Goodbye Michael

Well from what it seems, Michael is leaving the sport.
Two and a bit years of fighting, and he looks like he had the best of fun out in Spa yesterday, a very good show of skill/race-craft.
In 2012 he looked like he had the upper hand on Rosberg, but with poor reliability and now shocking performance from the car, it may just have influenced his decision.

In the interview, Bernie being pretty old and forgetful, seemed to tell Eddie the situation as it is, and Michael's response (in his mind "for **** sake Bernie").

Just wished he had returned to ride the prancing horse or drive the Mclaren.

[video=youtube;wlNVnzrOksE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlNVnzrOksE[/video]

His future, maybe an administrative role as a team owner/manager, or carry on as an ambassador for the sport, but I cannot help feel he had so much more to give, if he was in a better car.

What do you think?

 

I think coming back tarnished his legacy a bit. But I don't blame him for coming back though, seeing all that action and sitting on the pitwall would have driven him mad.

 

He had fun, but his main target was the WDC. Sad, but at-least we have seen some fantastic action from him on the grid, in one of the best seasons ever in the sport.

 

Should never have come back in the first place.

He has done nothing to enhance his reputation either from a speed or behavioual point of view. If he craves racing, there are plenty of other series where he could get his kicks without the eyes of the world being upon him.

I'm sure he's enjoyed himself and had fun, but his place could and should have been taken by a younger driver who wants to earn his stripes. I cyncially beleive it was a PR exercise for Mercedes, and Michael wanting to come back into the sport saw it as an opportunity to get behind the wheel, rightly thinking that Brawn and Mercedes money could give him a competitive car. 1 pole (taken away) and 1 podium can never be regarded as successful in 3 seasons.

What has changed since he left is the tyres. When he could burn through as many as he liked in a race he was fine, when the no stop rule came in during 2005 he was nowhere for the first half of the season. He has struggled to look after the tyres since he came back which shows that whilst he may still have the speed, he cannot think to do anything other than try and rag the nuts off it. There is no finesse. Prost he is not. It shows that he is not the complete driver some make him out to be. Alonso is a much more rounded driver in that he can turn up the wick when needed but also can drive to preserve at other times.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing and I doubt he would have come back if he could foresee what was going to happen.

No doubt he still can have a role within F1 as you say, but not as a sporting ambassador as I didn't see much 'sporting' about the way he went about his F1.

For now he should look at the DTM to get his kicks. Close racing, close to home and some excellent drivers to race against to keep him occupied.

Miss you Schuey? Not me I'm afraid.

 

Should never have come back in the first place.

He has done nothing to enhance his reputation either from a speed or behavioual point of view. If he craves racing, there are plenty of other series where he could get his kicks without the eyes of the world being upon him.

-Could be true, but he was slow getting to the pinacle of what was needed in F1, and I am sure around the end of 2011 he was ready for the right at the top. Maybe DTM was not his kind of racing.

I'm sure he's enjoyed himself and had fun, but his place could and should have been taken by a younger driver who wants to earn his stripes. I cyncially beleive it was a PR exercise for Mercedes, and Michael wanting to come back into the sport saw it as an opportunity to get behind the wheel, rightly thinking that Brawn and Mercedes money could give him a competitive car. 1 pole (taken away) and 1 podium can never be regarded as successful in 3 seasons.

-Yeah I agree, he cam back thinking transition of Brawn to Mercedes would harbour no change and they would still be at the top, of course his return has been far from successful.

What has changed since he left is the tyres. When he could burn through as many as he liked in a race he was fine, when the no stop rule came in during 2005 he was nowhere for the first half of the season. He has struggled to look after the tyres since he came back which shows that whilst he may still have the speed, he cannot think to do anything other than try and rag the nuts off it. There is no finesse. Prost he is not. It shows that he is not the complete driver some make him out to be. Alonso is a much more rounded driver in that he can turn up the wick when needed but also can drive to preserve at other times.

-I think Michael said that Alonso was the most complete driver in the sport today, he did rag the nuts of the car, and still does, we saw yesterday that 1 stopping was stupid for his driving style, another arsehole moment from the team dropping him into the **** end of the points from 2nd. I think he does have finesse in his driving, thinking who is behind and in-front, the intelligence part of his race-craft, his driving with Vettel for instance, Johnny Herbert mentioned that Michael seems to always know what is going on in a race, whether it concerns him or another driver.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing and I doubt he would have come back if he could foresee what was going to happen.

- Yes I have to agree. But did he know it was going to take longer to get the car up to pace? (Ferrari was a 4 year job remember).
No doubt he still can have a role within F1 as you say, but not as a sporting ambassador as I didn't see much 'sporting' about the way he went about his F1.

For now he should look at the DTM to get his kicks. Close racing, close to home and some excellent drivers to race against to keep him occupied.

-Yeah, you maybe right, although he can still drive at the very top here in F1, the team he chose to come back to and the situation itself.. he is better off driving with his brother.

Miss you Schuey? Not me I'm afraid.

-A bit of a let down from you Chris as your whole post before this was great, but I think the F1 world as a whole will miss him.
If he is leaving in the first place, if so this whole thread is pointless.

 

I think most of my points I was going to make have already been brought up so I shall summarise,

-Should never have come back, he was already a legend no matter what people think of him
-His come back has slightly tarnished his rep
-I don't blame him for returning, he's a racer through and through.
-I hope he moves into DTM or Le Mans, I think he needs to let go of F1

I still think its 50/50 that he'll be lining up in 2013 but for his sake I hope he doesn't.

 

I think that Schumacher's comeback can be summarised thus: it has reminded us of his genius at times (his pole lap at Monaco I will not dispute as a fine piece of driving) but I have to agree that it has encouraged people to more willingly call his earlier career into question.

