Schumacher will quit F1, Jordan predicts
Former Formula One team manager and BBC Sports commentator Eddie Jordan has given rise to speculation that seven-time champion Michael Schumacher may leave the sport at the end of the season. The 41-year old German, who signed up with Mercedes at the start of the 2010 Championship, has failed to make a grand impression for his comeback, currently sitting only 9th in the Driver’s Championships.
A reflective Jordan states, according to BBC Sport, “I've a hunch something fundamental has changed. I believe he is disillusioned and thinking of quitting.”
Yet Jordan’s comments have been met with strong opposition, with Mercedes’ boss Ross Brawn – who has worked with Schumacher extensively at Ferrari and Benetton while the driver went on his winning spree – insisting, “[There will be] no changes to the driver [for next season],” followed by a statement from Schumacher’s spokesperson Sabine Kehm. “Michael has no plans to quit at the end of the year,” she says, despite Schumacher’s lack-lustre performance. “Michael is fully geared for next year. When he entered into the whole comeback scenario, he was fully informed about the situation with the car. That's why Michael chose it to be a three-year contract – you cannot expect to come back and win straight away in that situation. That's why he is not frustrated at all. Obviously he would have wished that the developments to the car improved its performance more than they did. But it is a three-year project to build a winning team and he is in the middle of the process.”
Though highly-anticipated, Schumacher’s return after three years’ retirement has brought no podium finish for the Mercedes team, with colleague Nico Rosberg of Germany earning the higher points of the two. Jordan believes that the three-year absence, as well as change in F1 rules, team tension and car dynamics, are partly to blame for Schumacher’s results. “There are too many indications that now give me the feeling he is reconsidering his commitment to his three-year contract. There is far too much movement in the Mercedes motorhome involving managers from drivers from other teams. I have heard rumours that (team principal) Ross Brawn's continuity with the team is in doubt, which would be a huge blow. It's also rumoured that as a result of the lack of performance of the Mercedes car, expectations for next year within the team are not as high as they were at first. The Barrichello incident had an effect – he hadn't realised driver standards had changed so much, and that has surprised Michael. My guess is Michael has probably come to the conclusion that, despite his undoubted brilliance, just like this year he's not going to be able to drag that into being a winning car.”
Yet many race fans and critics object to these views, and Schumacher himself, despite acknowledging that the F1 circuit isn’t the same as it used to be, shows no signs of giving up. “At the end of the day there are physics. How can a 41-year-old be as good as a top level 23 or 24-year-old? But I have experience and a high level of speed. If it is exactly the same as at my high periods in Ferrari I don't think we will ever know. Because when I had that with Ferrari I had been working for 10 years to make that level. This time I have been with a whole new team just for one year.”
Indeed, it would hardly be fair to write off a man who has claimed the championship multiple times, many of them consistently, as well as breaking nearly every possible record. If Schumacher does get into his game next season once Mercedes have put their car into shape, it will be interesting to see just how far the maestro can go.
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