It's not as if it is a surprise that
Michael Schumacher has decided to quit after more than 15 years at the
top, but as James Allen explains, the great man will leave a big void.
James has been in F1 for as long as Michael, has worked with him at
various different times and knows him as well as anyone outside Ferrari.
So who better to lead our appreciation on the sport's departing hero...
The curtain falls
 Although
everyone has been talking about it all weekend, it is still hard to
accept that Michael Schumacher has called time on his F1 career.
Our careers have overlapped; I started
in 1990, he made his debut at Spa in 1991.
It feels like a very long time ago that
he burst onto the scene at Spa in the green 7Up Jordan, because it is a
long time - 250 races.
I’ll never forget standing at the top
of Eau Rouge during Friday qualifying (as it was then) with veteran
journalist Denis Jenkinson.
We had no diamond vision screens then
but Jenks reeled off the top five as he saw it, based on their speed
from La Source and through Eau Rouge. He had Schumacher fifth behind
Senna, Mansell, Patrese and Berger and he was right of course.
 The
Jordan looked amazing and it was this 22-year-old called Michael
Schumacher at the wheel.
Jenks said that we should keep an eye
on this boy. He looked like the real thing.
A week later I was having dinner in
London with an F1 crowd which included John Watson. He took a call, I
believe from Eddie Jordan, and when he hung up he said, “Schumacher has
gone to Benetton!”
After just one race the guy was the
hottest property in the sport.
The history
 Frank
Williams said that he and all the other team owners were kicking
themselves in Spa that they hadn’t spotted Schumacher’s potential
sooner.
Ross Brawn, then at Benetton, certainly
had, racing against him in sportscars, Ross with Jaguar, Michael with
Sauber-Mercedes. Mercedes were not in F1 in 1991 and by the time they
arrived Schumacher was...............
Click above for the rest of the Michael Schumacher's F1 history
Expat
Village is edited and published by Iain Williams in Caracas, Venezuela.
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