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Schumacher wrong to return, says Stewart

Sir Jackie Stewart has been unimpressed by Michael Schumacher in 2010 © Getty Images

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• Drivers:
• Michael Schumacher
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• Jackie Stewart

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Michael Schumacher must win the world championship in resounding fashion next season or leave the sport with his tail between his legs if he decides next season will be his last.

That is the view of triple world champion Sir Jackie Stewart when asked if Schumacher had done the wrong thing by coming back to the sport.

"I think he has unless he is able to come back next year and win the world championship in a resounding fashion," Stewart told ESPNF1. "But I rather think it will be difficult for him to do that, not just because Vettel's there, Webber's there, Alonso's there but also because Rosberg is there never mind Hamilton or Button."

Many have put Schumacher's struggles this season down to having a Mercedes unsuited to his driving style. For Stewart, however, Schumacher has simply made far too many mistakes this season for a man of his experience.

"Schumacher says the car doesn't suit him and it may turn out that with the new tyre next year he will be faster and better but it could well be that Rosberg does it again. It seems Schumacher likes a very pointy car and the brain of the car is over the front wheels. I've never felt that's the best way for a car to be driven. It means that it's very nervous in the front end and he seems to like that. What I don't approve of is that every weekend he goes off the road. Of course you can afford to go off the road now and again and not hit anything nowadays but nevertheless it means that he is overdriving to the extent that he does fly off the road and I don't think any of the great drivers have ever done that on a regular basis."

Stewart retired at the top of his game after winning his third world title in 1973 but he thinks Schumacher had not got racing out of his system when he left the sport after the 2006 season.

"He has this year been involved with an awful lot of scrapes not to mention the very big one with Rubens where he just didn't think it was a dangerous manoeuvre. It was an atrocious piece of attempted bullying and had it not been for someone as good and experienced as Rubens it could have ended in tears. So whilst I'm sorry he's come back I would have liked to have seen him come back and succeed. But it's not an easy trip. I think the problem is that he retired too early and he didn't get it out of his system. If he retires after one more year, he's either got to do it as world champion or otherwise walk away with his tail between his legs."

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