Michael Schumacher called canceling his much-anticipated Formula One comeback a “really sad moment.”
He had wanted to help the Ferrari team by replacing injured driver Felipe Massa but was unable to do so because of lingering pain from a motorcycle crash six months ago.
“It’s a really sad moment,” Schumacher said, before later expanding. “Probably one of the toughest that I’ve faced in my career, although I’m retired for the moment. I felt alive again and now I had to cancel all this.”
PHOTO: REUTERS
The German, who retired at the end of the 2006 season after a 15-year career in which he won 91 races in 250 starts, said any talk of later returning to F1 was speculation.
“From a purely medical point of view, there are no reasons why that couldn’t be the case. But it’s certainly not a topic that I’m considering right now,” he said.
Schumacher, visibly subdued sitting between his doctor, Johannes Peil, and manager, Willi Weber, said the euphoria surrounding his possible return was “extreme, and so of course the disappointment is extreme, too.”
Peil said it was a fracture at the base of Schumacher’s skull that prevented the return, rather than the fractured vertebra and rib he also hurt in the bike crash earlier this year.
“We kept trying to keep the pain and the inflammation in check, including with drugs, but in the end it didn’t work,” Schumacher said.
It was too early to say whether the injuries would heal enough to allow Schumacher to make a later comeback, Peil said.
The decision for Schumacher to pull out came after he tested an old Ferrari at the Mugello circuit in Italy last week.
Ferrari will now promote test driver Luca Badoer, who Schumacher said was well-prepared to replace Massa.
Five-time champion Novak Djokovic on Saturday tumbled out of the Indian Wells ATP Masters, falling in his first match to lucky loser Botic van de Zandschulp as two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz advanced. “No excuses for a poor performance,” 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic said after 37 unforced errors in a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 defeat. “It doesn’t feel great when you play this way on the court,” he said. “But congratulations to my opponent — just a bad day in the office, I guess, for me.” Djokovic is just the latest in Van de Zandschulp’s string of superstar victims. He
Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday held their nerve to beat Liverpool 4-1 on penalties and reach the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals after their tie finished one-apiece on aggregate, while Bayern Munich saw off Bayer 04 Leverkusen to complete a 5-0 win over both legs. Lamine Yamal and Raphinha fired Barcelona into the next round as the Catalans bested SL Benfica 3-1, and Inter booked a last-eight meeting with Bayern by seeing off Feyenoord 2-1. At Anfield, Ousmane Dembele netted the only goal of the night as PSG bounced back from Liverpool’s late winner last week to force the tie to extra-time and penalties. Maligned
Taiwanese badminton player Lin Chun-yi had to settle for silver in the men’s singles at the Orleans Masters in France on Sunday after losing in the final to his French opponent. The 25-year-old Lin, ranked world No. 14, lost to Alex Lanier 13-21, 18-21 in a match that lasted 42 minutes at the Palais des Sports arena. It was the first time that the two players were facing each other in their professional careers. In the opener, Lin was slow to warm up, which gave the 20-year-old Lanier an opportunity to take an early lead with seven consecutive points. Despite
Taiwan’s Lin Chun-yi on Wednesday inflicted a first-round defeat on former badminton world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen at the All England Open. Lin came out of top after a back-and-forth first game before Axelsen dominated the second, but the Dane was not able to keep that form in the decider as Lin reeled off six points in a row on the way to a 21-19, 13-21, 21-11 victory. “If I don’t play my best, everyone can win against me,” said Axelsen, the world No. 4. “Today’s opponent played a fantastic game; it was disappointing, but that is how it is.” “I just tried
RSS