Schumacher turned down Todt’s job

Schumacher could have taken over for Jean Todt at Ferrari

Michael Schumacher has revealed that he could have succeeded Jean Todt as boss of Ferrari's Formula 1 team, but turned the opportunity down because he realized that an office-based job would not have suited him.

The seven-times world champion retired from racing at the end of 2006, and has continued to work with Ferrari in an advisory position which includes occasional tests in both its F1 and road cars.

But Schumacher says he could have had a much bigger role had he wished.

"I had a possibility to do what Jean Todt was doing, to become director of Ferrari for the racing part," he told the International Herald Tribune.

"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 a certain ability for taking the important bits," he said.

"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.

"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."

Stefano Domenicali ultimately succeeded Todt as Ferrari team boss.