George from MD

Do I understand this correctly? Schumacher dropped out of Brazil? Even though he could he still win the race and has at least a little more than an outside shot at the championship? After all F1, his team and his teammates have done to support him? What about the manufacturer's trophy? What about supporting Massa? And last but not least- what about the thousands of tifosi who will attend Interlagos and the many thousands of other fans who hope to see him in what was to be his final race?

If this is true it confirms the worst I ever thought about the guy- an incredible driver but also an incredibly self centered, arrogant and shallow human being.

It would be have so honorable or respectful or noble- I don't know the right word- maybe all three or more- for him to have driven his last F1 race doing his best- no matter where he finishes.

If I'm wrong- and he still intends to drive- please tell me. I hope so.

DJF1

where did you get that George? all the major F1 sites have nothing on this matter.

Bri Bro

Here is what I found on the F1 site.

After his engine failure at Suzuka, Michael Schumacher declared himself out of the running for this year drivers’ title. Mathematically, however, he could still do it. If he does, it will be arguably the greatest Formula One comeback of all time, the German having overcome a mid-season deficit of 25 points - a feat only rivalled by a few of the sport’s greatest names…

Wreck Me Otter

No. All he meant was he didn't think he could win the point championship and didn't want to go there hoping for a competitor to drop out for him to win.

rbennett

I heave read several articles and all they say is Schui has no interest in the WDC anymore...

Of course if Alonso blows an engine in Brazil, the competeter in Schui would come out and his previous comments forgotten!!!
Schui blowing an engine in Japan was just history correcting itself...at this point FA and MS are where they have been most of the year....
Not taking anything away from FA but hoping like hell MS does not throw the towl in before Brazil

Kelly Chiu

Schumacher will race in Brazil, he has stated that while the WDC will be a remote possibility, he will focus on securing the WCC for Ferrari, this was said after Suzuka. I never understood why people think Schumacher is self-centered, he is the consumate team player. He always compliments his team after every win, his team also seems to want to go the extra mile for him. While you can look back on incidents like Australia 1994 and Jerez 1997 as going over the edge, it was something Senna did as well, they were noth ruthless.

This is of course contrasted to Alonso when he had problems in Monza and blamed the team for not doing all that they can... or demanding that Michelin supply Renault with tires that are not garbage.

multi21

MS is going to race Brazil. His comments were one of an individual that knows that the odds of him winning and Alonso not scoring even 1 point is highly remote. He basically knows that Renault is going to play it safe, turn down the revs and not take any chances, especially in the first corner. He's concern is that the constructors championship is more attainable now than the Driver's Championship.

After his engine blew up in Japan, you could tell by the way he was hugging and thanking every mechanic and engineerin the paddock that he knew he was done as far as the driver's championship goes.

But knowing Michael, he will want to send a message the only way he knows how and that is to celebrate his last race at the TOP OF THE PODIUM and spray the bubbly one last time.

earlyapex

MS is the consumate team player because Ferrari is HIS team. He has shown to be the very best at team building and this is one of the his special skills that clearly sets him appart from the rest.

His on track behavior has put an asterisk on the history that he will leave behind. There is no arguing that he was set almost all of the F1 records and will go done in history as one of the greatest drivers in automobile racing.

George from MD

I apologize as I must have misunderstood- I could have sworn I saw it on Totalf1 but could not for the life of me find the article today.

f1rocks

Did anyone see the blurb in Autoweek talking about how much Michael has donated for schools, hospitals and the tsunami? It was an astounding number like $50 million dollars. He is the largest single contributor in the WORLD for the Tsunami relief fund. And he did all of this with absolutely no fanfare or publicity. The only way they found it was for some German Tax law or something goofy.

It's one thing for Oprah, Brad and Angelina to do all of their donations except I have to see their "self serving" pictures everywhere. To hear of MS doing this with no fanfare is pretty cool.

After Monaca I was sick of Michael's crap but seeing him show his appreciation after the Japan race was total class.

I'll be putting away the Renault clothes and dusting off the MS gear for one more race. He showed his class at Japan and is deserving of being known as one of the best ever.

yetis

It was $10mm and I believe the Tsunami situation touched pretty close to home for him, as his bodyguard Burkhard Cramer, and two of his sons, aged four and five, were killed in Thailand.

mitch236

Does that lessen the charitable nature any?

Flying Finn

He's racing and remember even though driver's championship is all but out of the window, manufacturers championship is more realistic and still very much "alive".

Also, IMO the last race will be interesting since other than Renault & Ferrari, some of the teams will have bad results because they can and will have "crazy" Homogolation engines (for example McLarens wasn't going fast in Japan for this reason).

ltc

Unless of course Takuma Sato takes out Alonso when shown the blue flag......

mitch236

Now that would be funny! Sato is untouchable in F1. Isn't it amazing that he hasn't been thrown out?