In 1991 'Schumi' made his F1 debut with Jordan and was pouched by Benetton one race later. After winning two F1 World titles with Benetton in 1994 and 1995, he switched to Scuderia Ferrari where he captured five more World titles between 2000 and 2004. At the end of 2006 he quit F1 for the first time, having just missed out on the F1 title to Spaniard Fernando Alonso.
When Mercedes re-entered the sport in 2010, Schumacher returned to partner Nico Rosberg at the German squad. Schumacher's best result as a Mercedes driver was in this year's European Grand Prix in Valencia, finishing third behind Finnish Lotus driver Kimi Räikkonen and Spanish Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso.
As Formula 1 arrived in Japan, Schumacher made an end to all speculations surrounding his future in F1.
“I’ve been thinking about this for a while,” the German said. “We had a three-year agreement and I have had doubts for a while about whether I had the energy to carry on. I said back in 2006 that my batteries were empty and now I think I’m in the red zone, so I’m not sure there would be time to recharge them, but I’m looking forward to my freedom. There’s no hard feelings with Mercedes in a way, we have achieved a great deal. Now I will just continue to do exactly what I have been doing, which is to finish races and focus 100 percent on what I do.”
