F1 legend Schumacher announces retirement

cierzo98

In a few years that will be forgotten and he will simply be remembered as one of the best champions ever. When younger, and at his best, he was better than Hamilton wil ever be.

For me (and a lot of F1 fans) I will remember him as one of the best and most dominant champions ever, but I will also remember all of the controversy - the black flag incident, shunting Damon Hill & Villeneuve intentionally, parking his car to block Alonso from qualifying fastest in Monaco, almost ramming Barrichello into a concrete wall a few years ago, etc. For all his undoubted skill, there are always going to be question marks over his sporting conduct - that's the lasting impression for me anyway.

Should have stayed retired last time. all he has done is crash or come nowhere (one podium I think) since his "return".

Wakarimasen - spot on. Schumacher has tarnished his reputation with this comeback - the car was not exactly amazing, but his performances this season in particular have been very erratic - the crash with Bruno Senna showed how far his level has dropped.

He will remain a very divisive driver in F1 history - sure, he won the most races and titles, but it was at a time when Ferrari's car was far ahead of any other team, and there was no question which driver they were prioritising during his time there (in terms of car development, team orders, etc). Personally, I still don't rate him as high as Prost, Senna, Clark, in the all-time list, but maybe my dislike of the man as a competitor is clouding my judgement.

Just to add to my point above about Schumacher's legacy - it's also quite unfortunate that he never had a 'great rival' like Senna, Prost, etc did. Perhaps the reason those 2 are usually mentioned above Schumacher in all-time lists is because we saw them in some brilliant battles over a span of many years. During Schumacher's most dominant period, him and his car were so good that he was rarely challenged, the races were practically a procession, and we never really saw him in the sort of battles that Senna, Prost, Clark had. Perhaps if Schumacher was at his peak during the 80s, things would have been different. Still, great driver - questionable sporting conduct.

He hung on just a bit too long and like someone else commented, he should have stayed retired the first time. His accomplishments are awe inspiring but came at a price, the price other racers paid, the price of receiving the scorn for his attitude and in the end for being dumped by Mercedes.

CUBIC, I like your fair and balanced analysis ( and your memory .. ).

Utter nonsense. His brief return has not changed anything. In a few years that will be forgotten and he will simply be remembered as one of the best champions ever. When younger, and at his best, he was better than Hamilton wil ever be. It's no disgrace to bow out like this, and it's better than ending up in a ball of flames trying to prove something that doesn't need to be proven.

It only shows, that in F1 it is not just the driver it is a team effort, at Ferrari and even Benneton he had a very good team behind him.

Dennis let me clarify this.. Schumacher' s first team was Benetton ( not Benneton ).. Ferrari, Benetton, ME... we are all Italians... Sorry.. when you' re away from home names are important..

This season, he didn't have among the best cars, and in F1 that's what matters most.

@cubic. You here too, huh? Wow, you've posted a bunch. Spend a lot of time reading and posting on JT I see.