Michael Schumacher’s 2005 finale was a dismal ending to a season he’d rather forget.
The seven-time world champion’s Shanghai woes resurfaced at the Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday when he was forced to start from the pit lane after a pre-race collision. Then, 22 laps into the race, he spun out and calmly walked off the track.
Schumacher’s dead-last finish marked the seventh time in this year’s 19-race season that he’s missed out on points.
”This weird ending pretty much sums up our season,” he said. ”Now let’s look ahead to putting things right next season.”
Schumacher was making his way to the grid 30 minutes before the start when he veered left and was plowed into from behind by Minardi’s Christijan Albers. The accident left Schumacher’s front left wheel badly askew, blackened his Ferrari’s chassis and shredded his rear tyre.
Schumacher said he had been warming up his tyres when ”suddenly I felt a big bang”. Race stewards issued Schumacher a reprimand for causing the accident.
Scrambling back to his garage, Schumacher started from the pit lane in a back-up car and had moved up to 10th place when he spun out on the gentle eighth turn. Cold, worn tyres were to blame, he said.
Drivers’ champion Fernando Alonso won the race to clinch the constructors’ title for his Renault team. Schumacher’s teammate, Rubens Barrichello, won in Shanghai last year, but finished 12th on Sunday, ensuring that Ferrari received no points at all.
Despite the mishaps, Schumacher held on to his third-place standing in the drivers’ championship with 62 points, a marvel considering the season’s troubles, but still his worst showing since finishing fifth in 1999.
The German has won just once this year — at the United States Grand Prix in June where seven of the 10 teams withdrew due to concerns over the safety of their Michelin tyres.
Schumacher’s difficulties seem to date from last year’s inaugural Chinese Grand Prix, when he finished a dismal 12th.
Schumacher started the 2004 race from the end of the pit lane — 19th out of 20 cars — after spinning out in Saturday’s qualifying, and then got stuck in traffic. He was bumped by Jaguar’s Christian Klien, spun in the 15th lap, shredded a tyre and was forced to make an extra pit stop.
It was the first time Schumacher had finished out of the points in a season in which he won 13 out of 18 races. — Sapa-AP