Flavio qui incite MS à rempiler comme si la venue de Kimi chez Renault en dépendait :
.:: Flav: Schu won't retire yet ::.
Tuesday, 25, July, 2006, 16:19
Flavio Briatore is convinced that Michael Schumacher will carry on racing in to 2007, as he believes the German’s competitive spirit is as strong as ever.
The seven-time world champion’s Ferrari contract expires at the end of 2006 and although it looks as though he will extend his Formula 1 career by at least one more season, the 37-year-old has yet to announce his future plans.
But in an F1 Racing magazine feature asking leading Formula 1 figures the question ‘What motivates Michael?’, the Renault boss, who oversaw Schumacher’s first two word titles at Benetton in 1994 and 1995, says he can’t see his former protégé retiring just yet.
“Competition and racing,” he said when asked what motivates Michael.
“It's in his blood and I think he thinks of winning all the time.
"He's still very good and I don't think he'll retire at the end of the year.
“He won't just get out of bed in Switzerland with nothing to do."
The German’s Ferrari team-mate, Felipe Massa was another man to be asked the question and his response also suggests that Schumacher’s love for the sport is still very much intact.
“I haven’t been in the team for long, but I’ve been able to see that he loves winning, loves being at the front and loves being competitive,” he said.
“And he’s still in great shape. This year, Ferrari aren’t as fast as they were in 2004, but he still takes the fight to Renault.
Schumacher had hinted that he would probably bring the curtain down on his illustrious career had he been forced to endure another miserable season like 2005 this time around.
But Ferrari’s return to winning ways and his championship battle with Fernando Alonso are exactly the sort of scenarios that has motivated the seven-time champion for the last six years, according to his spokeswoman, Sabine Kehm.
“He has been doing F1 for fun, even if that sounds strange, since 2000,” she said.
“That was the championship he desperately wanted.
“Okay, he wanted the others, too, but he just loves the fact that he’s still competitive and able to fight for the championship.”
She also added that the controversial Monaco ‘parking’ incident and the furore that followed it would not be the sort of thing that drove the German out of the sport early.
“Monaco, of course, was a big thing but he knows there’s no point in dwelling on it, or he’d lose focus,” she said.
“He was over it by the next race the next day. Michael is a fighter.”
