Ferrari ace Michael Schumacher will announce his farewell to Formula 1 racing after next weekend's Italian Grand Prix, Renault team chief Flavio Briatore said on Monday.
Briatore, who as head of the Benetton team in the early-1990s discovered and nurtured Schumacher's talent, said the seven-times world champion was now showing signs of his age in his driving.
"When you're 37 the years weigh heavily. He's not the same as he was four or five years ago. He wouldn't have made certain mistakes before," the Italian said. Schumacher won his first Formula 1 victory under Briatore and with his guidance went on to take the 1994 and 95 titles. He moved to Ferrari in 1996 and his current contract runs out this year.
The German is second in the championship standings, 12 points behind Briatore's latest 'creation', reigning world champion Fernando Alonso.
Schumacher, who has only four races left to catch up with the Renault star, has said he will announce his future plans at Monza on Sunday afternoon. Many observers expect him to call it a day.
"I expect Michael will announce he's retiring," Briatore said.
"It would be better for us if he retired immediately, but I think he'll compete in the last three races. So it will be hard for us at Renault to win the world championship".
Briatore said Schumacher was probably well aware that he is now competing against some extremely talent young drivers who were "hungry" for success. Schumacher's team-mate at Ferrari, 25-year-old Felipe Massa of Brazil, demonstrated some of his skills in Turkey two weekends ago by snatching the first grand prix victory of his career.
Asked about rumours that he too was on the point of abandoning Formula 1, Briatore indicated that he still had to take a decision and referred to certain "meetings" he would be holding next week.
But he appeared to admit that his enthusiasm was waning.
"You need to be incredibly motivated in Formula 1. I have little to prove to myself now," he said.
