Former Ferrari F1 driver Nigel Mansell seems to be growing restless in retirement. First we had his exploits in the GP Masters series, as well as he regular appearances as an F1 steward during the 2010 season. Then he announced he would be contesting the Le Mans 24 hour race which subsequently ended in a nasty accident, resulting in injures that forced him out of a racing return to Silverstone last weekend. Mansell’s found it just as difficult to keep his car on the road in the latest car insurance advertisement for moneysupermarket.com shown below. It raises a question about retired F1 drivers, why can’t they settle down?
Michael Schumacher is another retired Ferrari legend who struggled to adjust to retirement. The motor bike races resulted in neck injures which prevented him replacing Felipe Massa at Ferrari last year, but he has recovered sufficiently to return to F1 this season with Mercedes GP. These exploits have also been a disaster and have almost certainly damaged the reputation of a man many used to see as invincible. In Schumacher’s case, a quiet retirement would seem to have been the better option, but something compelled him to comeback. Schumacher explained this when announcing his return by stating “the challenge is what I look for”.
It seems Mansell has a similar issue, and unbelievably when asked by the BBC earlier this year if he could ever consider a Schumacher style F1 comeback of his own, the 56 year old replied “never say die”.
As great as it is to see these characters back involved in motorsport, the likelihood of them rekindling the old magic is very slim. Perhaps Mansell and Schumacher should stick to the advertisements and not only save themselves further embarrassment but also to prevent themselves any further injury.