While a lot of the blame for the lack of impressive results should be laid at the feet of Mercedes' design team for consistently designing initially fast cars which became mediocre and unreliable, the man himself has, for all that he has overcome, also had his problems. It would be easy to trot out the example of Hungary 2012 again, but there is also his totally avoidable incident with Senna in Spain to consider, while in keeping with the theme of examining his earlier career, there was no need for his aggressive move on Barichello in Hungary two years ago / last year (I forget which), nor his similarly close calls at Monza last year which on another day could have led to another Grosjean incident.

Schumacher has on occasion managed to drive the car at his disposal beyond its expected capabilities. Not to the extent that other drivers (I'm thinking Kubica's 2010 season) have managed to outdrive their cars, but as I say that pole lap in Monaco was outstanding. It does however beg the question of why it took several retirements to gift him the sole podium of his comeback (thus far).

3 seasons in the 4th best car each time (albeit this season it might not be!) but not in the top 8 drivers hardly bodes well alas.

 

I think were it not for the many retirements caused by mechanical issues, as well as his moment of confusion behind Senna in Spain, he would be well into the top 8 and ahead of Nico.

There is an update package for Mercedes in Singapore, and Michael said he expected improvements around then.
But Monza is less than a week away now, they were steaming in a straight line in 2011, and of course we saw this in Spa yesterday. So lets see what happens for him.

 

I'll avoid the general discussion for now, and chip in a morsel of encouragement for EMSC.

Mercedes ought to be very quick next weekend. Although relative to other top teams they seem to be slipping in terms of development, one can expect a substantial straight line speed advantage over most others at Monza, whilst still having a car that can deal with its corners.

Remember that the pecking order for 'fastest car' is, at the moment, a bit like trying to precisely measure the depth of the sea. Almost all the teams are at (or very close to) the surface and the waves each 'top team' team is riding are very similar. Therefore Monza might provide just what you've been hoping for, if Mercedes' drivers are equal to the task.

 

If it is truly the end then it is a very sad moment. I would have loved him to do one more year. I though all the way through the first half of the year he would but Mercedes have kept up the pace and i think that may have influenced his decision.

For me has acquitted himself fairly well. 2010 i think is universally agreed to have been a humiliation and here is where i do partially agree with talk of damaging his legacy, because that year destroyed the sense of invincibility that has always surrounded him. In 2011 and 2012 i feel the team have let him down to mask considerable improvement from him. This year in particular i would say he's had the better of Rosberg and when he's on it like the pole lap in Monaco he's a pleasure to watch as is his race-craft. He remains one of the best "racers" on the grid for me"

Overall i would say its been good to have him back. F1 will lack a little bit if 2013 is to be without him.

 

I feel encouraged a lot actually mate. Thanks for the morsel.
Come back for the topic discussion also.

 

A comeback was brave but (for a whole raft of reasons that don't need repeating here for the umpteenth time) a little foolish.

I look forward to seeing one of the promising talents on the grid move to Mercedes and have a totally fresh driver join the grid.

 

I see why he wanted to come back to racing, but Formula 1 was a bad decision. He should have gone to DTM or Le Mans racing like most of the F1 oldies do, or try to get into WTCC if he wanted more close racing.

F1 has moved too far for him in the 3 years he was out. I still enjoyed how hard he pushed people, but in todays F1, the majority of the moves he was doing were just not acceptable. (The Vettel/pit lane thing yesterday was perfectly acceptable though, it's been done before quite recently).

His reputation has taken a hit from this comeback as well, on and off the track. Why did he not try to clear the air with Rubens when he had the chance? I feel his on track performances have undermined his 7 world championships, there have been some terrible mistakes and poor performances over the past 3 years

 

Goodbye Michael, hello Rubens (well for one race)..
Recent tweet by Rubens: people are asking in case the Lotus F1 team[Renault] called me to race in Monza if I would go???the answer is YES...

Back on Topic, the racer in him wanted the return, but in hindsight, F1 moved (esp. the tyres) while he was away!
Although, must add, in all fairness to Rosberg and him, apart from a couple of races this year (China and Monaco) Merc have given them a donkey of a car, shocking in 2010, not much better in 2011 and more false dawns than a cheap vampire movie in 2012!

Should have stayed away and maintained that Legend rather than dent it with this ill fated comback!

 

Hasn't tarnished his reputation at all as far as I'm concerned. I'd guess that, while not letting on, a fair few are all too glad to use it as a stick to beat his 7 titles with as part of some longer standing agenda against the man.

 

For me he should never have come back, he had nothing to gain and everything to lose. However, I also think he shouldn't have retired in the first place and really he probably cut short his career by not wanting to have competition from within. I think if he had stayed with Ferrari he could have raced competitvley upto 2009/2010 and that would have seen him with the chance of getting another WDC.

 

I hope he stays, he continues to get better and in my opinion he's driven better than Rosberg this year. If he does go then I hope it's because he rejected an offer from Mercedes, rather than being replaced:

http://plus.autosport.com/premium/feature/4755/the-end-of-the-road-for-michael/

 

So pleased about this, I hope one of the Force India drivers gets his seat.

 

I don't want him to go without taking the top step one more time... Just for old-times sake.

I know there's a lot of people that don't like Schuey on here... and I don't like some of his antics (Hill/Villeneuve etc.) but he really was/is a phenomenal talent. He did exactly what he needed to do to... surrounded himself with the best people, the best equipment and used it to full effect. Fair play to him I say.

Personally, I'm gratefully that I got to see him race... and despite some of his antics, I don't think he's the monster people make him out to be.

 

One of the best drivers ever and at 43 still competitive bet Alonso and vettel won't even be racing at that age let alone being competitive.