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Prost Backs Schumacher's Quit

After publicly criticizing Michael Schumacher's decision to return to the sport at 40 years of age a few days ago, former 3-time champion Alain Prost today praised the German driver for having the guts to say “no” to a Formula One comeback.

If there was any physical risk, Schumacher was right. The neck is crucial in motorsport and if there is pain you can quickly feel nausea and have impaired vision,” said Prost when talking to French newspaper Le Parisien.

The French ace did, however, echo the latest rumors that appeared in the British media, regarding the real reasons why Schumacher decided to cancel his F1 return. Some believe he realized he just can't cope with the pressure anymore and didn't want to take the risk of making a foul out of himself on his F1 return.

It remains to be seen if Schumacher stopped solely because of the health problem, or because when he resumed driving he realised that the task was enormous,” added Prost, who also insisted Schu would need more time to prepare for a potential F1 return than the 3 weeks he had prior to the European GP, at Valencia.

The Frenchman compared Schumacher's situation in mid 2009 with his own one-and-a-half decade ago. Like the German, Prost also decided he wasn't prepared to race in Formula One.

In 1994 McLaren asked me to take the wheel. I conducted three days of testing and I immediately realised that something was broken. The speed was there, but not the will to manage the pressure, travel and media that comes with a championship contest.”

A year later, Jean Todt suggested that I become team-mate to Schumacher to help him become champion at Ferrari. I would have been clearly number two, which was ok - I almost drove, but finally I did not, for the same reasons,” added Prost in his interview with the aforementioned source.
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