Hakkinen: Schumacher Will Retire Soon

Mika Hakkinen believes World Champion Michael Schumacher could follow him out of Formula One soon.

"I see certain signs that lead me to doubt whether he will continue driving for a long time," the 33-year-old McLaren driver told this week's edition of Germany's Auto Motor und Sport magazine. "He has been racing for a long time," said the Finn, who is taking a year's break after the season-ending Japanese Grand Prix next week.

"He has children. He has had his success. He has had his accidents. And after every accident you start doing more thinking. You know at some point you won't get away without damage," said the double champion. "It doesn't matter how much you love the sport - Michael too will ask himself sooner or later: how long is this to go on for?"

Schumacher, who is 32, has won four World Championships in a decade in Formula One.

"I find it difficult to judge whether he has the same reasons for a certain fatigue as I have," said Hakkinen, who has been racing for 11 years and won the U.S. Grand Prix at the weekend for the 20th win of his career. "Did he have to struggle to get his own way like I did, and did the full support of his team make his life easier? Did he have so much public relations work to do?"

Ferrari's technical director Ross Brawn said at the U.S. Grand Prix last weekend that the German driver had been close to retiring after the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

"He really was badly affected by the disaster. There was talk of retirement," he said. However, Schumacher, one of the world's highest paid sportsmen and father of two young children, later brushed aside the remarks and said Sunday's race at Indianapolis had revived his spirits.

"The spectators were so enthusiastic that I instantly rediscovered all my usual competitiveness," he said this week. Hakkinen told the German magazine he was taking a break from Formula One because of the strains it imposed.

"I had to push myself to the mental and physical limit. My whole life was geared to one objective. How I sleep, how I eat, how I train, what I say," he said. Hakkinen has insisted he is not retiring and merely taking a year out, despite speculation that he may never return.

But he also made clear he was happy with what he had achieved in Formula One. "My aim is to take it easy, and then see how I deal with that," he said.