Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher celebrated his 90th Formula 1 victory at Monza on this day in 2006 as he announced his retirement from the sport at the end of the season.
Schumacher made his debut in 1991 in Jordan, and in 1992 he claimed his first victory at Spa Francorchamps. German won first two world championship titles in Benetton in 1994 and 1995 after beating Damon Hill in Williams Renault.
The German moved to Ferrari in 1996 which he managed to revive and won five consecutive drivers’ championships from 2000 to 2004 and became the most successful driver in the history of Formula One.
In 2006, Schumacher had a big fight with the current world champion Fernando Alonso at Renault, while in Monza he announced he will retire at the end of the season.
Ferrari decided to sign Raikkonen for 2007, but Schumacher retired to enable Massa to stay in Ferrari.
2006 Italian GP was the 100th race in F1 for Kimi Raikkonen who on Saturday secured McLaren’s 125th pole position with just two thousandths of a second ahead of Michael Schumacher.
Schumacher managed to overtake Raikkonen during pitstops and won the Ferrari’s home race, Kimi finished second and Robert Kubica in the BMW Sauber finished third, which was his first podium in F1 career.
After his victory in Monza, Schumacher was just two points behind leader Alonso who retired with an engine failure when he was running third.