Ralf Schumacher is the second highest-paid driver in Formula 1. He earns more money than double world champion Fernando Alonso.
These are his results compared to Toyota team mate Jarno Trulli so far this year:
| Session | Ralf Schumacher | Jarno Trulli | Australia qualifying | 9 | 8 |
| Australia race | 8 | 9 |
| Malaysian qualifying | 9 | 8 |
| Malaysia race | 15 | 7 |
| Bahrain qualifying | 14 | 9 |
| Bahrain race | 12 | 7 |
| Spain qualifying | 17 | 6 |
| Spain race | DNF | DNF |
| Monaco qualifying | 20 | 14 |
| Monaco race | 16 | 15 |
Should Ralf Schumacher retire?
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Tags: f1 / formula one / formula 1 / grand prix / motor sport
Abhinav
28th May 2007, 7:19
Retire?Quite unlikely.Thrown out of the sport?Yes,possible.I don’t see any reason why he should be paid more than Massa or Alonso.Toyota may not be a great car but I doubt that makes any difference.Look at what happened in Williams.He lost out to JPM for three seasons straight and JPM even went on to win a race in that crappy FW26.He wouldn’t retire,he will just lose his seat one day.
Maybe, just maybe,he should think once in a while before passing out comments like “I am one of the top 3 drivers”.
Massimo Valz Gris
28th May 2007, 8:45
he’s already retired. he just doesn’t know yet.
ade
28th May 2007, 9:05
Ralf should have retired after his first season at Jordan which he seemed to spend punting Fisichella off the circuit.
Ollie White
28th May 2007, 11:27
Quite simply, yes. Numbers don’t lie, and these numbers have been going on for years.
M Smith
28th May 2007, 20:22
Ralf won’t retire, he will be forced out of Toyota (after his contract expires), and eventually the sport (he probably won’t be able to sign onto another team). His comment on him being “the third best driver on the grid” is laughable, he’s more likely in the bottom half.
jose sanchez
29th May 2007, 3:35
He is the only driver that alonso has openly critizide, and to tell you the truth, it seems like he was right on the spot. He is not very profesional, and got where he is more thanks to willi webber, that due to his achivements on the race track.
chunter
29th May 2007, 4:47
I suppose the size of his contract is the reason why he doesn’t seem eager to get a better car, because although many are predicting he will be finished when his deal with Toyota runs out, I think he will seek a better team.
His performance doesn’t suggest that he deserves a better team, though, so I’m going to guess that he’ll get David Coulthard’s old seat at Red Bull, or another similar customer-team gig if David (still) hasn’t retired yet.
Alianora La Canta
29th May 2007, 17:00
If Ralf Schumacher continues to be beaten by Adrian Sutil’s Spyker for any length of time, then Toyota will not be inviting him back. After all, they have admitted that they’re looking for alternative drivers, and who can blame them after the races Ralf is having at the moment? Keep Trulli for the experience, but I can’t see Schumacher lasting much longer in F1.
Clive
29th May 2007, 21:34
I have seen other drivers suffer a run of bad luck as awful as Ralf’s has been lately but never one who has alienated his fans at such an impressive rate. He seems to have a talent for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, blindly asserting that he is one of the three fastest drivers in F1 while producing results that would earn him the boot at BMW Sauber. The question is not whether Ralf will still have a drive in F1 next year but why on earth Toyota do not get rid of him under the trades description act.
Andika Putra
4th June 2007, 8:58
Yeah…he’ll be kicked up by Toyota by the end of this season, I think he just waist the Toyota’s money, I don’t see any reasons why the team agree to pay him for so much, he was beaten by Trulli, he’s so arogan to the media, and the worst is he doesn’t know how to thank Willy Webber who has brought him to 25 millions dollars seat, maybe without his manager, now he must paid to have a seat in Formula one, and trust me, he’ll do it next year, or kicked out from Formula one, forever
Cooperman
4th June 2007, 9:20
I never felt that Ralf ever deserved an F1 seat from the start.
I’ll admit that I was possibly wrong as during his Williams years he carried the team in ’99 and put up a fair fight to Montoya after that. He’s never been able to get rid of the question marks though and always seems to have a chip on his shoulder.
F1 Racing magazine provided a good article a couple of months ago speculating out that as Toyota pay him so much Ralf never feels that he’s got any improving to do on his part and can’t be the reason for any failings.
Personally, I think of all the money that Toyota has thrown at F1, the largest amount that’s wasted is the chunk that goes into Ralf’s Swiss Bank Account.
Ricardo
2nd October 2007, 2:01
I agree with most of the coments.
Thrown out of the F1 seat, yes! A long time ago.
Toyota paid a huge price for him and got almost nothing.
He could go to DTM series or home and stay there.
Trulli, a great driver, pushing the car with lots of effort. Massa will do Rosberg much better.
Daniel
7th October 2007, 9:56
NO. I don’t thik that Ralf should retire and well he’s got a lot to show for the years to come. You will say yeah, right that’s what he said 2 4 or 6 years ago. Well, Toyota took a stupid decision droppin him because Jarno Trulli is a loser and a nobody. Even he scored more points than RS he’s a loser and he’ll neve be able to score a podium . Look at the chinesse race. Even if RS retired he proved that he could make points and score podiums. He started from 6 pos. he had a bad start, but recovered 8 positions and reched a definetly incompetent Trulli but he had tha t accident with Luizzi. Well, could anybody say that Trulli will be ever able to do such a sensational race ? Trulli is a nobody . Even if a lot of drivers abandoned he never managed to win a position.
Daniel
7th October 2007, 10:05
We could judge Ralf only if he had a good car. But Toyota is very faaaar from that status. Are some guys who said that he does’t belong to f1. Well he has 6 victories, a lot of podiums (at his 3rd race in f1 with Jordan he scored a podium with a underrated car). He is better than many drivers in f1. Giancarlo Fisichella came in the same generation with him. Ralf has a lot of victories and points. Same Jarno Trulli, Mark Webber, Nick Heidfeld, Jenson Button to count only the drivers who are now in f1. So, Ralf deserves a good car and then he’ll impress. Otherwise…..
AndyJ
24th October 2007, 9:21
Yes
nellyweb
24th October 2007, 12:01
Ralf hasn’t been the same since his big smash at indy. he wasn’t even top 5 quality then, let alone now. He should have left a couple of years ago. If he is on F1 next year he will be one of the luckiest drivers ever.
Gary Shavit
24th October 2007, 15:43
I only see two ways for Ralf to stay in F1. One would be to pay Mercedes to drive the Safety Car and the other is to buy a motorscooter and shuttle drivers to the pits if they crash or break down on the track.