Handing the baton on to Lewis Hamilton, Michael Schumacher used the second retirement speech of his career to highlight the formidable task that awaits his replacement at Mercedes.
That Schumacher decided to call it a day is no surprise. Ever since Mercedes received positive vibes from Hamilton that a move from McLaren was possible, the German team had been working on a dignified exit plan.
The agreed line was that Schumacher cannot offer the long-term commitment that Hamilton can, which was hardly a revelation since the seven times world champion will be 44 by the time next season comes around.
LOST HIS MOJO
More plausible was that, without a win and just one podium to his name during his second coming, Schumacher had simply lost his mojo and Hamilton’s arrival had only served to speed up the decision-making process.
“The special moment is that the team have found an option with Lewis that helped me find the decision, because there was an option for me to retire at an earlier stage,” said Schumacher, coming as close as could be expected to saying he had been pushed.
Admitting he had failed to live up to his standards, Schumacher conceded: “I said at the end of 2009 that I want to be measured by my success, and this is why I had a lot of criticism in the past three years which partly was justified. It is without doubt that we did not achieve our goal to develop a world championship-fighting car within those years.”
That challenge, from next season, rests in Hamilton’s hands. But the 27-year-old admitted he will be largely behind McLaren next year.
One of the men Hamilton will be chasing will be his replacement Sergio Perez.
“I think he will surprise us all,” he said. - Daily Mail