Michael Schumacher felt “like a 12-year-old jumping for joy” when his comeback to Formula One was announced towards the end of 2009.
After three years away from the wheel of a racing car, the seven-time world champion was back – and to cap it all in a Mercedes Silver Arrow works team.
With Nico Rosberg as his team-mate, the excitement was great: Formula One had an all-German package and a famous marque ready to shake up the hierarchy.
After a sobering 1,010 days and 52 attempts in vain for another grand prix victory, reality has hit home.
Schumacher, at 43, has had his seat taken from him from 2013 by 27-year-old Briton Lewis Hamilton.
What now for Schumacher? For a driver who dominated the track for so long – first winning with Benetton, then with Ferrari – for a driver who was so uncompromising behind the wheel, for whom second best was never good enough, it looks like the end of the road.
Schumacher gave no word on his future in a statement through Mercedes on Friday following the team’s signing of Hamilton on a three-year deal.
A possible move to another team “is not an issue today,” his manager Sabine Kehm told DPA.
“I have had three nice years with the team which unfortunately did not go as well as we all would have wanted on the sporting side,” Schumacher himself said.
“I wish Lewis well and for the team to achieve the success we worked so hard for in the build-up. I would like to thank the team for their trust and all the guys for their unconditional commitment.
I will now concentrate on the next races.”
No driver has made a bigger mark on modern Formula One than Schumacher, and although he registered only a single podium place since his comeback – third at the European Grand Prix in Valencia in June – his contribution at Mercedes is highly valued.
Ross Brawn, the team principal at Mercedes, who persuaded Schumacher to take the seat at the Silver Arrows in 2010, praised the driver he has worked with so successfully over the years.
Brawn, who was the technical brains behind Schumacher’s triumphs at Benetton and Ferrari, said the veteran driver had made an “important contribution” to the growth of the team over the past three seasons.
And motorsport has, in fact, seen a different Schumacher. No longer the seemingly obsessed and aloof driver of old – more admired than loved – but a man who seems at ease with himself and the younger drivers on the circuit.
More accessible, often quick-witted and ready for a joke, Schumi has looked relaxed in the paddock, even when he might have had good reason to be grim-faced, such as this year when a series of technical problems would have depressed any driver.
He now has six races – beginning with the Japanese Grand Prix in just over a week – to land what would be an unlikely 92nd grand prix victory.
Of late, as with his crash in Singapore when he ran into the back of Toro Rosso driver Jean-Eric Vergne, he has had to put up with a good deal of derision, but he has also been something of a lightning rod to deflect criticism from the team who seem as far from their objectives as they were three years ago.
The only victory in their return to F1 as a works team came for Rosberg in China in April. Schumacher is only 12th in the standings.
In an interview with DPA last month, Schumacher said he would dearly love to experience another victory, but takes consolation from the fact that producing a top performance in an uncompetitive car also has its rewards.
“Of course that (failing to win) would be a pity. I would like to experience a highlight or two,” he said.
“But confirmation of your performance does not only come through victories. I have had a few moments since my comeback which have given me great satisfaction, for example if I can get the very best out of the car, even if it hasn’t produced results you can show.”
The last of Schumacher’s 91 grand prix victories came in China on October 1, 2006. His 250th race at the Brazilian Grand Prix in Sao Paulo was his last in 2006 before retirement.
Another era looks like coming to an end in Brazil this year in what would be Schumacher’s 308th race.
“His energy and commitment have never wavered, even when results have not matched our own expectations, and we are determined to finish the 2012 season together on a high,” Brawn said.