F1 announcement (spoilers)
 

Taken from the BBC


Schumacher to quit at end of year

Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher will retire from Formula One at the end of the season.
The German made the announcement after winning the Italian Grand Prix to reduce title rival Fernando Alonso's lead to just two points.

The Ferrari star's victory was the 90th in a career in which Schumacher has broken every single F1 record.

He will be remembered as one of the greatest, and most controversial, drivers in the history of the sport.

"I have decided that I am going to retire from racing. It has been an exceptional time," the 37-year-old said.

"What motorsport has gven me over the last 30 years, I have loved every moment of it, good and bad."


It has been a tough decision to not work at this level

Michael Schumacher
Schumacher, who will be replaced at Ferrari by Finn Kimi Raikkonen, has dominated the sport since the death of Ayrton Senna in 1994.

That was the year in which Schumacher won his first world title, with Benetton-Ford, and he added further championships in 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004.

He added: "It has been a tough decision to not work at this level. The day has come and I felt this is the moment.

"As well as timing the decision I though it was fair so Felipe [Massa, his Ferrari team-mate] has a chance to decide his future.

"He has done a great job, good team-mate and he had to decide.

"My future replacement is a driver [Raikkonen] - I was pleased that he was the person and now like to concentrate on this last three races and finish it in style. We have done a big step to the championship today and I look forward to that now."

The records Schumacher has set will probably never be broken, and he set a new standard for F1 drivers with his extreme fitness and commitment to his job.

But his legacy will also be as a driver who stretched the rules to their limit and sometimes beyond in his quest for success.

Controversy followed him throughout his career, and he was involved in a series of incidents that left many observers questioning his sense of fair play.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/moto...ne/5332630.stm

That's pretty crazy. It will be really weird not to see him on the podium next season.

Edited the title so the guys racing don't kill you when they get back today ;)

Haha good idea. Thanks Sybir

Pete you are lucky that many of us did not see that before watching the race, I didn't check the board until after watching the race(for this reason). I probably would have killed you, as Aaron said.

Death would have been immenent, but yeah, I'm glad the decision was made, and I think MSC will go on to beat Alonso this season.

Well seeing as F1 is making sure of it, I bet he will also.

I think the stewards might just tell Alonso he can't race the next GP just cause they feel like it!

Agreed, it is sad that the stewards are taking Alonso's championship away.

Stewards are ruining something something?

Well I'm glad I got the chance to see Schumacher in action at Canada now that he is retiring :D

Alonso's engine failure was amazing I definetly didnt expect that

Meh, it didn't matter. At the next race he's gonna park in the garage w/ the wing pointing out just a little too far and block Massa's qually lap and get penalized "10 spots, or uh, no wait, Alonso's only allowed to drive on 3 tires for the whole race. Also that 'steering wheel' thingy is also to be considered an illegal aero device, and will be disallowed... Alonso may use a vice-grip latched to the steering column if he'd like. THE FIA HAS SPOKEN!!!"

That said, I want to see Schumi win the championship, so he can retire a world champion. And I want him to get it w/o an asterick next to it in the record book "* Victory Sponsored by the FIA".

I wonder what the odds are of somebody punting Shumy in the last race of the year? That would be entertaining all winter!

Maybe Alonso will

http://www.f1racing.net/en/news.php?newsID=129826

Alonso would be my new personal hero if he were to punt MSC out of the title in the final race. Honestly, it would be vigilante-type justice, but I think that's the only justice Alonso can get.

Yeah, it might actually give him greater personal satisfaction than beating him outright. :lol:

I got to start busting out my renault team shirt more on fridays at work, the support is needed!

You might get unfairly penalised at work if you start doing that