OCTOBER 19, 2010

Prost on Schumacher: tyres are an excuse

Four times world champion Alain Prost has told French sports newspaper L'Equipe that Michael Schumacher lacked the humility to set reasonable targets for his F1 return.

Michael Schumacher, Japanese GP 2010
© The Cahier Archive

Four times world champion Alain Prost has told French sports newspaper L'Equipe that Michael Schumacher lacked the humility to set reasonable targets for his F1 return.

Prost, who returned in 1993 after a one year enforced sabbatical to claim his final championship crown with Williams at the age of 38, thinks it was unrealistic for Schumacher to be thinking in terms of an eighth world title.

"He should have said he was coming back to help Rosberg, or Mercedes in its first year or his friend Ross Brawn," Prost claims. "It would have been easier for him. For me, it's just a question of age. I think the tyres are just an excuse, because Schumacher always adapted to any sort of car. It was his great strength. It's just not possible to return to the top after being away for three years at that age. It's a matter of physiology."