Michael Schumacher's position as a Formula One icon, the most successful driver in the history of the sport, is assured.
MONZA: Michael Schumacher's position as a Formula One icon, the most successful driver in the history of the sport, is assured.
Whether Ferrari's seven-times world champion is also the greatest is another question, one guaranteed to trigger endless debate long after the ever-controversial German has finally left the stage. It is one that has dogged Schumacher ever since he overtook the late Juan Manuel Fangio's record of five championships in 2003.
For more than a decade, Formula One has been divided by the behaviour of a man blessed with sublime talents and some all too obvious failings. He is one of the greats, a figure who transcends his sporting arena as a global celebrity familiar even to those far removed from the world of motor racing.
A generation of fans has grown up watching Schumacher punch the air as he performs his familiar victory leap, fans who have revelled in his skill in the rain at Spa and celebrated alongside him in his native Germany.
There are plenty of others, however, who feel that the 37-year-old's career has been too chequered for him to be due the worship accorded to Fangio, Jim Clark or Ayrton Senna -- even if the latter was no angel himself. There have been accusations of cheating, after his first title success in 1994 when he collided with Briton Damon Hill to win by a point, and again in 1997 when he tried to barge Canadian Jacques Villeneuve off the track.
This year's Monaco Grand Prix, when Schumacher was punished for deliberately impeding rivals to ensure he took pole position, was the latest in a list of controversies to have enraged rivals over time.
RIGHT LINE
"Where Schumacher cannot draw the right line is on track," former team mate Martin Brundle wrote in the Sunday Times newspaper.
"He cannot see when he crosses the line between tough but fair, and ruthless but foul. That is exacerbated by his total belief that he cannot be wrong.
"He has a default mode in the car: if you're going to pass him, he will drive you off the road," added Brundle. "He even did it to me as a team-mate."
The final farewell will come in Brazil next month, after Schumacher announced in the wake of Sunday's victory in the Italian Grand Prix that he would quit at the end of the season.
Schumacher will not be forgotten, not by his enemies and certainly not by the Ferrari faithful thronging the historic Monza circuit for his European farewell. He will appreciate more time with his young family, whom he has shielded from the public gaze.
Schumacher, who often came across as arrogant and brash in his early days, has shunned the fame and hero worship that go with the territory.
"I don't want it, I have a problem with it, just as I do with the hysteria surrounding my person," Schumacher once said, professing little interest in the many records he has accumulated and the Formula One history he has made.
"Obviously I appreciate what people think of my achievements and how it lifts them, but I don't see myself as a hero.
"I am just like everyone else, I just happen to be able to drive fast."
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