Our commentator said yesterday Ferrari didn't want Schumacher to continue for 2007 so they pushed him into retirement. Is that true? any reliable source or something?
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I thought raikkonen arrived in 2007?munudeges wrote:It's pretty well known amongst the paddock that Schumacher didn't actually want to retire, but Ferrari were naturally looking to the future at that point. He was told point blank that Raikkonen was coming in 2005 and he wouldn't get preferential treatment over him as a result. Schumacher chose to retire rather than face it.
Jean Todt has revealed he did not attempt to sign Fernando Alonso during his time as Ferrari boss due to an earlier betrayal.
The Frenchman, who is now the FIA president, reigned over Ferrari from the 90s until 2008.
At the end of 2006, he chose Kimi Raikkonen as the retiring 'number 1' Michael Schumacher's replacement, even though Spaniard Alonso - now Ferrari's long term hope - was also on the market.
Alonso was only subsequently brought to Ferrari by Todt's successor Stefano Domenicali, and Todt has now told Italy's La Gazzetta dello Sport exactly why.
He recalls 2000, the year before Alonso - then an impressive fresh-faced F3000 driver - made his F1 debut with Minardi.
"We (Ferrari) reached an agreement in principle with Fernando, but then (Flavio) Briatore signed him," said Todt.
"It was after his victory in F3000 in Spa when we got in contact with his manager, who came to my home in Maranello, and we agreed.
"It (Alonso signing with Briatore) was something I took badly and after that there was no more contact."
The rest - Alonso's two titles with Renault, his ill-fated switch to McLaren and finally his debut as a Ferrari driver in 2010 - is history.
Alonso's manager in 2000, Adrian Campos, confirms: "Ferrari told us to wait and not to sign with anyone else, but Briatore walked through the door with a contract under his arm."
Yep, sorry got mixed upPup wrote:I think you're mixing the Alonso story up with the Kimi one. It was Alonso that Todt could have signed instead of Kimi, but didn't, because of his earlier betrayal...
I love it when people come out with that one, it always makes me laughmunudeges wrote:It's pretty well known amongst the paddock.
I had always thought that Schumacher remained simply because of his alligence to Todt, and Todt's alligence to him. But I see he and Todt were simply trying to work out an arrangement for him to stay. That was all really strange times at Ferrari with Brawn leaving the year earlier. Along with MS and Todt he was so much a part of that Ferrari "dream team" too.WhiteBlue wrote:...Schumacher by the way remained with Ferrari as a consultant until it became clear that Todt could not recover the situation...