Montezemolo

[seppefan]

The Italian doesn't hide his disappointment that 38-year-old Schumacher, who won five consecutive titles for Maranello based Ferrari, decided to hang up his helmet at the end of last year.

Yes, sure. Who pushed him out at Ferrari ?

[seppefan]

Quote sourced from AR1

[Viktory]

It was Michael's own decision to quit, or have I got this totally wrong?

[tinchote]

It was Michael's own decision to quit, or have I got this totally wrong?


It was not that clear, as far as I can tell. He was pondering the question, but at a certain moment Ferrari (reasonably) needed to make their moves for possible replacements (KR) and they pressured him into a decision. He might have retired anyway, but he was pushed a little by Ferrari's urgencies.

[Ian McC]

I doubt we will ever truly know for sure the answer to that.

[janneppi]

Apparently MS's pr woman Sabine Kehm has written a book bout him and according to it MS first thought seriously about retiring after he got Senna's pole record as he saw testing getting to be too hard on him. He told Todt about his intentions after Bahrain, but team chose to make it public after Monza.

There is a small story about it in Finnish F1 news, sorry for the language:
http://www.mtv3.fi/urheilu/f1/uutiset.shtml/arkistot/f1/2007/03/511563

I take no responsibility how accurate the information is, i'm just translating from Finnish. ;)

Edit: there's it in English :)
http://www.reuters.com/articlePrint?articleId=USL10605020070313

[pino]

The Italian doesn't hide his disappointment that 38-year-old Schumacher, who won five consecutive titles for Maranello based Ferrari, decided to hang up his helmet at the end of last year.



Where did you read that ? I have the whole interview under my nose and Montezemolo only said that it's strange and sad to see F1 starting without MS but that's life, that's the sport. It's time to move on, and to prove that Ferrari can also win without Michael. He also said that he's impressed by Massa improvement but he's sure about Kimi's talent and we will see that.He also mentioned that Brown could return to Ferrari but there's not rush about it, because the Team have found a valid substitute. Montezemolo is confident about this season, and he's excited as ever before this Australia GP.

[Donney]

It looks like Ferrari have done the right thing, after all Schumacher had to retire one day so there's no point in trying to keep him more than it was necessary.

He's gone, thanks for the wonderful job, good luck and life goes on.

[Ninse]

It was not that clear, as far as I can tell. He was pondering the question, but at a certain moment Ferrari (reasonably) needed to make their moves for possible replacements (KR) and they pressured him into a decision. He might have retired anyway, but he was pushed a little by Ferrari's urgencies.

In my humble opinion that´s the real question of this issue, I think MS idea was decided his future at the end of the season, but he recibed a lot of preassures...
Ferrari must not forget that MS returned them to the good times afther have being a lot time in his dark years.

[Roamy]

The new drivers are just as fast if not faster. Now that Massa gets some attention we will see. Looks to me that dumb ass Peter Sauber had the best of drivers in his stable but was to dumb to hang on to them.

It will be a great test between rak and massa but i want the REDS to kick ass and win every freaking race this year. Give the credit where it belongs ITALY

[Bagwan]

If Massa beats the Finn , doesn't it make Luca look a little silly , paying all that cash for Kimi ?

[seppefan]

Where did you read that ? I have the whole interview under my nose and Montezemolo only said that it's strange and sad to see F1 starting without MS but that's life, that's the sport. It's time to move on, and to prove that Ferrari can also win without Michael. He also said that he's impressed by Massa improvement but he's sure about Kimi's talent and we will see that.He also mentioned that Brown could return to Ferrari but there's not rush about it, because the Team have found a valid substitute. Montezemolo is confident about this season, and he's excited as ever before this Australia GP.

After the Italian GP last year it was in a number of articles and remember MS body language towards Montezemolo after the race. He wanted KR and Todt wanted MS. Also remeber Todt nearly left over the closed season.

[jso1985]

I don't think Montezemolo is gonna look silly if Massa beats Kimi, ok ok he payed a lot for KR but he's paying Massa's salary anyway

[Roamy]

If Massa beats the Finn , doesn't it make Luca look a little silly , paying all that cash for Kimi ?

yes it confirms that a idiot runs the greatest race team in history but can be overcome with great Italian people. It also makes Peter Sauber, and BMW look like bafoons which most know they are anyway. But just the start and if Kimi boots it up there then I will have to retract anything negative I say about Luca. But you know me - until it happens Luca is on my dog list

[seppefan]

yes it confirms that a idiot runs the greatest race team in history but can be overcome with great Italian people. It also makes Peter Sauber, and BMW look like bafoons which most know they are anyway. But just the start and if Kimi boots it up there then I will have to retract anything negative I say about Luca. But you know me - until it happens Luca is on my dog list

Hey Kimi will boot it to Massa but so what, Luca wants to be foreign minister and anybody who wants to be a politician especially at his age is suspect. He does pick good people as shown with the FIAT turnaround which is launching him towards more stardom. Look, a person who is spending so much time on his hair is suspect. OK so i don't have any but it is a valid point.

[pino]

Hey Kimi will boot it to Massa but so what, Luca wants to be foreign minister and anybody who wants to be a politician especially at his age is suspect. He does pick good people as shown with the FIAT turnaround which is launching him towards more stardom. Look, a person who is spending so much time on his hair is suspect. OK so i don't have any but it is a valid point.

Dear friend, you don'y know much about him...he's not interested in politics, he did confirm that a couple of days ago ! As for spending much time on his hair, you would do the same ;)

[seppefan]

Dear friend, you don'y know much about him...he's not interested in politics, he did confirm that a couple of days ago ! As for spending much time on his hair, you would do the same ;)

Dear friend, and you believe him ?