F1 News
Date: 25/June/2012
A frantic end to Sunday’s Valencia F1 Grand Prix propelled Michael Schumacher into his first podium finish since 2006.
The German legend, who won five of his seven titles for Ferrari, ‘retired’ at the end of the 2006 season - but returned as a Mercedes driver for 2010.
The years since his comeback have surely been tougher than Schumacher had expected, finishing just ninth (2010) and eighth (2011) in the standings with a best race finish of fourth.
Having briefly silenced his critics by taking pole position in Monaco, although a pre-exiting penalty prevented him from starting at the front of the grid, before benefiting from the last race chaos in Valencia to finally seal his 155th grand prix podium.
Schumacher was just eighth with five laps to go and was shadowed by Red Bull’s Mark Webber as he climbed rapidly up the order on fresh tyres - aided by accidents and incidents ahead.
The podium chance ultimately came when Lewis Hamilton and Pastor Maldonado collided while disputing third place with just over a lap to go. However Schumacher was so concerned with holding off Webber that he wasn’t aware of his podium until after the race had finished.
“After crossing the line I asked my guys ‘where did we finish?’ And then the boys told me ‘that’s third, that’s podium’. I can’t believe that!” said the 43-year-old.
“It’s something I didn't really expect. You sort of lose count of where you are, because I was pretty busy in the last stages of the race, plus Maldonado and Hamilton had their issue.
“It’s just a wonderful feeling to be back after such a long time, after being close to s podium a couple of times in the past.”
Schumacher, who began the race from twelfth on the grid, added that the unexpected nature of the podium and the chance to answer his critics made it extra special.
“It is a beautiful feeling, not only being on the podium but the way it has happened,” he said. “It was not at all expected. All weekend, I predicted this to be a difficult one for us and it started to be difficult yesterday in qualifying.
“To recover from where we are, getting to third position is just awesome. The team and myself have been criticised here and there, particularly lately, and this is the best way to answer criticism, to go back and deliver as we did today, and therefore I’m proud, thankful and very excited.”
Schumacher then showed a glimpse of his ultra-confident former self, when asked who out of Alonso, Vettel of Hamilton he would put his money on for the title.
“Things change so quickly - maybe I put money on myself,” he smiled.
Having suffered a string of reliability problems, Schumacher is only 13th in the championship. Team-mate and Shanghai winner Nico Rosberg finished sixth on Sunday and is sixth in the standings.
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