Open Mic: When Should a Formula One Driver Retire?

Being in Formula One, the average layperson would think that as long as you can drive a car, you can continue racing.

However, that is shown not to be true with a great article coming from the Reuters newswire.  The article states that Formula One drivers are indeed athletes who are synonymous with their Olympic counterparts.

Of course, the most famous retirement in Formula One, and quite possibly all of sports, comes from Michael Schumacher in 2006, who then announced that the man who finished behind him, Kimi Raikkonen, would be filling his shoes.

So, in Formula One, what is the prerequisite for retirement? Is it when you cannot deliver results? How about not being able to deliver the sponsorship money?

When you look at Michael Schumacher—he was still on top of his game, and a lot of companies wanted to sponsor his Ferrari team. Why did he stop?

He said that he wanted to help out his teammate, Felipe Massa, by moving aside. A very noble cause, but I do not believe that was his reason for retirement.

My belief is the notion of retiring on top.

If you look at other athletes such as Wayne Gretzky when he retired from the NHL or Zinedine Zidane retiring from international soccer, you see that they left their respective sports with graciousness and glory—although the latter's retirement was marred by a slur and headbutt.

You can even equate that out of the sports arena. Just look at television. When "Friends" was around, the show garnered lots of ratings but the producers and actors decided that it was time to call it a day after being on top.

On the other end of the scale, you have "The O.C." which took in huge ratings in its first season, went downhill from there, and was cancelled without a tear being shed. By that time, a lot of people saw "The O.C." as nothing but rich-kid anxiety and constant plot recycling. It was an eyesore!

Those that left gracefully are remembered while those that were forced out were seen as a nuisance. I still enjoy watching an old re-run of "Friends" on syndication.

Retiring on top does give respect to the athlete—because they realized that there was nothing more they could achieve and made way for the younger guns to showcase their talent. In other words, they were secure enough to let their record stand the test of time and see if it will ever be broken.

As well, in the case of Formula One, there is the case of development. Drivers help teams develop cars. Schumacher joined Ferrari in what many thought was a suicide move, but he brought the old gun of Formula One back into contention, not for an odd win, but for championships.

So far, nobody else has been able to win seven Formula One world championships, and nobody will be able to trump that, at the very least, for another five years.