Formula One: Schumacher's Last Race

Ralf Schumacher


Michael's younger brother and driver for the Toyota F1 team

For me perhaps this was even stranger than it was for Michael as this would also be the last race in which I would compete in the same field [as him], as I had done ever since I started in formula one at the beginning of 1997. But I didn't really have time to think about whether or not that would make life easier for me or not from the moment I saw Michael's Falcon jet on the runway at Sao Paulo airport. He'd flown from Switzerland on the Tuesday with his wife Corinna, our father Rolf, manager Willi Weber and a close group of old friends who obviously wanted to be there at this special race.

Luca Colajanni


Ferrari press officer

On the Thursday, the day before the start of first practice, Michael attended a media conference at the Hotel Transamerica and, when it was over, he called for the German and Italian journalists to remain in the room after their colleagues departed. "I just wanted to thank you," he said. Then he autographed their credentials as a souvenir. "Will you make a comeback?" one of them asked. "The answer to that is more likely to be no than yes," he laughed. One of the Italian journalists added: "We really saw the human side of Schumi on that day."

Matt Bishop


UK journalist, F1 Racing

Michael was wrong-footed by a fuel pump failure in the first qualifying stint on Saturday afternoon, so at Interlagos he faced the prospect of starting the final race of his career from an unaccustomed 10th place on the grid. Yet there was no likelihood of his giving up in the face of such a setback. He conferred with his engineers in a protracted technical debrief which lasted until 8 o'clock on the night before the race - four hours after Kimi Raikkonen, the man who will take his seat at Ferrari in 2007, left to return to the Hilton hotel. Once the work was finished, Michael had dinner with his mechanics at the track and was back at the Grand Hyatt [hotel] by 10pm.

Ross Brawn


Ferrari technical director

From the outset of his formula one career, and right to the very end, Michael was always very intense, very focused. His work ethic was the same from his first race to the last, probably always the last driver to leave the circuit at night. That always suited us, because the type of guys [mechanics and engineers] we have today at Ferrari wanted to be there late at night working on the cars, so when you had a driver there as well who makes himself available like that, then it's clearly a huge benefit.

Luca Colajanni

Ironically the intense demands of media scrutiny were running at lower levels than many expected at Interlagos. To a great extent Monza, where Michael made his official retirement announcement, was the big thing. By the time we got to Brazil the sense of anticipation generated by the imminent publication date of his official book rather took the edge off things. There was huge interest in Brazil but not on the same level as at Monza.

Giancarlo Fisichella


Renault driver

Psychologically this was a tough race at the end of a very hard season. For me the key parts of the race were with Michael in the first laps and towards the end as well. He was so quick that it was nearly impossible to keep him behind. The first time he overtook me we were side by side into the first corner on lap nine, then I saw him have a big oversteer in the second corner and I got back past.

Michael Schumacher

At Interlagos my last race was compromised after the puncture I picked up on lap nine when I had just passed Giancarlo Fisichella. I was unaware of it until the team told me on the radio.

Ross Brawn

Michael's race that day was spoiled by a puncture caused by the collision with Fisichella, whom he had just overtaken. He dropped to 17th but climbed back into contention again.

Giancarlo Fisichella

I knew I had to keep Michael behind me again the second time for as long as possible, so he couldn't make up more positions, and I did my best. Eventually I braked very late on the bumps, locked the front tyres and he got past.

Martin Whitmarsh


McLaren chief executive

Considering what stage of his career Michael was at compared with Kimi, you couldn't fail to be highly impressed with the way he drove the final race of his career. He squeezed past Kimi to take fourth place almost beneath our pit wall. I think once he had been involved in his brush with Fisichella and dropped back down the field we felt, "Oh, Michael is back in 17th, so he's not going to feature this afternoon." But he salvaged that with an extraordinary drive which reflected his commitment and resourcefulness to the very end.

Ross Brawn

Over the radio in the closing stages I told him, "Michael, you are just behind Kimi and there are still four cars ahead of you [with only eight laps to go] but, if you can get up to second, we can still win the constructors' championship for Ferrari."

Luca Colajanni

I think that conversation emphasised the fact that Michael was not thinking about the fact that this was his last race but that there was still a chance to salvage the championship. Only on the final lap did he start thinking about the fact it was over.

Kimi Raikkonen


McLaren driver

I really did everything I could to fend off the opposition but the Ferraris in particular were just too quick and there was nothing I could do about Michael. I made the permitted one move to ease him towards the pit wall but he kept on coming. Our McLaren didn't quite have the race pace in my final race for the team.

Michael Schumacher

The race was rather chaotic, I guess that's the right word for it. We had an insanely quick car for my last race. We probably had enough speed to lap everyone, to be honest. We did that sort of, anyhow. All in all, I'd have to say it was a class finale with the car, with the speed we've got. But it just wasn't meant to be for me on that final occasion.