General
Former manager Schumacher: "His return in F1 was the stupidest thing he could do"
- GPblog.com
When Michael Schumacher announced in 2006 that he would stop at Ferrari, few expected him to return to the German Mercedes in Formula 1 in 2010. At Mercedes, Schumacher ended up driving for 3 seasons, but was unable to beat his teammate, Nico Rosberg, in any of the three. His then manager, Willi Weber, looks back on that decision and indicates that it was not the right one.
"With all due respect, but in hindsight that was the stupidest thing he could do", Weber looks back on the decision to return to Formula 1 with Mercedes. "He told me he was bored, he had to drive. I then told him that he could only lose. "You've already won everything, you're on the highest pedestal there is". But he didn't respond," Weber explained at Motorsport-Total.com.
Good friends remained
Weber indicates that the decision to return was not the right one in many areas and that he saw it go wrong before. "I wished him all the best then, but also knew that it would probably go wrong." Weber's personal situation also led to the decision that Weber and Schumacher broke up. "I didn't feel like packing my bags for an F1 weekend after three years. We finally said goodbye as friends", after which Schumacher started his second career in F1.
Schumacher finally managed to get one podium for Mercedes, in Valencia, but in general it was Rosberg who did the service and got the points for the German team. It was therefore done after 2012 for Schumacher in Formula 1. In the end he maintained good contact with Weber. "We kept seeing each other a lot and we had a lot of conversations on the phone after his farewell", Weber concludes.