reputation as "The best driver of all time" that is still held in high regard 60 years later. 1957 German Grand Prix comeback at the Nurburgring. The "car" didn't make up that gap.

I can't think of a single "masterful" drive that Schumacher had that made me say "holy ****, did he actually just pull that off?" He was a sore loser (running Villeneuve off track) and carried too inflated of an ego IMO.

I'm not one to base who the best driver was on a bunch of trophies or points totals. That's like saying the best hockey player of all time was Wayne Gretzky. That's hugely up for debate as the guy never got so much as bumped into during the majority of his career, politics played a huge role.

When we discuss a guy like Villeneuve we're talking about a legendary driver in the sport. A legendary driver who had 6 wins. Hardly dominant, hardly something to even brag about. Raplh Schumacher had 6 ****ing wins and he's nobody.

These guys are legends and excellent drivers because of how they drove. Not their points totals, not their years of championships. Simply how they drove the car.

[Cousin Eddie]

Some of the many reasons why I didn't like him, poor sportsmanship. A true "Champion" wouldn't resort to such B.S. to win.

1994: After hitting the Adelaide wall and terminally damaging his car, smashes into Damon Hill to secure his first world title.

1997: Cynically slams into Jacques Villeneuve in a failed bid to win the world championship. Is stripped of his second place in the championship by the FIA.

2002: Takes advantage of Ferrari team orders to pass team-mate Rubens Barrichello yards from the chequered flag in Austria for a victory greeted by boos from the crowd.

2002: Inexplicably attempted to engineer a dead heat at Indianapolis, only to lose out to Barrichello by 0.011 seconds.

2006: Parks his Ferrari across the track in Monaco in an attempt to disrupt qualifying and retain pole position. Sent to the back of the grid by stewards.

[RacingManiac]

Pardon me? Monaco 1984? Best car?

I don't think you can dismiss Fangio as it being the "best car". There are drivers who win by mediocre margins with the car barely twitching (Schumacher) and then there are drivers who slide, twitch, near miss and fight their way to the finish by a large margin using every ounce of tire/throttle the car had. (Villeneuve/Fangio/Senna). Go watch a video of Senna trying to find traction mid corner on and off the throttle.

Villeneuve was ****ing crazy and it ended up killing him. He wasn't happy unless he found the limit and stepped over it. His theory was if you didn't find the limit how did you know how fast you could go?

The cars Fangio drove were extremely challenging. To say they were "the best" is a moot point. He drove the wheels off them and was head and shoulders above the competition, with a reputation as "The best driver of all time" that is still held in high regard 60 years later. 1957 German Grand Prix comeback at the Nurburgring. The "car" didn't make up that gap.

I can't think of a single "masterful" drive that Schumacher had that made me say "holy ****, did he actually just pull that off?" He was a sore loser (running Villeneuve off track) and carried too inflated of an ego IMO.

Cars don't slide anymore, tires don't work that way. Using that to judge if the car is hard or easy to drive is hardly the way to look at things. No doubt cars back then twitches and moves a lot more. But they also don't corner at 3+G and makes downforce.

And yes you can have flashes of genius in a crappy car for memorable drives. But you don't pull together a championship run. Senna was not a title contender that 1984 season neither. 96's Ferrari was a POS, Irvine finished less than 50% of the races. MSC had 5 DNF, 1 DNS that year. He had 4/16 poles with that car scored 4 wins, of the 11 races that was finished, he finished outside of podium twice and finished 3rd in the championship. That year's winning Williams had the rest of the poles and wins(bar Panis in Monaco), and DH and JV finished 1-2.

[RacingManiac]

Some of the many reasons why I didn't like him, poor sportsmanship. A true "Champion" wouldn't resort to such B.S. to win.

Because Senna never ran Prost off the road on purpose...right.

[vortexblue]

to a point. remember when massa was injured and they brought in (whats his name - cant recall now) and he was consistently in last or 2nd to last.

Luca Badoer. Or as most called him "Look How Bad U R"

[Cousin Eddie]

Cars don't slide anymore, tires don't work that way. Using that to judge if the car is hard or easy to drive is hardly the way to look at things. No doubt cars back then twitches and moves a lot more. But they also don't corner at 3+G and makes downforce.

How is it hardly a way to look at things? If a car is planted to the road it's easier to drive fast. If it has more downforce it's easier to drive fast. If it has more neutral balance, guess what, it's easier to drive fast.

I can hop in my 74 Datsun Z and then hop in my dad's new Nissan 370Z and see the obvious ability to corner faster and put down a faster lap. That's a given.

How does that discredit anything I said about them being great drivers?

As cars progress we may never see that kind of excitement or driver skill again in motorsports. A lot of the "seat of the pants feel" for a car has been shadowed by technology. I mean F1 is the mecca of technology in motorsports and we should progress forward.

I'll put it this way. I, myself, do not think any F1 driver today could hop in the very cars that those men drove (Fangio/Senna/Villeneuve) and make the car dance the same dance on the edge the way those drivers did.

It's all a matter of opinion, i'm not really arguing anything. You can't argue that he won championships, he did. It's not that he isn't a good driver, he is. I just don't think he's the best of all time or really anything that special.

[Cousin Eddie]

Because Senna never ran Prost off the road on purpose...right.

That was actually up to serious debate but we can leave it at that.

[Ross1013]

I can't think of a single "masterful" drive that Schumacher had that made me say "holy ****, did he actually just pull that off?"

Spain 1996.

[Cousin Eddie]

Because Senna never ran Prost off the road on purpose...right.

And many people see it as the opposite. Comparison of Prost's early turn-in at the end of the video. You have to know when you're beat on the inside. If there's no room to make the turn, you don't make the turn. Senna was NEXT to him before the corner. He didn't dive bomb him and hit him mid corner, Prost turned into Senna. BTW, I enjoy the healthy F1 debate and banter.

[RacingManiac]

I'll put it this way. I, myself, do not think any F1 driver today could hop in the very cars that those men drove (Fangio/Senna/Villeneuve) and make the car dance the same dance on the edge the way those drivers did.

At the same token I can't see Fangio or Gilles be able to drive the current cars today neither. Senna probably would be fine, but really he is already in the modern era. The technique and the handling of the vehicle from the old cars to new cars are not exactly the same neither. The advent of downforce alters the technique required to carry speed through the corner and the modern wide slicks makes the transition from grip to slip much finer. Its just not the same sports. Even looking at the last few years, the technique required from driving a blown diffuser car compare to ones without it is different also, and some driver suffered more than others(see Vettel v Webber). The winning driver of a given period are the ones thats most adapt to the given circumstances. You can't just say that the modern drivers don't have the same ability anymore, if all their career leading up to that point was in a downforce car with wide slicks and carbon brake. Just like you can't stick a Fangio in today's car if he doesn't even have the understanding of what downforce is.

[RacingManiac]

And many people see it as the opposite. Comparison of Prost's early turn-in at the end of the video. You have to know when you're beat on the inside. If there's no room to make the turn, you don't make the turn. Senna was NEXT to him before the corner. He didn't dive bomb him and hit him mid corner, Prost turned into Senna. BTW, I enjoy the healthy F1 debate and banter.

I can't see Youtube at work, so I don't know if this is the crash at the Chicane, or the turn one of the year after....because Senna DID run Prost off the road in turn 1 the year after....

[ROCK AND ROLL CHEVY]

No, Cora's brother-in-law.

I bet you'd like to "check her oil level" with your dipstick.