The End of An Era As Schumacher Bows Out

Schumacher sensationally kept in contention for an eighth world drivers' title by closing the gap to Spain's Fernando Alonso to two points on Sunday in what was his 90th career victory in Formula One.

The 37-year-old German, who in emotional scenes at the old Autodromo Nazionale at Monza in Italy, hugged his wife Corinna, Ferrari team president Luca di Montezmolo and team chief Jean Todt, announced his retirement in a statement issued as he crossed the line.

Fans flooded the circuit as he stood atop the podium for the 90th time having cut Fernando Alonso's lead in the drivers championship to just two points.

In a statement, Ferrari said: "Michael Schumacher will retire from race driving at the end of the 2006 world championship."

There are three Grands Prix still left in the current season -- in China on October 1, Japan on October 8 and Brazil on October 22.

Schumacher is expected to compete in his last race in Brazil.

"This is the right moment"

The German will now prepare to bring the curtain down on 15 years of almost unrivalled, statistical domination of the sport. Sunday's achievement was his fifth win at the famed Italian circuit.

An emotional but controlled Schumacher said afterwards: "There has been a lot of discussion for a long time about my decision to retire. And all the motor sport people have a right to have an explanation of what will happen."

"You have to find the moment, and we feel this is the right moment. I cannot thank my family enough but also to all my mates at (former team) Benetton and at Ferrari and I have so many great friends there," he said.

Controversial career

However, Schumacher's glittering career has been dogged by controversy.

This year at Monaco, he was roundly condemned when he was accused of deliberately parking his Ferrari on the circuit to stop world champion Fernando Alonso from bettering his qualifying time.

"Everyone has black marks on their record but I do not have many," Schumacher declared. "Those who shout their mouths off are too cowardly to say something to my face. You have envy and rivals here in Formula One just like in life."

A potent cocktail of bloody-mindedness and brilliance behind the wheel has kept the German at the peak of his sport despite enduring an inauspicious start to his career.

In Belgium in 1991, he was drafted in by Jordan as a late

replacement for Frenchman Bertrand Gachot who had been jailed in Britain.

Schumacher qualified seventh at Spa, but failed to complete the first lap, due to clutch problems.

His potential was spotted by Flavio Briatore's Benetton for whom he picked up his first career win in 1992 before taking fourth place in the championship in 1993.

Dawning of a new era

He clinched his first title in 1994, the year of Ayrton Senna's death, and there was little doubt about the dawning of a new era in the sport even if this new horizon was clouded by controversy.

Schumacher made sure of the title, beating Damon Hill by just one point, but only after an accident at the last race in Australia where the two men collided. He defended the title in 1995 before switching to Ferrari,

winning three races in his first season in a car dogged by poor reliability and sluggish handling.

In 1997, the first sparks of a bitter rivalry with Jacques

Villeneuve became public in dramatic circumstances. Schumacher went into the last race at Jerez with a one-point advantage over the Canadian but it ended in an accident between the two.

Villeneuve raced on to take the crown; Schumacher had his second place in the championship stripped by the FIA.

Schumacher's hopes in 1998 were dashed in the final race despite having picked up six wins while 1999's title push ended with a broken leg after a spectacular crash at Silverstone.

In 2000 Rubens Barrichello replaced Eddie Irvine as Schumacher's teammate and the chemistry seemed to work. The Brazilian, very much the supporting actor, watched as the German took his third world title, delivering Ferrari's first in 21 years.

Total dominance

2001 was a year of total dominance with a successive title wrapped up with four races to spare. Schumacher set records all over the place, going past Alain Prost's total of 52 race wins.

Any lingering doubts over Schumacher's supremacy at Ferrari disappeared in another title winning season in 2002 when his fifth crown, equaling the mark of Juan Fangio, was tarnished by Barrichello being forced to yield on the finish line to hand the German victory in Austria.

The boos didn't unsettle him as 2003 and 2004 saw two more titles.

"F1 will survive"

Schumacher then won over a new legion of fans by donating $10 million of his own fortune to victims of the Asian tsunami; he had lost a bodyguard in the disaster.

2005 may have seen his title monopoly snapped by Fernando Alonso's Renault, but this year he looks likely to push the Spaniard all the way.

His departure from the sport will not signal the sport's death knell.

F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone recalled similar fears after Senna died.

"Ayrton was more popular than Michael," said Ecclestone. "But we went on. F1 has survived since 1950 so I assume that it is more popular than one driver."