On whether he has examples amongst past drivers - such as Niki Lauda, who started his own airline - for future career changes:
If you look at Niki Lauda, Gerhard Berger and so on, if I look at it, no. It’s not what I want to do. They were involved straight away in this. I had a possibility to do what Jean Todt was doing, to become director of Ferrari for the racing part. And when I saw how much passion and dedication that he put into his job – similar to what I did in my job – but he simply was just sitting in Maranello, day by day, even on weekends, late into night…. I said, ‘Do I need this? Simply not. Simply not.’ I have had my share. I enjoyed what I did. It would maybe be interesting, yes. But the downside, I have a beautiful family, I have a beautiful home. And I don’t want to sit in Maranello behind a desk. That’s not what I wanted to do. So with Gerhard, if I see him now, or Niki Lauda, what he was doing, no it’s not what I’m looking into.
On the fact that a great driver knows how to galvanize a team, the same way a good team director or company president does, but that this quality does not always transfer from driving to business, as has been seen with former drivers who failed as team owners:
Yes. You have to stick to your real abilities. This is another point. I would not rate myself to be another Jean Todt. I probably wouldn’t have had these skills. I have different skills, certainly. And so does Stefano Domenicali [Ferrari's director, who took the job offered to Schumacher], doing it right now. He’s very different skilled, very intelligent, and he’s doing a fantastic job right now.
On whether or not he would ever consider retraining himself in a classic sense, in school:
One of the things that I would probably mostly hate is to go back to school and learn. Unless, and that’s the point: In a way I hated school when I was young, but I enjoyed the school of racing that I went through with all the learning of the data, the acquisition, I really absorbed it, because it was so fascinating for me. And that’s what it is: whatever is fascinating, you don’t see it as a boring thing. You just like it and you just do it. So whatever it might be, I would be happy and open to learn for it.
On whether he has any other athletes as roles models for shifting into another, post-athletic career:
I didn’t really look into this one. I didn’t follow other athletes in order to see how they managed their private lives. Because I have my vision and I’m happy with what I’m doing. I don’t need examples, I don’t need directions or guidelines other than the ones that my family and I create.
On the advantages or disadvantages a racing car driver has when trying to start a new career:
Oh sure, you find a lot of open doors. In my position, probably in many areas and places around the world if I wanted to be active, I could find a lot of possibilities. I have a certain character, and I have a certain ability for taking the important bits. If you look at a theme of a subject and you have plenty of information, I was always good at filtering out what was the important bit. And with this one you can then go in a direction and take decisions. And I was never afraid of taking decisions. And with this ability I believe that in many areas in life I could be active, and in the way that I think, even successful. But it’s another point whether you really want it and what companies search for as well.
On the precise nature of his work with Ferrari, which seemed to start as a consultant but then turned into requiring some test driving:
No, I was straightaway in an advisory position. I then was asked to test the car here and there, which I did. But it’s not really part of my contract – let’s put it that way. It was an add-on thing, which I was happy to do for them. But my real job is advising in the Formula One business and in the road car business, developing the road cars together with the road car team, and creating synergies with the Formula One side and the road car team. And with the Formula One side, simply giving directions for future developments. We have to set priorities, and I’m involved in those.
On how free he is within his management company on choosing his current projects:
They leave me a lot of freedom, absolutely. But then there is a focus to certain subjects that I am happy to be involved in and they feel I can add on value.
On how much say he really has in deciding which projects he will do and which not:
If you go back to my racing activities, with Ross Brawn, with Jean Todt, it was always a synergy. We communicated, we spoke about all the developments that were necessary, about the problems that we had, about what would fix our problems. And then you come up with a direction and you have the people finally to transform this. And it is very similar right now. I do exactly the same right now. It’s not that I’m saying, O.K., I’m 100 percent involved in that particular part of development area. No, it’s about lots of things that we have – groups – and then you filter out the best, and then you find your direction.
On what has been the most difficult thing to deal with after retiring from racing:
[Gives it a long thought.] Hmm…. I can’t come up with anything. There doesn’t come up…. I sometimes miss seeing the guys. [Ferrari team members, mechanics, crew, etc.] Because it is not only a working relationship, you have quite a lot of friendship inside. We used to play soccer before the race weekends. And we had some private moments together. I just see them less now, and that sometimes I miss. But other than that, there's not really anything that I’m short of.
