It"s a real shame that...

It"s a real shame that the favourite for next year’s championship has just retired. And no, I’m not going to start looking at Michael Schumacher through scarlet-tinted spectacles. He did some bad things during his career, and although he was a fantastic driver, he was a far from great sportsman. What he was brilliant at was never knowing when he was beaten. And he proved that for the umpteenth time on Sunday.

His Brazilian exploits were the perfect way to sign off a great career, if only because they showed up the likes of Rubens Barrichello and Giancarlo Fisichella to be the limp makeweights they’ve become. Thankfully, there are drivers like Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen to take Schuey’s mantle into a new era. And while Brazilian GP winner Felipe Massa is one of the most improved drivers of 2006, I can’t see him standing in the way of Raikkonen next year.

Consider this. The Ferrari’s reliability is bulletproof, the Finn is a proven winner, and the Italian squad knows all there is to know about racing on Bridge-stone tyres. And that will be key. Next season, there’s only going to be one tyre, and it isn’t the Michelin rubber that Renault, McLaren, Honda or BMW are using. In fact, the only teams starting 2007 with a similar advantage to Ferrari are Toyota and Williams – and they won’t trouble the Maranello outfit.

The sole driver who might give Kimi something to think about is Alonso. He’ll be taking the number one to McLaren, but starting the season on the back foot in a team that hasn’t won a race for more than 12 months. So the shame of it is that Schuey’s retirement is robbing us of a titanic struggle for the 2007 title between top racers in identical cars.

Meanwhile, we"ve just heard F1 Ferrari team boss Jean Todt has been made as Chief Executive Officer of Ferrari S.p.A.