In classic FIA style, the officials have managed to ruin what could have been a great race by allowing a patently absurd ruling by the Monza stewards to stand. In doing so, they guaranteed that Michael Schumacher’s retirement announcement would be overshadowed by revived suspicions of the governing body’s leaning towards Ferrari. On Sunday we watched a truly great driver fight back from an unfairly-imposed penalty to occupy a podium position, only to suffer the cruel chance of an engine failure.

Would the Renault engine have blown if Alonso had not been forced to stretch it to the limit in his recovery from tenth to third? We can never know and so Schumacher’s win will be sullied forever with the possibility that it was engineered by Massa’s unfounded accusation of blocking in qualifying and the stewards’ unbelievable decision to uphold Ferrari’s protest against Alonso.

So Michael leaves F1 in the same way he lived in it: with controversy and doubt hanging over his obvious driving skills and achievements. He should be regretting that his team did not tell Massa to quit whining and get on with it, rather as Jean Todt has now suggested Renault do. But I doubt that Michael understands how his willingness to use anything at all to win sours our appreciation of his talents.

As expected, Renault lodged a protest after the race. The interesting thing is that they questioned the legality of the Bridgestone tires, not Ferrari’s wheel inserts. Presumably, they are saving the matter of inserts for a race where the stewards might not be so biased towards Ferrari.

And Kimi goes to the red team next year. Presuming that the Italian cars remain as competitive as they have been for the past few years, that should be an unstoppable combination. Unless Renault, McLaren, BMW Sauber, Honda or Toyota know different, of course. It’s a hard game to predict with certainty.

In fact, 2007 is shaping up to be a year of battle royals. The old faithfuls will be trying as hard as ever but the new teams, especially BMW Sauber, are beginning to look very threatening. And, without different tire manufacturers to muddy the waters with their own competition, the fight could be intense and involve more than the usual two or three teams. I can dream, anyway.

Which makes it sound as though I have given up on this season already. That is not the case and I am still expecting a resurgence from Renault in the last three races to ensure that justice is served by Alonso’s second championship. His performances when fate, politics and tires intervened against him have been magnificent, demonstrating clearly his right to be champion.

As Friday practice gets underway with Sebastian Vettel heading the time sheets for Sauber BMW in the first session at Monza, Michael Schumacher continues to toy with the press when asked about his possible retirement. Always the master of stating the obvious, Michael speculated that, in the event of his retiring, “I suppose I would be unemployed.”

Or would he? According to Sport-Informations-Dienst, Michael has been invited to remain with Ferrari in a managerial role after retiring from driving. Now that makes a lot of sense.

Michael has been an important factor in Ferrari’s success and was instrumental, with Jean Todt and Ross Brawn, in building a previously unheard-of efficiency and determination into the team. It is quite clear that he has highly-developed organizational skills and is able to cut through petty rivalries that would otherwise weaken a team. Add to these skills his integration with and knowledge of Ferrari and he becomes the perfect understudy for Jean Todt, should he be thinking of retirement himself.

It would not be the first time that a driver has transferred to the managerial side after retirement. Gerhard Berger and Niki Lauda spring to mind instantly and Jackie Stewart and Alain Prost both had a go. Looking at Schumacher’s record in pulling a team together and making it work for him, one would have to say that he shows more potential than any of these for such a position.

Of course, it is only a rumor and cannot be confirmed until after the race on Sunday. But it is such an obvious choice for the German that I am amazed it hasn’t been suggested before. You can bet that it is one of the options that Michael has been considering over the last few weeks, even if he has decided against it.

Did I say “decided”? Oh yes, it’s been clear for a while that Michael has made his decision and is merely awaiting the chosen time to make an announcement.