Michael Schumacher’s former team-mate at Benetton in 1995, Johnny Herbert, believes it is time for the 42-year-old to hang up his helmet and call it a day.
Schumacher has struggled to adapt to modern Formula One, more often than not out-performed by his younger German counterpart, Nico Rosberg, who has built up a 14 point gap between the two.
Herbert is of the opinion that the seven-time champion returned to win, and that just isn’t possible.
“He did not return just to run in the middle order,” Herbert told The Nation newspaper. “His dream was to win again and make Mercedes race winners, but it has not turned out that way and I would be surprised if he chose to continue.”
Whilst he hasn’t lost any of his former skill, according to the Briton, the drivers around are ‘just better’ and have raised the bar in performance and talent.
“The simple fact is that he is no longer the best driver on the track,” added Herbert. “Schumacher has not lost any of his skill – the new generation of young drivers are just better than him.
“It is a case that the level required to win in F1 has gone up and he is not at that standard anymore.
“In the past, Schumacher was able to be very forceful in races and his sheer presence would almost force cars to pull aside or back out of situations.
“But this is no longer happening and you are seeing this with the number of incidents he has been involved in both this year and last season as well.”
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