This weekend, at Monza, Michael Schumacher is expected to announce his plans for the future, essentially whether or not he will continue racing in 2007.

As time goes on, the general consensus of opinion is that the German will announce he is to retire, though there are many who still believe that he will continue racing.

Personally, and I stress this is purely a personal opinion, I don't think Michael himself really knows what he wants to do. He is still clearly very, very competitive, and can give every single one of his current rivals a run for their money. Then again, he, like the rest of us, is not getting any younger, the years are slowly catching up with him.

Though his desire to race, to win, remains as strong as ever, we have seen, on a number of occasions this year, little mistakes that tell us the reign of 'Der Kaiser' is slowly coming to an end. That said, I remain convinced that even if Michael does announce that he is to retire at the end of the season, there is every likelihood that he might return in twelve months time, having found that the school run, and helping Corinna with the dishes, is not for him.

All too often we have seen drivers obstinately continue racing beyond their 'sell by' date, Michael has broken almost every F1 record in existence, there is nothing left to prove. Should he wish to compete in DTM in future, or perhaps represent his country in A1 GP, there will always be many thousands of race fans eager to watch him - he does not need to add an eighth title to his F1 tally to prove himself.

It's worth remembering that the Friday (August 25) of the recent Turkish Grand Prix, represented 15 years - to the day - since Michael made his Formula One race debut at Spa Francorchamps, following local hero Bertrand Gachot's contretemps with a London taxi driver.

In those 15 years, he has won the World Championship seven times, finished runner-up twice, third three times, fourth once and fifth once. His 'worst' season, as such, was that first year in 1991, when he only contested six races, even then he scored a fifth and two sixths.

Think about those stats for a moment - 246 Grands Prix, 89 wins, 68 pole positions, 75 fastest laps, a career points/GP record beaten only by the legendary Fangio. And do not, even for a second, swallow the line that he has always had the best car at his disposal, for had that been the case, his title tally might have been in double figures.

Anyway, the object of this Talking Point is this. We know that many F1 'insiders', including a couple of members of the Ferrari team, read Pitpass. Therefore, we want you to write an open letter to Michael giving him your advice as to whether he should continue racing or retire. That's all we want, your personal advice to the seven-time champion as he tries to make up his own mind.

Who knows, he might even get to see some of your posts.

Please Note: This Talking Point is in order that fans can offer their advice to Michael, it is not for dredging up various incidents from the past, there are plenty of message boards and forums where you can share your contempt for him with other like-minded people.

Chris Balfe
Editor

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