Schumacher to announce retirement?

[Beej]

Yes, Michael.

Dunno if the source's source is credible, but interesting.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/news/story?seriesId=6&id=2575660">http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/news/stor ... id=2575660</a><!-- m -->

[.RJ]

Well, Kimi is going to ferrari for '07..... and while the team has had good things to say about Massa, he does not have a contract with them for '07 right now.

Fred is going to McMerc and I dont expect much from that combo, or Renault with a rookie signed on. If Shumi did retire and BAR can get their chit together, '07 might be a strong one for them.

[G.Irish]

Man I would've rather seen a Kimi/Schumacher team next year than Massa/Kimi. Oh well, Schumi has started to make some boneheaded mistakes that have costed him the championship lead this season, maybe it is time for him to hang it up.

[.RJ]

Oh well, Schumi has started to make some boneheaded mistakes that have costed him the championship lead this season

The tires played a big part of this at the beginning of the year too. He's still the best driver (IMO), I would like to see him stick around

There's not much explanation for the bonehead moves though (like the stunt in qualifying @ monaco).

[Ginger]

Schumacher makes it official:

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://web78.f-1.com/news_View~t~Schumacher-confirms-retirement-~cid~1~id~137166.htm">http://web78.f-1.com/news_View~t~Schuma ... 137166.htm</a><!-- m -->

[G.Irish]

SPOILER (highlight to see)
You know, I'm glad that Alonso's car blew up because if it hadn't, Schumacher would have closed the points gap due to a stupid ass and scandalous qualifying penalty. As much as Schumacher has personally done to sully his legacy I'd hate to see politics play a factor again.

[Evan]

eh....it all comes back to your personal opinion of the incidents that led to the penalty. I thought Schumi's recent penalty during qualifying was bullshit too

[G.Irish]

Well Schumacher parked his car in the middle of the turn so you can't say that was anything but deliberate. Alonso came out of the pits and got up to speed so he could start his last flying lap before the checker was thrown. Massa was at least 100 feet behind Alonso.

Alonso made no moves to impede Massa and the FIA admitted as much saying, "Alonso didn't make any deliberate moves to block." The world "blocking" in motorsport is taken to mean a deliberate attempt to slow someone else down. I can't see how the two incidents are remotely the same.

I don't even like Alonso, I think he's a prick, but that was a bullshit penalty.

[Evan]

Well Schumacher parked his car in the middle of the turn so you can't say that was anything but deliberate. Alonso came out of the pits and got up to speed so he could start his last flying lap before the checker was thrown. Massa was at least 100 feet behind Alonso.

thats a different incident than I was referring to, although that particular incident is hardly as you describe. He came in hot to the hairpin and put it into the wall.

I was referring to the recent race (too lazy to look it up) where shumi got a penalty for passing under yellow during practice (a move which alonso helped along by slowing down)

[G.Irish]

Well Schumacher parked his car in the middle of the turn so you can't say that was anything but deliberate. Alonso came out of the pits and got up to speed so he could start his last flying lap before the checker was thrown. Massa was at least 100 feet behind Alonso.

thats a different incident than I was referring to, although that particular incident is hardly as you describe. He came in hot to the hairpin and put it into the wall.

I was referring to the recent race (too lazy to look it up) where shumi got a penalty for passing under yellow during practice (a move which alonso helped along by slowing down)

Schumacher got a penalty for passing under red. Schumacher passed at least 2 cars and made no attempt to slow down. Alonso did slow up, but it wasn't enough to make the difference between MS passing under red and not passing under red.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-506987919332552387&q=alonso+penalty">http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... so+penalty</a><!-- m -->

Alonso got 2 penalties that weekend, one for passing under yellow and another for swerving and blocking a backmarker (Doornbos I think) in free practice.

At Monaco Schumacher didn't put it in the wall, he faked like he lost control and parked it. For someone who rarely makes mistakes it was a poor attempt to sell it. Look at the line he took, certainly didn't look like he was trying to take the fast line.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3741057503206935720&q=schumacher+monaco">http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... her+monaco</a><!-- m -->

[G.Irish]

Here's a video of the "blocking". Alonso is even farther ahead than I thought.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=yIRAGJZSrcE">http://youtube.com/watch?v=yIRAGJZSrcE</a><!-- m -->