| So Long Schumi | | Date Created: Sep 10, 2006, 12:28 PM |
 Did he jump... or was he pushed? That seems to be the question as Michael Schumacher eloquently announced his retirement from Formula One after winning today's Italian Grand Prix at Monza. He holds nearly every record in the F1 books, and now trails Fernando Alonso by two points with three remaining races in the season.
Schumacher was a part of the very first class of Mercedes-Benz Junior drivers - a program that seemingly now fills half the F1 drivers grid - then won World Driving Championships with Bennetton and Ferrari. (Read more about his career and retirement here, here and here. And a photo retrospective from the BBC here.)
I was never a huge fan of Schumacher, but admired him as the most successful driver in the history of Formula One. I only began to full appreciate his skill in the late 90s, after sitting in the Mercedes-Benz hospitality area with Indy car driver Mauricio Gugelmin. Gugelmin, a protege of the late, great Ayrton Senna, sat in silence, intently watching video of an entire record-setting lap of a Grand Prix track from Schumacher's in-car camera. Seeing the car dance on the very edge of control the entire lap, the usually well-spoken Gugelmin shook his head in admiration and simply said... "wow." |
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