F1 legends, identical to some other sport, have all the time discovered it laborious to know when it’s time to depart. Each driver or any athlete in different sports activities reaches the largest stage by having a self-belief that kills self-doubt each time.
That is exactly why one thing that took them to the largest stage within the sport is similar factor that stops them from realizing it’s time to go. In F1, there have been many world champions that had been unable to understand when it was time to cease.
A lot in order that they let that timeline cross them by and overstay their welcome in F1. On this article, we’ll check out three world champions that did simply that of their careers and didn’t time their retirement completely
Michael Schumacher (2012 F1 season)
It may be argued that Michael Schumacher’s first retirement name in 2006 was spot on. He was on the high of his recreation, he’d fought for the title towards Fernando Alonso and was nonetheless thought-about among the best drivers on the F1 grid.
On the identical time, Ferrari introduced Kimi Raikkonen as one of many drivers on the workforce. The Finnish driver was arguably the category of the sector on the time.
📆 On today in 2012: Michael Schumacher introduced his second retirement from F1 on the finish of the season.The seven time World Champion ended his profession with a seventh place end within the Brazilian Grand Prix that November. https://t.co/Pscz6eEqzl
The wheels had been beginning to flip at Ferrari, and Schumacher felt it was time to maneuver on.
Nevertheless, once we speak about his second retirement in 2012, it is clear as day that the German had overstayed his welcome. He nonetheless had tempo and will nonetheless stun the sector by pulling off a pole place lap at Monaco. Nevertheless, the applying, and as we came upon later in his Netflix documentary Schumacher, the sacrifice wanted to be elite, went lacking as he turned 40 years previous.
It is secure to say that the German missed the mark when it got here to his retirement.
Jacques Villeneuve (2006 F1 season)
There aren’t many drivers within the historical past of the game who’ve jumped to prominence as Jacques Villeneuve did in his profession. The Canadian was a runner-up within the F1 championship in his very first season and received the title in his second season within the sport.
Having stated that, there aren’t many drivers in F1 who’ve had the autumn from grace that Villeneuve did in his profession both.
After two years of some very spectacular success, Villeneuve couldn’t seize these heights ever once more. He moved to a model new workforce ‘BAR’ in 1999 and that escalated his downfall. From that time onwards, he wasn’t thought-about to be among the best drivers on the grid.
Villeneuve caught round for a one-off look right here and there till 2006 and maybe overstayed his welcome by just a few years on the time.
Kimi Raikkonen (2021 F1 season)
Kimi Raikkonen is and all the time will likely be thought-about the true enigma of F1. It is because nobody in his proper thoughts was ready to determine what was occurring with the Finnish ace.
Raikkonen’s profession might simply be divided into two elements. The primary half was from his debut at Sauber in 2001, his promotion to McLaren in 2002, after which his transfer to Ferrari to win the World Championship in 2007.
This section of Raikkonen’s profession might rival any of the perfect drivers on the planet when it comes to high quality. Each driver is quick, which is why they attain the head of motorsport, however the degree at which Raikkonen was working was elite.
He nearly received the title in 2003 however simply misplaced out on account of Ferrari’s late-season resurgence. He was ruthlessly fast in 2005 and there have been some mind-blowing drives that season that made him a priceless commodity. The 2007 season noticed him deliver a degree of maturity to his already spectacular velocity and therefore clinched the title.
He was nonetheless a really robust driver within the second section of his profession however he didn’t function on the identical degree because the true elites of the grid.
It was on this second stage of his profession that he moved to Alfa Romeo from Ferrari in 2019. His performances had been nonetheless robust and he was clearly the higher driver than the youthful Antonio Giovinnazi on the workforce. Nevertheless, he was driving for a workforce that had grow to be a backmarker by that point.
A driver that nearly struck worry within the hearts of the opposition was now scraping via on the tail-end of the grid. He stayed in F1 for so long as he might, however it was a far cry from the elite driver who mesmerized the viewer within the 2000s.