Schumi retiring
2012-10-04 10:37
END OF AN ERA: Michael Schumacher has announced he'll be quitting Formula 1 at the end of the 2012 season.Image: AFP
SUZUKA, Japan - Seven-times world Formula 1 champion Michael Schumacher will retire from the sport for a second time at the end of the 2012 season.
The German driver gave the information to reporters ahead of the 2012 Japanese GP today.
His Mercedes team announced last week that Schumacher would be replaced by Briton Lewis Hamilton for the 2013 campaign, leaving the 43-year-old without a drive, but rather than looking for another seat elsewhere he's decided to call it a day.
"I have decided to retire at the end of the year," Schumacher told a packed crowd of journalists gathered around the team's hospitality area at the Suzuka circuit.