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Greatness in sports is measured on many parameters. Ability, vision and consistency - all these factors ultimately contribute to turn ordinary people into icons. But as many of these champions will tell you, starting something on the right note is different, and ending it on an equally sound note is totally different experience altogether. A career can be studded with moments of glory, punctuated with heroic acts, but to be able to end it on the right note, it turns out, is most important, after all.
When Michael Schumacher ended his ridiculously-successful stint with Formula One in 2006, it was not just a World Champion bowing out but the one who was leaving at a big high. He was still going strong, and challenging in every race. But he, in his own words, was feeling the pressure and not enjoying the grilling anymore. The sport moved on, as it seemed, so did Michael, only to make a comeback with Mercedes GP in the 2010 season. After three uneventful seasons by his standards (he has only one podium finish after returning), Schumacher is finally set to call it a day after the current season is over. The timing, once again, could not have been better. He still remains the most enigmatic figure in the sport, his achievements have not been dimmed by the Mercedes spell and the team have found what looks like a worthy enough successor in Lewis Hamilton. Schumacher started his career as a replacement driver in 1991 with the Jordan-Ford team at the Belgian Grand Prix. It was the beginning of a love affair that would have the world in a spell for the next two decades. Michael kept growing with every race, and developing into a fearsome threat with every season. But those were the times of a certain Ayrton Senna, who was voted the greatest Formula One driver to have lived. In second place, of course, was Michael. Senna's death in a crash, and Michael's move to Ferrari in 1996 changed the face of not just his career, but also the sport. He had to wait for five years even with Ferrari to win his first World Championship but the signs had been there for all to see. Many challengers to his reign emerged, the most dominant being the flying Finn, Mika Hakkinen, but Schumacher held firm and raced hard. He did win his first two World Championships with Benetton, but with Ferrari he won five consecutive titles. He is credited for not just making a career for himself, but also for turning Ferrari into the team that they are now. Before Schumacher's arrival, they were nowhere close to being a dominant force in the sport. But Schumacher was not just a man in a hurry, he also had a plan, and at Ferrari he found the right people to implement that plan.
When he decided to retire in 2006, Fernando Alonso was rising fast, and other teams were giving Ferrari a real run for their money. But he knew that he was leaving behind a legacy that all would want to emulate. Such had been his domination over the years that the little controversies of him being considered cynical and a dangerous driver at times faded into oblivion. Records had fallen, new and much tougher ones had been made, and he was alone at the summit of the sport. From most number of races won ever (91), to most consecutive titles (5), from most wins in a season (13 in 2004) to most wins with one team (72 with Ferrari), he had mauled every record on offer. And as anyone who has followed the sport would tell you, he did so with class and finesse. In fact, such had been his grip over the sport that he finished the 2002 season a record 67 points clear of the second placed Rubens Barrichello, who happened to be his teammate as well. He was no angel, just ask Barrichello, or for that matter even Michael's brother Ralph, who was a Formula One driver till 2007. But he was the best the sport saw, and they would vouch for that, too. Every sport needs a champion who can, when required, become bigger than the competition and bigger than past legends too. For every sport needs a force strong enough to bear the present, acknowledge the past and build the future. Formula One has been extremely lucky to have had a man as driven as Schumacher. He was always professional to the core, and even as he lost, and the world looked for a chink, he showed none. Some thought that made him a little inhuman, but it seems that is bound to happen. For when a man becomes a phenomenon, he sheds his skin to become that phenomenon. Formula One was lucky that a media-shy German did it with a smile. Always!
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